During the campaign of the French regional elections, in March, Chantal Jouanno, Minister of Environment and chief candidate of UMP (Union for a Popular Movement, the centre-right party) for Paris, had deeply criticized Twitter, during an interview on a French radio station explaining that " when you are involved in politics via Twitter, almost nothing good can come out of it (...) You cannot develop a project or values, nor you can argue ". A completely different attitude from that of other ministers accustomed to twittering, like Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (Secretary of State for Digital Economy) or Laurent Wauquiez (Minister for Employment). Is it because of a rumour which allegedly emerged via Twitter before filling the columns of the europeans newspapers? Beyond this question, it is the influence of Twitter on the political debates that is in question, and this not only in France.
If the Conservative’s campaign team encourages candidates to be active on Twitter and on the social media, they are asked nonetheless to get their messages approved “before publication”. Obviously a non applicable instruction, but over which a lot of ink has been spilled across the Channel. A recent study led by Tweetminster had estimated that 111 Members of Parliament (on 650) are active on Twitter. More than half of them are from the Labour Party and less than 15 % are Conservatives. Moreover, their leader, David Cameron, announced that he would not be present on Twitter, because "too many tweets make a twat". Gordon Brown is neither present on Twitter, but he lets his wife Sarah share her comments with more than a million subscribers in her thread.
The real question is to know why Politicians invest Twitter? Is it by opportunism? Do they have a real interest or it is just out of curiosity?
