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Bahrain 2010 Elections: Social Media Winners and Losers
Almost a month has passed since the elections, and I think it’s time to evaluate and see how well the ‘web warriors‘ did in the elections. But before we do that, I just wanted to highlight some of the other tools used for election campaigns and on voting day.
YouTube
Since political ads are not aired on local TV (for a number of different reasons), many political societies and some independant candidates turned to YouTube to convey their messages to their voters. Most were either cringeworthy or Windows Movie Maker disasters and I apologize for raping your eyes during the next videos
Al-Wefaq
Al-Minbar Al-Taqadomi Al-Demoqrati
Al-Asala
Al-Minbar Al-Islami
Independent Isa Salmeen
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=103854216346976
Most of the videos above did not reach any big audiences mostly averaging around 100-150 views only. On the other hand the biggest and best YouTube campaign was Waad’s series of ads, recorded speeches and seminars. The most daring and meaningful of the ads was this one, discussing the allegations of military personnel being ordered to vote for “government friendly” candidates and encouraging them to follow “their own will, not the will of others”
SMS: Settled Massive Scores
We did mention SMS text messages before as a means of campaigning and of spreading rumours against rival candidates. In 2010 the campaigns were as ferocious and many people bemoaned the “spamminess” of such text messages. This was especially true in the second round of voting and in particular the Central 8th district (Ali Zayed vs Dr. Abdulatif Al-Shaikh) where both camps bombarded voters with almost hourly SMS messages to encourage them to vote and even offer transportation to and from the polling stations.
In an interesting turn of events, the Shia voters despite not favouring any of the candidates, were compelled to vote against the former MP after a falling out in regards to a housing project between four towns in his district. They sent out mass SMS messages to many voters to vote against Al-Shaikh which eventually led to him losing his seat to Ali Zayed.
..And now on to The Losers
1. Former MP Sami Al-Buhairi
We highlighted him as one of the biggest winners in using social media but unfortunately he lost by a very substantial margin. His friends list on Facebook now hovers around 900 friends whereas in the polling he only received 300 votes!
His biggest flaw was his lack of FOCUS in attracting his voters. It seems that he did not consider the age of his FB friends nor their eligibility to vote nor where they actually lived . Moral of the story: Randomly adding friends on Facebook doesn’t win you votes.
2. MP Isa Al-Kooheji
“But he won the election!” Yes, he did but his web strategy was very flawed and hardly played a role in him winning the election. I admire his use of WordPress, YouTube and Flickr but they only were used as archives of him opening his campaign tent and celebrating his win, very few of the blog posts talked about his program and were more focused on quashing rumours surrounding him.
His Facebook profile was the same, an archive of his campaign ads and events and nothing about his program. But his biggest flaw is not ENGAGING with his FB friends/ potential voters as no one can post anything on his Facebook wall almost as if putting a ‘wall’ between him and his friends and not giving an opportunity for people to discuss and share ideas with him.
Moral of the story: If you’re going to use social media, ENGAGE with your audience and be part of the conversation.
3. Most losing candidates
Many candidates knew that Facebook is very popular so they decided to start Facebook groups (or let their children do it for them) then add a few friends (usually the children’s friends whom are usually not eligible to vote) and hardly update their profile thus making it a waste of time and meaningless. The smallest candidate group I saw only had 29 members and I couldn’t find it anywhere (deleted?)
Moral of the story: GRAB ATTENTION by actively adding content on the Facebook Page or Group and inviting more friends to spread word of mouth.
..And the winners are
1. Municipality Council member (MCM) Fatima Salman
I must admit, she didn’t really use Social Media in her election campaign but she has a promising start in engaging with her Facebook friends as a council member by posting news links and images of her visits around her district and highlighting some of the problems the community are facing including lack of trash containers and poor lighting on streets and public parks and playgrounds etc.
Her friends are also able to post on her wall and share their thoughts and questions.
I honestly don’t know if she actually adds the content herself or has someone to do that for her, it’s still a good sign and I hope she gets better at connecting with her community via social media in the future.
2. Waad
Despite not winning any seats, Social media played a big role in their campaign and learned a lot from Obama’s infamous presidential campaign. Like Obama, Waad’s tech savvy approach related well with younger voters and Bahrainis in general with the incredible amount of rich content being added on a daily basis on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Waad also increased their dependancy on social networks, after their newsletter was stopped for allegedly break the publication laws in Bahrain two months before the election, and used them to circulate their election program and kickstart the Nationalist movement in Bahrain once again.
The Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker is a great guide on how to use social media for social change, and one of the main ‘formulas’ she discusses is FOCUS + GET and Waad ticked all those boxes:
- FOCUS: They focused on specific target groups during their campaign such as young voters and military personnel by creating specific content aimed at them.
- GRAB ATTENTION: The quality of the daily updated materials became viral both on Facebook and Twitter thus helping them gain over 4,500 friends and fans between their candidates
- ENGAGE: Creating discussions through content and status updates.
- TAKE ACTION: Like the previous video aimed at military personnel to vote freely rather than simply following orders.
Waad’s General Secretary Ebrahim Sharif has praised this campaign as a victory in expanding their supporter base especially with the younger generations and I think this video really says it all
When diamond rings fall into the toilet..
(Courtesy of freegaza.org via Flickr)
This is ‘Spirit of Humanity’, the boat that left from Cyprus to Gaza with five brave Bahrainis on board on a humanitarian trip to send food and medicine for the people of the open air prison called Gaza. The ship was hijacked by the Israeli Navy and all on board were detained.
Now knowing how ruthless the Israeli regime is and their unpredictability, lack of humanity and disregard to human rights, the Bahrain government acted swiftly to gain the release of these Bahrainis and have now flown back home safely on a royal jet.
That jet landed in Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.
This apparently pissed off this dude..
إن الزيارة فاجأتنا جميعا، وأشعرتنا بالصدمة، فهي تمت بدون تنسيق مع ممثلي الشعب (كالعادة)، وبسرعة هائلة وفي غموض بيّن، ونحن نسأل الخارجية كيف تم ترتيب الزيارة بهذه السهولة والسرعة؟ وهل حدثت اتصالات مباشرة بين المسئولين البحرينيين والصهاينة؟ ومن رتب نزول الوفد في مطار بن جوريون؟ وهل توجد دائرة اتصال مباشرة مع الصهاينة؟ ولماذا لم يتم استخدام وسيط ثالث من دون الاتصال مع العدو الصهيوني؟ وكيف يتم ارسال وفد بحريني الى مطار العدو الصهيوني الغاصب وتتم الاستهانة بثوابت الشعب بهذه السهولة؟
This visit was a surprise to us, and we are shocked. This procedure was done without the representatives of the people and swiftly under great secrecy. We ask the Foreign Ministry how this visit was planned and why was it so swift? Were there direct contacts between the Bahraini and Zoinist officials? And who organized the landing in Ben Gurion Airport? Why wasn’t there a third party between us and the Zionists? How can they (FM) send a Bahraini delegation and disregard the beliefs and principles of the people so easily?
إن احتجاز البحرينيين الخمسة يجب ألا يكون حصان طروادة لكسر المقاطعة، وألا يستخدم كحُجة لكسر المناعة الشعبية، فالشعب البحريني العربي المسلم يرفض التطبيع. والمقاطعة هي السلاح الوحيد المتبقي للشعوب العربية، فلماذا تتخذ بين الحين والآخر خطوات تضعفه وتنال من تأثيره. فهذا خروج على ثوابت الشعوب العربية التي تُصر على المقاطعة وترفض أي شكل من أشكال التطبيع مع الصهاينة.
The detaining of the Bahraini Five shouldn’t be a ‘Trojan Horse’ to break our boycott against the Israelis, nor change our feelings, for the Bahraini people is an Arab Islamic people who are against Zionism. Boycotting is the only weapon left for us Arab countries, so why do we compromise that from time to time? This is a betrayal to our principles and we refuse any relations with the Zionists.
Now, MP Adel Abdulrahman Al-Moawdeh is the head of the Foriegn Affairs and Defense committee in our parliament, but I think he thinks he’s the Foreign minister as well.. Well you’re not.
The main objective of their landing in Tel Aviv was not to have some hoummos, participate in a bar mitzfah and buy a souvenier skull cap, it was to return these five Bahraini citizens back home safe and sound.
This is what the Foreign Ministry should always do, make sure that our citizens are safe everywhere they go and insure their safe return home when in danger. We all know they haven’t been so good at it, with citizens still detained in Saudi and UAE, whom mind you are both members of the GCC, the easiest people we can negoiate with in the WORLD.
What sickens me is how MP Al-Moawdeh actually wants those detainees to stay longer in the occupied territories under Israeli guns whilst the Bahraini official tip-toe around to find a third party to help us negoiate the release of our fellow Bahrainis, just so they don’t hurt the ‘feelings’ of the Bahraini people.
I’m very sorry, but when it comes to diamond rings falling into a toilet full of crap (exactly the same contents of our dear MPs heads), pulling them out is the only thing I would think about.. And the most important thing is that I wouldn’t do it just to start relations with Sh*t!
Lives are more important that egoes..
On a lighter note: The Bahraini Five are planning another shot at entering Gaza..That’s Punk Rock!
Six months a piece
Al-Wasat newspaper must be the only newspaper in Bahrain that writes about every single court case happening in the country, and with Bahrain’s shockingly easy and light punishments, readers can expect to find a couple of jaw-dropping whoppers on a daily basis.
I just want to show a couple of cases from today’s newspaper, similar stories and exact same punishment!
6 أشهر لفتاة تسببت بوفاة طفل وهربت
حكمت المحكمة الصغرى السادسة بحبس متهمة بحرينية من مواليد 1988 تسببت بوفاة الطفل عيسى حسن محمد دسمال لمدة 6 أشهر مع النفاذ.
وقد علمت “الوسط” أن المتهمة كانت تقود السيارة بسرعة 160 كيلو متراً في الساعة وعند مواجهتها بالتهمة المنسوبة إليها اعترفت إلا أنها عللت بأن الطفل المتوفى هو الذي تسبب في الحادث.
وكانت منطقة المعامير شيعت جثمان الطفل عيسى حسن محمد دسمال الذي قضى نحبه إثر اصطدام سيارة به حينما كان يهم بعبور الشارع من جهة مضمار الاستقلال بمدينة عيسى.
Here a young Bahraini lady driving an insane speed of 160km on one of Isa Town’s main roads and hitting a young child crossing the road leading to his unfortunate and untimely death on the scene. Although she confessed that she ran over him but blamed the child as the reason of the accident, not the fact that she was driving 160km in a 80km zone.
Horrible crime..Even uglier excuse…Punishment.. Six months in prison
Second story is quite similar as I said yet with very different protagonists..
6 أشهر لبنغالي تسبب بوفاة مسن بحريني
قضت المحكمة الصغرى السادسة بحبس وافد بنغالي لمدة 6 أشهر مع النفاذ وذلك بعدما تسبب بخطئه في وفاة المجني عليه.
وتشير التفاصيل إلى أن المتهم البنغالي كان يقود مركبته على شارع فرعي في المحرق وهو شارع جمال الدين الأفغاني ولسبب سرعته اصطدم برجل مسن كان يحاول عبور الشارع وقد استطاع المسن قبل الحادث أن يعبر الجزء الأكبر منه.
This time a Bengali man driving on one of Muharraq’s main roads runs over an old man, even though he crossed most of the road at the time of the accident, the driver didn’t have the common sense to slow down, hitting the old man who died later that day.
Horrible accident… No common sense…Punishment… Six months in prison.
Now I don’t know about you but don’t the above stories count for manslaughter? People in sane countries get 6-7 years for manslaughter whilst in our tiny criminal’s paradise we give them a pat on the back and six months in prison (which is actually less time around 4-5 months for reasons I don’t recall at this moment!)
At least it’s good to hear that the law made the two perps ‘equal’ in a court of ‘law’…
14th of Feb… Is it all a fib?
Today marks the 8th anniversary of the ‘Meethaq’ or National Action Charter where 98.4% of ‘Bahrainis’ voted in a referendum for democratic reform and making Bahrain into a constitutional monarchy with a two council system (Representatives and Shuraa)
Columns of praise and satisfaction came flooding from all directions, local and international organisations were full of hope that reform have finally hit these tiny shores…
That we gain the right to vote…
That we can protest, express our opinions without fear and fight for our rights peacefully…
Find and punish those who are corrupted and wish to ruin our beloved country through greed and inciting hatred…
Help spread the wealth fairly to all the people of Bahrain…
To help build an educated, motivated and bright society whose only aim is to make Bahrain a better place draw foreign investment in like paperclips to a magnet…
… and basically live happily ever after…
Eight years on, and it seems that rather than taking a few steps forward we’ve backflipped backwards several times!
People vote… only to get their votes drowned out by illegal balloting, political nationalising and well… candidates who are basically dimwits!
People protest and express their opinions… only to be left unheard by the government, and be called un-Bahraini and greeted by tear gas and being clubbed by foreign ‘Bahrainis’… and in the case of websites, get blocked by a swipe of a pen.
Corruption and proof by the hundreds of pages were discovered… but only to be buried and banned to be called by name and instead journalists,bloggers and people in general use other words which translate into English as ‘sexy’ (مثير) and ‘beet’ (شمندر)
The wealth grew in strides,leaps and bounds but the people only received BD600 trickled over 12 months in one year (where thousands had to cue and beg) while hundreds of square kilometres of land were reclaimed, depriving fisherman from all four corners of Bahrain of their source of food and income, and ‘gifted’ to an exclusive few…
The children of Bahrain all complete their Basic education (100%) and all aspire to enter university and get jobs.. only for the government to help these bright Bahrainis after graduating, get jobs outside Bahrain and ship in foreign and incompetent ‘Bahrainis’ to fill in hundreds of government jobs in ministries and in both the BDF (Bahrain Defense Force) and Interior ministries…
This is not what Bahrain voted for.. This is not what we pictured our lives be in a ‘democratic’ country where the law is fair and is abided by all as equals..
Wake up and smell the roses! And don’t think of putting down that rose on the tombstone that reads ‘Here lies Democracy in Bahrain- Passed before birth’
Our silence will keep this democracy in its coma and eventually pulls it plug!
SPEAK OUT!
I never knew that St. Valentine’s Day could be such a bitch and heartbreaking!
Gulf Daily News Mon 9th Feb. Article about Internet censorship petition
A BAHRAINI blogger has spearheaded the launch of a petition against Internet censorship following a ministerial order to block pornographic and unauthorised websites.
A total of 150 people from Bahrain and other countries have signed the on-line petition since it was initiated last Thursday and more are adding to it every hour, said its creator Eyad Ebrahim.
Mr Ebrahim said he was hoping to collect as many as 5,000 signatures before sending the petition to the Culture and Information Ministry, along with recommendations from bloggers.
“Bahrain is a democracy and we would like to be treated in a democratic way- we are adults and should be treated accordingly,” he told the GDN.
“Any censorship needed should be done in the household.
“Adults should have the freedom to decide which websites they want to censor – the government is trying to play God.”
Mr Ebrahim said a better option than censoring would be to bring those handling the offending website to court and leave it for the judge to decide on the website’s fate.
“It (this censorship) damages Bahrain’s reputation as a liberal country,” he said.
“It would be far better to redirect this energy or to confront it with legal tools rather than blocking it outright.”
The Culture and Information Ministry issued a decree on January 14 informing all telecommunications companies and Internet service providers to prevent access to pornographic and unauthorised websites banned by the ministry, which included some political and on-line discussion forums.
However, Mr Ebrahim said he wanted to know what criteria the ministry had used to decide which websites to block, because while some harmless websites had been blocked, offensive ones were still accessible.
For example, while many political websites had been blocked, others that promoted sectarian hatred were still accessible.
He said if any sites had to be blocked it should have been websites that promoted hatred of any type because they went against the Bahrain Code of Ethics that was launched by bloggers last year.
Mr Ebrahim also questioned the move to ban pornographic sites while Bahrain still had an alleged prostitution industry.
“We see political, economic and social implications to this (Internet censorship),” he said.
“Socially, when it is illegal to access a particular content over the Internet, people will get around it and will be criminalised for this.
“Economically, when it is a law, this will increase the cost on service providers, who will then shift the cost to the clients.
Mr Ebrahim said the block on websites conflicted with Bahraini law, its constitution and international agreements.
“The ministerial order conflicts with other parts in the Bahraini law and constitution,” said Mr Ebrahim.
Furthermore, he said the block on websites violated Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that Bahrain signed on September 20, 2006.
Article 19 states:
l Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
l Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
l The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph two of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities.
It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others.
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.
To sign the petition against Internet censorship visit: www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-internet-censorship-in-bahrain.html.