Mayoral candidate Jim Watson spoke to a public relations class at Algonquin College yesterday, and how he got there was a textbook case of how social media is changing election campaigns.
First-year student Elissia Medeiros encouraged by her instructor to try Twitter as she studied how social media was changing the game, decided to tweet Watson himself.
“I added him and I’m like, ‘How cool would it be to have you as a guest speaker?’ He said ‘Sure, why not,’ and from there that’s how all this led up to today,” she said.
Watson told the class he believes Twitter has changed politics for the better.
“It’s reaching a certain age group that normally wouldn’t be that interested in politics, particularly municipal politics, he said.
“The other thing is that it allows you get your message out pretty quickly unfiltered.”
While he embraces new media, Watson said there’s no substitute for old-school door-knocking.
“Canvassing may be old-fashioned,” he said, “But I think it works because people want to have that connectivity with the candidate.”
