At 0607 this morning the new UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, decided to announce the death of the former Japanese Prime MInister, Shinzo Abe on Twitter. It was a heartfelt tweet only it wasn’t true. Over 3 hours after the tweet (which he deleted about 90 minutes later) the official word was that he was in a “very grave condition”. Just before 1000 Abe’s passing was reported by the major news outlets.
Zahawi meant well. I am sure, but is an example of the way a rush to be the first on social media by our political class is unhelpful - to both them and to those consuming their messages. Nearly all politicians do it but in the Chancellor’s case his words can and do move markets.
Thirteen years ago (yes THAT long ago) the then Conservative Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, summed it all up during a radio interview when he said;
“The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it - too many twits might make a twat.”
It’s not just Twitter, one of Zaharwi’s cabinet colleagues, Liz Truss the Foreign Secretary has published so many photographs of her stepping on and off aircraft to Instagram it may be that she is a closet ‘Avgeek”.
Social media has a role. It can be an effective way to engage some (repeat ‘some’) important electoral audiences but it is both an echo chamber and a huge distraction to any serious political who has a job to do.
(An aside - I often wonder about how Kissinger would have managed those stealth visits to China in advance of Nixon’s visit (he would plead food poisoning and disappear into the US embassy In Pakistan) in an age with social media. Some airport ramp worker would have posted it on TikTok before his aircraft took off for China).
Call me a cynic but I do think many of our politicians work backwards from the social media end-point to decide what they should do and what they should say. The result a superficial approach to the topic.
Over the next few weeks as Conservative MPs vie to win the leadership we will see much more of this. Which is ironic since, for this stage at least, their target electorate is 357 colleagues.
Think more, tweet less would be my motto.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Izatt is a brand consultant living in London and founder of Mission Critical, a highly focused and curated weekly briefing for time-poor and information-hungry decision-makers. He also produces THE DAILY, a complimentary weekday new briefing and you can sign-up here. No spam, just short and sharp.