Now fighting it out on Twitter too

Just  a short post to draw attention to one of the more interesting aspects of the hearings of commissioners-designate, one which may mark an important change in the way EP political groups communicate.

I was fascinated to observe during the seven days of hearings we have already had, and presumably in the one more we are yet to have, the (often contrasting) reactions of the two largest EP political groups were posted almost in real time on Twitter, via the official group feeds.

The EPP (European People’s Party – @EPPGroup), which posted I think the greater number of tweets, took the approach of citing the views of an individual MEP, the group coordinator for the hearing in question, given in the immediate aftermath of each hearing. Though these tweets were attributed to an individual member, the fact they were posted from the EPP Group feed clearly indicated that they could be considered reasonably authoritative as to the group line as a whole.

The S&D group (Socialists and Democrats – @TheProgressives) took a different approach, posting tweets simply in the name of the group, though not systematically after each hearing as the EPP did, but selectively.  In the case of the S&D group, a second string was added by the Group’s Press spokesman, Tony Robinson, twittering in his own name, adding additional comment, speaking clearly for the group. For this, I could not find a direct equivalent in the EPP.

Other political groups did not follow this approach, even those which both have and use group Twitter feeds, for example the third largest ALDE group (@ALDEgroup). That said, many, many members of all groups were twittering in their own right on the subject. (To see who’s active on Twitter, see an interesting, though still slightly buggy, independent aggregation site, Europatweets.)

This is  a radical departure, and one driven purely by the changing online environment.

I am not party to the internal discussions of these groups (or any other), but I can imagine that all have had to address the tension between the internal discussions and processes which are always needed to set a group “line” on any political question and the demands of news media, and now also social media, for quick responses.

What interests me here, for the first time that I have observed, is the outcome. The largest groups in Parliament – not the smallest, which one might expect to find it easier – have clearly decided that the value of getting one’s views out early on Twitter trumps a more prudent reflex.  Obviously, the groups in question avoid unnecessary hostages to fortune, but reading their tweets nonetheless gave a good feel for how the hearings process would pan out. This is actually quite a radical departure, and one driven purely by the changing online environment. Political communication in the EU environment has taken an important step.

It’s early days, for sure, but  Twitterers take note: the EP political groups are now firmly in your midst!