How did social Media affect the election

 Following the municipal election candidates on twitter gave me a couple of surprises. 
1. The number of followers, tweets, re-tweets, had no reflections on the number of votes and those in the bottom 35 accounted for <5% of the vote and those that dropped out account for <1% of the vote.
2. The tone or the negative tweets didn't negatively reflect on the support at the polls.

Three things that didn't surprise me
1. only 50-70% of candidates used twitter and/or facebook, and some of them didn't use it at all
@torontovote/ran4mayor2010

Candidates in the 2010 October Toronto Mayor Race (official primary or active twitter account)

2. There was a lot more sharing of ideas, by the otherwise 35 unknown candidates to the 5 in the media spotlight (ignoring those that dropped out the race before the deadline)
3. Some candidates just used it to follow or put another down instead of sharing their own platform.
4. The number of non official mayor accounts (I found 38) almost out numbered the number of candidates 40
@torontovote/notmayor

unofficial, unreal, or funny, copycat or mocking, but isn't imitation the best form of flattery

People this list follows

	TOpiratemayor Toronto Pirate Mayor
	ANY1BUTGEORGE Stop George!
	NPsteve Steve Murray
	ShitSmittySays Hugh Mangenome
	Babak_Eslahjou Babak Eslahjou
	thomsonreport Thomson Crew
	aboutsmitherman Curious About George
	RobFordAngry
	shitrobfordsays Shit Rob Ford Says
	MayorBlobFord Shit Mayor Ford Says
	OTnosmohT The Great One
	mayorobford Rob Ford (fake Rob)
	Bikemayor vote 4 bikes
	AcclaimJohnTory Acclaim John Tory
	TheRealJohnTory John Tory
	torytube Not John Tory
	notjohntory Not John Tory
	Mayor_George Mayor George
	meatloafmayor Mayor Meatloaf
	MayorFord Mayor Ford

	AcidGuy4Mayor acidguyformayor
	danformayor Dan Phillips
	subwaymayor subway mayor
	fakemambamayor Fake Mamba Mayor
	MovieMayor Bert Xanadu
	mayorzanta Zanta
	sarahskey Not Sarah Thomson
	RoccoForMayor Rocco
	danformayortv Dan For Mayor
	mayorofmars Mayor of Mars
	SecondCityTO Second City Toronto
	NoNameMayor Toronto Mayor
	mambamayor Mamba Mayor
	rebelmayor WilliamLyonMacKenzie
	Giorgio_News Giorgio News
	giorgio_4_mayor giorgio mammoliti
	MayorGiambrone Adam

My poll did NOT reflect real life

But it was nice to see my twitter followers voted my way
The 11 #wotwitter (without twitter) and 2 that dropped out  were excluded from my poll but I had not idea they would get so many votes in real life (guess some id 10 t's were not watching the media or twitter)

MAYOR - City of Toronto 1815 of 1870 Polls Reporting
Candidate	Total votes	% of total votes
Rob Ford	352605	47.217%
George Smitherman	264692	35.444%
Joe Pantalone	88147	11.804%
Rocco Rossi (dropped out of race excluded)	4584	0.614%
George Babula (not found on twitter)	3017	0.404%
Rocco Achampong	2582	0.346%
Abdullah-Baquie Ghazi	2548	0.341%
Michael Alexander (not found on twitter)	2223	0.298%
Vijay Sarma (not found on twitter)	2016	0.27%
Jaime Castillo (not found on twitter)	1715	0.23%
Sarah Thomson (dropped out of race excluded)	1691	0.226%
Dewitt Lee	1506	0.202%
Douglas Campbell (not found on twitter)	1303	0.174%
Kevin Clarke	1289	0.173%
Joseph Pampena	1252	0.168%
Michael Flie	1101	0.147%
Monowar Hossain	1098	0.147%
David Epstein	1080	0.145%
Don Andrews (not found on twitter)	971	0.13%
Weizhen Tang (private twitter account)	788	0.106%
Daniel Walker	744	0.1%
Michael Brausewetter (not found on twitter)	742	0.099%
Keith Cole	725	0.097%
Charlene Cottle	684	0.092%
Barry Goodhead	683	0.091%
Tibor Steinberger	681	0.091%
Christopher Ball (not found on twitter)	650	0.087%
James Di Fiore	609	0.082%
Diane Devenyi	582	0.078%
John Letonja (not found on twitter)	550	0.074%
Himy Syed	524	0.07%
Carmen Macklin (not found on twitter)	523	0.07%
Howard Gomberg	422	0.057%
Mark State	404	0.054%
Phil Taylor	402	0.054%
David Vallance	401	0.054%
Selwyn Firth	379	0.051%
Colin Magee	362	0.048%
Ratan Wadhwa (not found on twitter)	274	0.037%
Gerald Derome	234	0.031%
Totals	746783	100%

Unofficial results as of October 25,2010 09:17 PM

Poll of all candidates on Twitter

Only 10 days to vote in the Poll on the right, deadline is 8pm October 25th
It only includes the 27 who haven't withdrawn as of Oct 15th and were found on twitter on this date. Granted there are 40 official candidates, only 29 were found on twitter and Sara Thomson and Rocco Rossi have publicly withdrawn, it was past the office cut off date to make it official


A race for Mayor 4th place? @HiMYSYeD and @OddmanicMayorJames Di Fiore I'm waiting for another #voteTO phone Poll without Rocco's name


If #VoteTO support was measured by @klout @oddmanicmayorhas 28K @HiMYSYeD has 41K if @grader James Di Fiore has 85% and Himy Syed 98.9%


So even though my results will only show the results of those who watch twitter or my blog, it is an unbiased poll that wasn't commissioned by any candidate as this election/twitter account doesn't show favoritism (but only concentrates on those not in the #media3 spotlight.

getting noticed

It may be too late to join the race but if you have already added your name to Toronto's list of nominees it's not too late to get noticed in social media (even if the other media is ignoring you) but you do need a twitter or facebook account and go door to door. On my twitter account I have up to 20 lists the most popular are: councillorsCity of Toronto Councillors running for election in the 2010 #voteTO race mayorCandidates in the 2010 October Toronto Mayor Race (official primary or active twitter account)mayorallToronto Mayor Candidates in the 2010 October Race, includes duplicates and their campaign managerstdsbToronto District School Boardmayorless3all the Mayor Candidates found on twitter excluding the 3 in the media all the time (removed the 2 that withdrew after the deadline) 
I also have created 2 ward lists and follow any lists that I have found for candidates in other wardsv4tw10Following #voteto candidates running in Ward10 Toronto (and/or TDSB York Centre) use #v4tw22v4tw22Candidates running in Toronto's St Paul's ward22 use #v4tw22 to promote your tweet@nealjennings/to-ward-27-candidatesPlease let me know of any others with lists for candidates in other wards as twitters limit is 20 and Toronto has 44 wards  

New Poll Best Way to get attention

With very few days to join the race the (nomination period will close at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 10, 2010)  there are 33 Mayor candidates not getting a lot of coverage as of 6th Sept 2010 there are 38 Mayor candidates, 27 (or 71% ) have been found with a twitter account and 10 without. I have been tracking the Mayors different ways on twitter

1. By following them on my other twitter account @TorontoVote
2. By adding them to various lists @torontovote/mayor which includes only their primary or personal account @torontovote/mayorless5 all the above candidates excluding the top 5 in the Media and @torontovote/mayorall which includes any twitter that might be a mayor or a Campaign team account @torontovote/mayorall
3. ReTweeting (RT) Platforms, initial announcements they are running upcoming events they are or will be at.
4. Finding and identifying those that are Hosting or Tweeting events Live with my list @torontovote/votetolive

If anyone one is aware of any Councillors, Trustees or Mayor Candidates that are on twitter and are not listed or followed (mostly mayors) by me yet let me know and I will add them so they can be found faster

The City of Toronto even has a twitter account (without realizing it) only 1 letter longer than my own http://twitter.com/torontovotes and they encourage but do not enforce candidates updating their contact information online.

@torontovote Toronto Elections can't post candidate info 'til they sign/submit a "Consent to Additional Methods of Public Disclosure" form3:59 PM Aug 19th via HootSuite in reply to torontovoteRetweeted by you and 2 others
So if candidate doesn't have a Website, Twitter or Facebook Account do they deserve your vote in the off chance they find you at home and you answer the door when they call?
So take my Poll and let them know how you prefer to find out their views/platforms.

New facebook page to attract others to twitter