Twitter Talk: Mommy Bloggers, Social Media, and Political Discourse

By Amanda Cosco

“Family Values”— It’s a catchphrase I’ve heard slung around in past weeks leading up to the Canadian federal election, so much so that the term has become a euphemism, a rhetorical catchphrase for all things “Great” and “Canadian.” At the same time, we’re also hearing a lot about social media: Will the internet be an effective tool for spiking voter interest, and if so, will Twitter hashtags and Facebook wall posts translate into actual numbers at the polls?

This year, one mother has taken to social media to cut through the crossfire of political verbiage. Freelance writer Karen Green is an online activist and mother of two. She’s one of the key players behind the Twitter hashtag #momthevote. Her aim? To use social media to engage voters in real conversations surrounding family values: “We came up with Mom The Vote to help spread relevant election information to all the other parents out there,” says Green on The Kids are Alright, her Wordpress blog. “[We wanted] to show the Canadian politicians that we're paying attention.”

Green first used the “Mom the Vote” tag-line on April 6, when she tweeted “Do you know who you’re voting for? Do you know each of the parties’ stances on family issues? We need to #momthevote.” Since then, the line has grabbed the attention of interested internet users and the mainstream media alike.

On Facebook, “Mom the Vote” has 630 “likes,” and on Twitter, the hashtag has hundreds of contributors. According to Social Times writer Kelly Blair, the “mom the vote” Facebook page had more than 27,000 views in the first week of its creation alone, and more than 900 posts from an interested community of bloggers and tweeters.

The Globe and Mail says that mommy bloggers are considered one of the most powerful blocs in North America. This year, mothers turn to social media to partake in political conversations and to hatch open real and detailed conversations that are often left out of media sound-bites and sensationalized party commercials.

This election has been dubbed Canada’s first “social media election,” but whether or not the title is appropriate, we can’t be sure. We can be sure, however, that social media is providing platforms for circles of politically interested citizens to convene, to hatch open the real issues behind political jargon and empty catchphrases like “family values.”

Whether or not these 140-characters-or-less conversations can carry real political weight, we won’t know until the polls close on May 2.

Image courtesy stock.xchng