Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Pokes, Retweets, and Google Pagerank. The lexicon is getting jumbled as everyone’s ability to communicate becomes more available and diverse but it can be complicated. It’s odd to say, but gone are the days when good ‘ol email could bridge the digital communications divide. Now, we’re checking Facebook for event invites and twitter for continuous-breaking information on any imaginable topic. How does one sort everything out, or do new digital adherents just do?
Furthermore, how does the National Citizens Coalition, a group fighting for more freedom through less government since 1967 make sure it keeps making its footprint in this every-changing social media landscape? The challenges are many. How to get the attention of policy makers when attention spans are ‘tweet fleeting’? How to get Canadians talking about our issues when social media can cater to a multitude of niche topics? How do we make an impact on a political scene that doesn’t react in a 15-minute cable news cycle, but in an instantaneous stream of information from every corner of Canada and segment of its population?
The National Citizens Coalition has always been famous for its billboards. Though Bob Rae is back in the Canadian political mindset, Canadians will remember the NCC’s billboards mocking Rae’s record as Ontario’s most disastrous Premier (though McGuinty is challenging this today). Today, we’re creating the same pull-no-punches messaging that made us famous but we’re doing it in the most modern of media: YouTube. In January we released a hard-hitting YouTube video against the same Bob Rae record warning Canadians that Rae has plans on taking over today’s Liberal Party of Canada. But we don’t just hold socialists to account. The NCC recently released a YouTube ad criticizing the high-spending of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government. That’s right, even our old boss gets to hear from us when government gets too big! YouTube is the modern billboard, and the NCC is taking over this space and it holds no punches.
Tens of thousands of Canadians follow the NCC via twitter and Facebook every day as well. When Ottawa’s politics turns upside-down (again, and again), the NCC will be there to help stand up for everyday hard-working Canadians as we try to mold the political outcome as it churns in Ottawa and in the provincial capitals. We’re ready for this modern age of social media and we’ll be ready to occupy the next channel whenever our lexicon adds it as the newest form of communication.