Thanks @ZNConsulting for running the #EUinfluencer event again this year, and I am happy to finally triumph over @Berlaymonster 💪
But seriously, we need to think a bit more about this idea.
If I am influencing anything in EU affairs, it sure doesn't feel like it.
A thread...
But seriously, we need to think a bit more about this idea.
If I am influencing anything in EU affairs, it sure doesn't feel like it.
A thread...
I am lucky. I was an early adopter of Twitter. I started using this tool before loads of people in Brussels had even heard of it.
That's how I have 60k followers.
It's not because I am any good.
It's because I was early.
That's how I have 60k followers.
It's not because I am any good.
It's because I was early.
That - tying into the discussion with @KingKritick & @JusticeLeagueEU - is something I see as a responsibility.
That people gave me the benefit of the doubt to help me get a decent audience means I ought to act towards others the way I'd expect them to act towards me.
That people gave me the benefit of the doubt to help me get a decent audience means I ought to act towards others the way I'd expect them to act towards me.
That means to try to be as fair to an anonymous account with a few followers that makes a good point as I would be towards someone much higher up the Twitter foodchain than me.
And to try to boost voices traditionally under represented in the Brussels EU bubble.
And to try to boost voices traditionally under represented in the Brussels EU bubble.
But - try as I might at a personal level - I nevertheless see a coarsening of the debate on Twitter, and people not listening to others and not giving each other the benefit of the doubt.
Whereas 5 years ago if you made a good point you might have a MEP or Commissioner reply to you, now you can basically forget it.
You can do complicated and detailed analysis, but it feels like you're tweeting that into a black hole.
You can do complicated and detailed analysis, but it feels like you're tweeting that into a black hole.
Putting it another way: the influence I may once have had in this environment - towards those who have offline influence or an audience much larger than mine - has dissipated.
Take #BrexitDiagram - the thing that I am I suppose best known for. The engagement with those diagrams is so minimal so as to mean I'm not sure it's even worthwhile making them any more.
Do MEPs, Commissioners, MPs, journalists engage with them? Pretty much never.
Maybe they might see them once in a while, but I cannot know.
Maybe they might see them once in a while, but I cannot know.
Instead if I push my audience's emotional buttons - making cheap shots at the expense of my opponents, or using humour to highlight the absurdity of the politics we face - the social media stats go off the scale.
But that's not influence. That's delivering an emotional response.
But that's not influence. That's delivering an emotional response.
I end up feeling like some sort of a community manager, somehow a sort of curator of my tribe. But that tribe cannot be deployed to make any real change to anything in politics in the EU.
It's a strange feeling.
It's a strange feeling.
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