The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is revamping its organization with an eye toward enhancing its public presence and social media messaging ahead of the general elections next year, sources said.
DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) believe that the party’s losses in the local elections on Nov. 24 last year show that the party needs to bolster its ties to social activism and be more adroit on social media, a senior DPP official said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The party official quoted Cho as saying during the DPP chairperson election last month that the party should adopt a flat organizational model and make campaigning ability a higher priority in the appointment of party officials.
Photo: Su Fun-her, Taipei Times
Cho added that the restructuring is to take effect at the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, the official said.
The party is to replace its Department of Social Movements with six independent sections tasked with labor affairs, religion, business and progressive causes, among other issues, the source said.
The intent is to flatten the party’s organizational structure, which encourages initiative and flexibility, and allows the party to use staff where they are needed, the source added.
Reflecting the importance of the Internet to political campaigning, the party’s department of creative media is to split into two new departments, with one in charge of traditional public information tasks, and the other tasked exclusively with social media operations, sources said.
To engage the public, politicians will have to adopt the techniques utilized by social media celebrities, and several ministers of the Cabinet have made direct appeals to the public for their support of governmental policies on social media, they said.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) social media posts have been leavened with humor and informal language, and the president’s interactions with citizens on the street have been live streamed over social media, they said.
Such gestures, aimed at portraying Tsai as approachable and personable to the average voter, have measurably improved her popularity on the Internet, they said.
“In terms of leveraging social media celebrity to improve approval ratings and solicit votes, the party will have to try and see,” they said.
A source of frustration for people working on the DPP’s Internet presence has been difficulty reaching beyond the echo chamber of the party’s supporters, another party insider said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
Internet users who click on DPP materials tend to be elderly people who are not in the habit of posting reactions or comments, while more creative content has done little to improve a persistently low number of views, they said.
The DPP would likely need a charismatic individual to generate and sustain attention online, they added.
Other party sources said that Cho and Luo have been drafting party members with proven public debating or political messaging skills to serve as department directors.
Former Taipei city councilor Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒) has been appointed to lead the party organization department, they said.
Former Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yun-kong (丁允恭) and former Taipei city councilor Yan Juo-fang (顏若芳) are tipped to lead the public relations and youth development departments respectively, the sources said.
The party leadership is also to redesignate the DPP’s China Affairs Department as the party’s electoral intelligence department and to order its policy committee to step up its work, the sources added.
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