Mon, Dec 18, 2017 page3

• FEATURE: Internet could play key role in local elections

  ‘INTERNET WATER ARMIES’: KMT politicians tend to hire professionals to manage their Facebook pages, while the DPP tends to rely on internal teams, a consultancy owner said

  • By Yang Chun-hui and Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  In addition to visiting electoral districts and expanding their local influence, people hoping to run in next year’s local elections have been placing an emphasis on digital strategies to engage with younger voters.

  The nine-in-one elections are to take place either on Nov. 24 or Dec. 1 next year, pending a final decision by the Central Election Commission.

  More young people are using Facebook as their main communication platform and consider Professional Technology Temple (PTT) — the nation’s largest online academic bulletin board — an important channel for news and political discussions, and politicians are giving more consideration to their Facebook pages, and online trends and discussions.

  Politicians such as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡), who is seeking party nomination to run for New Taipei City mayor, and Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), spokeswoman of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) office who is seeking nomination from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to run for Taipei city councilor, have posted videos and photos, and engaged with voters through live streams on Facebook.

  Using Facebook has become an important way to reach voters, an assistant to a DPP lawmaker said, adding that candidates would not have the opportunity to engage with as many people at the Legislative Yuan and in local communities.

  Using the Internet is the most direct method of engagement; it allows politicians to explain policies, and voters to get to know and like the candidates, said the assistant, who asked not be named.

  After attending lessons by a film marketing company, their campaign discovered that live streams and photos are more effective means of spreading messages than text alone, the assistant said.

  When people see videos or photographs of candidates appearing in their electoral district, they feel it has bearing on their life, they said.

  However, success in social media management cannot be achieved overnight, they said, adding that people who manage social media need to slowly discover and readjust their content according to the preferences of their audience.

  Facebook fan pages are not always managed by the politicians themselves.

  The KMT tends to hire professionals to manage its social media, a consulting agency owner said, adding that many KMT politicians hire public relations companies to manage their Facebook pages and help boost specific factions or politicians.

  On the other hand, DPP politicians tend to rely on internal experimental teams or hire consultants to teach them how to manage the pages themselves, the consultant said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

  There are many fake accounts on Facebook and PTT that make posts for specific audiences, political parties or factions in order to manipulate trends, the consultant said, referring to them as “internet water armies” (網路水軍).

  Such fake accounts make money by writing or boosting posts, or by generating large amounts of comments, they said

  “Internet water army” marketing has existed for more than five years, the consultant said, adding that anyone could easily purchase hundreds or thousands of fake accounts.

  However, it is difficult to produce large volumes of comments and to replicate hundreds of personalities, so posts and reactions by the actors are usually unnatural and easy to detect, the consultant said.

  An increasing number of Facebook pages, referred to as “self-media” (自媒體), focus on providing political commentary.

  Such pages mainly rely on the interests of their managers, who observe social trends to produce content, said a former administrator of Kao Bei Joke (靠北就可) — a satirical Facebook page with more than 146,000 online followers.

  With regards to online discussions, setting the trend on the Internet is not as easy as one might imagine, they said, adding that only real political events can produce strong trends.

  Because of this, content produced by people who closely follow such trends usually has more influence and communicative power, they said, adding that pages outsourced to agencies by political parties or politicians, or even fake accounts that try to influence trends, are not as effective as people imagine them to be.

  There are many writers online who remain anonymous or use pseudonyms and immediately disappear after making statements, said a blogger named Lee (李), who wished only to be identified by their last name.

  Apart from writing to promote products, these people frequently also write for political purposes or to support specific social movements, Lee said, adding that in other words, politics also rely on “sponsored content.”

  Theoretically, bloggers should give full transparency and let readers known which articles are sponsored or requested by whom, Lee said.

  Writers aim to inspire conversation and invoke sympathy, Lee said, adding that the media will quote “netizens” in their reports if discussions flare up on the Internet.

  Such reports do not necessarily reflect real public opinion, because there are powers manipulating the content behind the scenes, but politicians and other actors might nonetheless feel pressured.

  “The biggest difference between the so-called “self-media” and traditional media is the amount of fact-checking and the truthfulness of the news,” Lee said.

  “If people only access material that is readily available and media reference content on social media or video-sharing Web sites, they will eventually hurt themselves,” they said.

  Additional reporting by Chen Ping-hung
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