Twittering the debate

Twitter users had a lot to say about last night's election debates, both in Canada and in the U.S.

The micro-blogging site has really come to the forefront as an opinion-sharing/commenting tool for live events like the TV debates, and users are finding innovative ways to take the site beyond simple text messaging:

- Twitter supports the use of "tags" to allow anyone to contribute messages to a shared topic stream. The CBC's Susan Ormiston Online did this last night.

- Elect-o-opinion is a site by two Montrealers that trolls Twitter for messages by and about the five main Canadian parties.

- A Toronto blogger pulled out his favourite tweets of the night.

And for the record, here's a morning-after look back at how the big three parties used their own Twitter feeds last night. No real debate on who gets it:

The Conservatives @ twitter.com/PMHarper
English language debate starting in 15 mins!

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The Liberals @ twitter.com/liberaltour
Great debate! Dion the clear winner, Harper looking deflated – again about 13 hours ago from TwitterBerry      
Debate underway – Dion will remind Canadians Liberals are only Party with a plan for the economy about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry      
Leader just arrived at the NAC. HUGE crowd of Liberals cheering him on. “Dion, Dion, Dion!” about 15 hours ago from TwitterBerry

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The NDP @ twitter.com/jacklayton

The only leader who can defeat Stephen Harper - http://www.ndp.ca/page/7159 about 12 hours ago from web
Duceppe wrong on NDP Afghan vote - http://www.ndp.ca/page/7156 about 13 hours ago from web
Dreadful state of living conditions in Aboriginal communities: http://www.ndp.ca/page/7153 about 13 hours ago from web
Dion's Dubious Commitment to the Kelowna Accord: http://www.ndp.ca/page/7149 #ormistondebate about 13 hours ago from web
The facts on gun crime in Toronto-Danforth http://www.ndp.ca/page/7148 #ormistondebate about 13 hours ago from web
Dion, Layton, Harper debate fiscal effects of their platforms. Here’s the effects of the three plans: http://www.ndp.ca/page/7145 about 13 hours ago from web
Harper claims his party was “committed to our public health system” the facts: http://www.ndp.ca/page/7142 #ormistondebate about 14 hours ago from web
FACT CHECK: Dion wrong on NDP tax rates plan - http://www.ndp.ca/page/7137 #ormistondebate about 14 hours ago from web
FACT CHECK: Bloc not the only party with a Buy Canada policy - http://www.ndp.ca/page/7136 #ormistondebate about 14 hours ago from web
FACT CHECK: Harper says he is making important investments in science and technology in Canada http://www.ndp.ca/page/7135 #ormistondebate about 14 hours ago from web

UPDATED: Liberal Martha Hall Findlay, a former leadership contender, is trying her hand at Twitter. twitter.com/MHallFindlay

Blogger makes new plagiarism charge

Liberal blogger Jerad Gallinger (j-rad.ca) digs up another 2003 speech by then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper that allegedly borrowed lines from another right-wing political leader. Only this time, the right-wing leader was former Ontario premier Mike Harris, and the borrowed lines constitute less than a paragraph.

The Harper speech was a response to the federal budget, hardly a hot-button issue such as supporting the war in Iraq.

Text the (youth) vote!

The Dominion Insitute's Democracy Project is trying to encourage young people to take an interest in the election campaign through an initiative called Youth Text 2008. It's a simple plan: connect young people to the political parties via text messaging.

Youth Text 2008 provides SMS short-codes for the four main national parties (all registered parties were invited, the insitute says), so young people can send questions directly to the parties from their cellphones - and get an answer within 24 hours. Texting the word "party" signs the user up to receive regular information and alerts from the party and the opportunity to take part in electronic polls.

The codes are:

Conservatives  898272 (TXTCPC)
Greens  898476 (TXTGRN)
Liberals  898542 (TXTLIB)
NDP  898637 (TXTNDP)

(The service is free, but standard text message charges would apply - check your cellphone plan.)

The Dominion Institute is a charitable organization founded in 1997 to promote civic participation and knowledge of Canadian history through such initiatives as the Memory Project, which preserves the stories of Canada's war veterans.

But for all the institute's work in attracting the attention of young people, it released a sobering survey today showing that fewer eligible young people intend to vote in this election than in 2006, when only 44 per cent of peoplevoters under age 24 actually cast a vote.

MORE (WE MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME): The parties' attempts to reach voters through new media conduits is failing, according to another Dominion Institute survey that Political Decoder Linda Diebel wrote about last week. Just 9 per cent of respondents said the parties had reached out to voters through social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, according to the survey. Certainly most of the parties, with the exception of the Conservatives, were slow off the mark in adopting the new media approaches in this election - but that has changed over the course of the campaign. Maybe this is the campaign that gets the parties over the hump - strange as it may be to have to say that in 2008.