Putting a face to the @name, many Calgary tweeters met up yesterday to discuss the impact of Twitter on the civic election.
For single mom Tracey Braun, Twitter was a way to stay engaged with the election, even if she couldn’t attend forums and political events.
“It allowed me to be much more engaged, much more involved and much more aware of what was going on, and I think that was sort of the key for a lot of people,” said Braun.
“For me, getting to meet people in person like this is a great opportunity … to take social media to a new level.”
Fellow user Art Proctor said Twitter brought a whole new group to the political table.
Proctor said before the election began to heat up, he noticed a small group of people on Twitter discussing city council, but their numbers grew quickly.
“They’ve woken up the dragon and I don’t think Calgary is ever going to be the same,” he said.
“I think that (Twitter) did a huge service for sake of democracy, for the sake of civic engagement.”
