The Wire

When Tony Abbott appeared on the ABC’s QandA program this week, their Twitter site had an astounding 35,826 tweets. But the Coalition Leader doesn’t seem to be paying attention. At the beginning of this election campaign The Wire took a look at how politicians are using social media like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube – and found that this round of leaders don’t seem to be taking to Twitter with the same gusto as former leaders Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull. So is this more evidence of how media advisors are shying away from message spaces they can’t control? A new study from The Australian National University says politicians risk being ridiculed or ignored if they don’t get on the Twitter train.