The power of the internet in the next MMF election!

Good Day Readers:

Like never before the wise candidate will skillfully and appropriately use applications such as Blogs, Facebook Pages, as well as, Twitter and YouTube accounts to get their message out at next to no cost. As the article below illustrates the internet is both fast and omnipotent.

More and more politicians are using this approach to reach voters. Recently, we've come across Premier Selinger and Winnipeg MP Pat Martin's Facebook pages. No doubt there are many others using this technique.

We already have an undeclared candidate who recently set up http://metisonline.ca which is causing speculation in the system as to their identity?

However, careful what you post. The following was sent to us a few months ago by someone who found it on Glorian Yakiwchuk's Facebook page. Ms Yakiwchuk is President Chartrand's wife. Hardly a flattering photograph.

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

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When politicians tweet
Don Martin, National Post
Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009

Photo by Wayne Cuddington, Canwest News Service

My friend's email arrived with an unmistakable sense of urgency, including one of those red exclamation marks in the margin. "Have you seen the pictures of you on Facebook? You'd better get on it. Quickly."

Uh-oh.

Turns out pictures had been posted by several Facebook "friends" showing me dressed up for Halloween as a flasher -- a provocative costume that seemed to hold a particular fascination for camera-snapping women.

But such is the power of Facebook that, despite my instantly requesting that my "friends" remove the photos, the images somehow live on in downloaded circulation with comments arriving regularly from complete strangers, including one politician. Mortifying.

That's probably how former Liberal leader Stephane Dion's spouse, Janine Krieber, felt after her musings on the sorry state of the Liberal party and its new leader went from semi-private correspondence to national media material and hand-rubbing ammunition for the Conservatives. Her Facebook post was deleted as soon as it started circulating in public, but even a rapid response isn't fast enough when copies are but a keyboard click away.

That this very intelligent and charismatic woman didn't grasp the implications of her posting is just as curious as a national journalist not understanding that a dumb party photo taken on Halloween could be on display for the world to see the next day. Silly us.

What Krieber posted for friendly consumption has now embarrassed her husband and triggered an onslaught of speculation about which party she'll join now that the Liberals are unworthy of her membership.

It's an instructive lesson about the power of Facebook, which won't be a news flash to Ray Lam, whose NDP candidacy in the last British Columbia election was terminated after Facebook-posted photos showed two people grabbing at his underwear at a party when he was 17 years old.

But it's not just Facebook that will eventually put a communications chill on politicians and, ahem, journalists. Even Twitter, a service limiting insight to a cryptic sentence or two, has the potential to cause political headaches. Dozens of MPs regularly tweet from the floor of the House of Commons or in committees, sometimes without their political correctness filters turned on.

Liberal MP Michelle Simson last week tweeted an observation that Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro should "grow up (not out)." It was a reference to the burly MP's girth, which has been shrinking lately, so perhaps that's why the usually unflappable MP was offended enough to demand an apology. That incident prompted New Democrat MP Charlie Angus to complain Twitter is turning MPs into Grade 9 kids, which gives some of them more credit than their regular kindergarten behaviour in Question Period deserves.

The chief of staff to new Wild Rose Alliance leader Danielle Smith lost his top status last week when he fired off a tweet mocking an accent of Premier Ed Stelmach that I've never noticed actually exists. Earlier this year, Alberta MLA Doug Elniski made some slightly off-colour comments on Twitter -- and was ordered to cease and desist by Mr. Stelmach.

Then there's John Baird's infamous 'Thatcher has died' text message, which went viral worldwide within minutes, creating a misconception that former U.K. prime minister Lady Margaret Thatcher has passed away when it was actually Baird's 16-year-old cat named Thatcher.

Be it text, Twitter, Facebook or You-Tube, the ability for people to constantly tell all in a format that can be forwarded, copied or posted means the embarrassment can be distributed at the same speed as proud insight.

Facebook and Twitter are not just for "friends" and "followers." Next time you smile for the camera in a silly costume, remember that how you look and what you say can and will be used against you by foes.

dmartin@nationalpost.com