DOWNWARD VIRAL
When it comes to the Conservative Party and social media, one thing’s for certain: they’re using it.
Whilst maintaining their support from much of the print media, the party has been facing up to the fact that both during and since the last election, the Labour Party have outgunned them on social media.
Not only have Labour become adept at generating their own viral content – the Labour manifesto was one of the most-shared links during the last election – but for his supporters, Jeremy Corbyn has grown ever more meme-able.
when you walk back into the sesh after throwing up https://t.co/xTXyxORyYc
— mj (@bigdybbukenergy) June 13, 2017
On this front, things have gotten so bad that, in lieu of actual supporters online, the Tories are planning to pay people to tweet about them.
A party source told the Telegraph: “This is about making sure we’ve got professional help on the ground to help the associations to really right these [upcoming local] elections.”
Brandon Lewis, party chairman, added that the army of tweeters would “take the fight to Labour on social media” and “build a strong group of dedicated volunteers in every constituency.”
Inevitably, there has been derision from the left, but the initiative has had an immediate impact with some big successes in its first week.
The standout was undoubtedly Ben Bradley’s obscenely viral effort which, with 55,000 retweets and counting, is currently the most shared tweet of any politician in 2018.
On the 19th of February I made a defamatory statement about @jeremycorbyn. I have apologised to Mr Corbyn and here is the complete text of my apology. Please retweet. pic.twitter.com/6JZc8O9E82
— Cllr Ben Bradley MP (@BBradley_Mans) February 24, 2018
The social media coaching is clearly paying off, with Bradley displaying a hitherto unseen social media nous by imploring his followers to ‘please retweet’. A fine example how the Conservatives are finally getting their messages out there.
Furthermore it reaffirms the party’s ability to generate headlines. Bradley, until recently a relative unknown outside Westminster, is positioning himself as a rising star on social media. It will be interesting to see if he can repeat the success in coming weeks.
STORMZY WEATHER
Activate, The Tories’ answer to Labour’s Momentum, meanwhile, have continued to make waves. This week saw them targeting the deeply unpopular musician Stormzy in a bid to win over young voters.
https://twitter.com/ActivateBritain/status/966948934735183872
Stormzy, a self-confessed Jeremy Corbyn fan, had had the audacity to use his Brits performance to call out Theresa May on what he sees as a lack of action over the Grenfell tragedy.
Immense. What a fucking don. pic.twitter.com/nifXmQx335
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) February 21, 2018
Activate, clearly aware that socialism has something to do with a redistribution of wealth, suggested that rather than Theresa May doing anything about Grenfell, it should fall to Stormzy himself to dig deep into his own pockets to support the survivors of the tragedy.
Whilst the tweet generated relatively few retweets and likes, it attracted over 700 responses.
BLOOD BROTHERS
The boys are, as the ancient proverb goes, back in town.
Yes, George Osborne and David Cameron are BACK from doing whatever it is they do now to remind us all on social media just how successful they were in Government.
Osborne, sharing a Financial Times report that the economy has finally reached his austerity target two years later, remarked ‘we got there in the end.’
We got there in the end – a remarkable national effort. Thank you. https://t.co/8D23AKbuwH
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) March 1, 2018
‘It was the right thing to do,’ added Cameron.
It was the right thing to do https://t.co/d4g2fFma23
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) March 1, 2018
Jolly well done, chaps. The country won’t forget your contribution.
HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS
We finish our round up of Tory social media success this week with a remarkably series of tweets from Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who was at the Daily Telegraph to talk about the UK’s economy.
Talking about 5 secrets of UK’s economic success @telegraph 1. Celebrate entrepreneurs 2. Control size of government 3. Shake up markets 4. Open professions 5. Take on NIMBYS #InvestinginBritain pic.twitter.com/t5mpnmowly
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 28, 2018
The thread got off to an inauspicious start, outlining Truss’s 5 secrets to economic success. So far, so good…
Millennials are often derided as soft and lazy. But I have found this generation to be one of the most independent minded, enterprising and anti-establishment of our times #freewheelin #youngguns
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 28, 2018
Clearly remembering the Tories’ concerted push to engage with young voters, Truss then decided to offer millennials a backhanded compliment. “Everyone says you’re shit, but I don’t think you’re shit.” She added the hashtags #freewheelin and #youngguns, because why not?
McDonnell’s plans for a state on steroids is wrong. If taxes get too high, the desire to work or set up a company is reduced #pumpedup #taxmanMcDonnell
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 28, 2018
Millennials duly engaged, Truss moved on to attack the economic policies of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. “A state on steroids,” she called it.
Some of their ideas border on the absurd…forcing landlords to accept pets. The only creature that would be more free in Corbyn’s Britain is El Gato, his cat pic.twitter.com/C9BTlxyEXs
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 28, 2018
Here, Truss used a photo of a smiling Jeremy Corbyn holding his cat to attack big mean tenants who want to force kindly old landlords into accepting pets in their properties. One of the big vote-winning issues with millennials is of course the hardship of landlords, with cats being figures of hate on the internet. A double whammy.
I am pro-disruption and anti-vested interests because it gives us more freedom. I can go where I want, when I want, stay where I want and listen to Whitney Houston whenever I want #Iwannadance pic.twitter.com/r6hpoWtyii
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) February 28, 2018
The final tweet in the series could be the greatest single tweet of all time. We don’t know what any of it means, and in many ways we don’t need to know. All we know is I wanna run to you.
The best thing about Truss’s series of tweets is that there isn’t a single thing linking each tweet to the last. It’s a series of non-sequiturs. Which is what social media, and life, is all about.
Please retweet.
