Political science professor Jim Groom speaks about the role that social media can play in modern election campaigns. (Photo: CHAT News Today)

By Brendan Miller

Political scientist says social media a ‘double-edged sword’ for Alberta candidates

Apr 16, 2023 | 9:38 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Alberta is set to hold a provincial election next month and candidates are taking advantage of social media sites to promote their messages.

Jim Groom, a political scientist at Medicine Hat College, said social media sites are a double-edged sword for candidates.

He explains that it provides candidates with a cost-free method to share their voice with potential voters. However, it only takes a few missteps for a candidate to sabotage their own campaign.

“You can be burned just as badly as you can be helped by it,” said Groom.

Groom states social media is a platform of extremes for both the right and left sides of the political spectrum and level-headed thoughts don’t gain as much traction. Social media also enables false information to spread and become viral.

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“There’s no moderation on social media, there’s not gatekeeping, there’s no guardrails. It’s very open and people get pretty expressive,” said Groom

“Nobody rallies a mob by standing up in front of them and saying, ‘let’s be moderate, let’s be reasonable and let’s use our heads.’ They motivate a mob by saying ‘come on let’s burn the place down,’” adds Groom.

In Medicine Hat and surrounding communities, Groom said he is noticing local NDP candidates are targeting their voters with an increased presence on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

“The NDP might be looking at this as an opportunity to fill that gap that’s being left between Drew Barnes and the UCP candidate, which, we usually vote pretty far to the right or to the right side of the spectrum here,” says Groom.

“But, as we know a few years ago when the vote was split on the right, we ended up with an NDP candidate who became the speaker,” adds Groom.

Alberta’s fixed date for the provincial election is May 29, 2023. Advance voting runs between May 23–27.

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