All over the world, bankers, economists and Governments are watching the growth of Facebook with envy.
Imaging getting a hundred million new customers between April and September. Wow. Pretty good stuff.
Wouldnt it be great if we could grow the the country's economy the same way.
Well - the good news is - there is a way.
First the Government has to be able to get your attention.
When was the last time that you caught a bus or a train to travel from destination A to Destination B and then upon reaching your destination, asking the Bus, Train or Tram driver what their name was so that you could look up their Facebook or Youtube page?
Oh, you never have?
So don’t you find it unusual that you were delivered safely from A to B and no-one welcomed the event with a fanfare of trumpets?
Ahhh, well there’s the difference.
You’re probably not a politician (but if you are - please skip to "If I was the Prime Minister").
Politicians don’t seem to realise that they are merely pro-tem drivers of the country from destination A (when they’re elected) and Destination B, when they’re un-elected.
(Granted, yes, a country is bigger than the
Politicians unfortunately seem to require every moment of their lives to be featured on the news, quoted in magazines and newspapers. Unfortunately, the public are choosing to ignore the mainstream media and are electing to concentrate on internet alternatives.
Which is just as well as the media's editorial opinion (spin) applied to some of their actions are not exactly designed to always show them in a favourable light.
So several of our elected members have decided to go one on one with the public via Facebook, Google and other non-media owned internet outlets.
But they don’t quite “Grok” the current Gen XYZ’ers – who are
far more interested in what the Prime Ministers Farmville score would be if he
played, than what was said during question time at
Why?
Because, just as passengers do not need to know the brake horse-power of their chosen conveyance methodology, question time is the nitty gritty of Government and way beyond the understanding of the average citizen. Which I opine is exactly why lobbyists manage to convince Prime Ministers to back their “questionable” bills.
And exactly why the public have a negative follow-up knee-jerk negative reaction at the polls.
“But I was sure they would like that policy………….”
“Yes Minister. So did we at the ministry. All our internal
polls said that it would be popular.”
“Internal? You mean you didn’t ask the public?”
“Good God no, Minister – we couldn’t ask the public. They don’t know what’s good for them. We just always go with what the lobbyists tell us that the public really want – after all Minister, it’s the lobbyists that advised their employerrs to donate all that money to your election campaign. So obviously they know what the public want.”
Maybe what we need on the Internet is new Game….
If I was the Prime Minister
Written by the dedicated APH coders.
Congratulations, You have been elected as the Prime Minister of Australia.
Your Treasurer, has just delivered a Budget allocating you 600 billion to spend over the next four years.
You……..
Buy Nuclear Submarines - 10,000 points
Increase Education spending +5,000 points
Pass Copyright Laws that no-one Understands -10,000 points
Increase Nurses salaries +5,000 points
Pass Legislation mandating that all doctors charge
Within the Medicare guidelines for short visit. +5000 points
Increase the army (to enable
our northern neighbours in trouble in the future) +5000 points
Speed up the NBN rollout by five years by ignoring present
Telephone Companies lobbying for position. +20,000 points
Insist that all mineral exports be smelted into ingots +50,000 points
Ahh, wouldn’t it be nice if Government was as simple as playing game.
Then everyone would be genuinely interested in the score and politicians wouldn’t have to wonder why no-one was reading their Facebook pages/Blogs/Youtube Videos.
Facebook is all about “Look at me aren’t I great?”
But usually only after a high score has been achieved.
The ribbons are issued for achievements – not talking about agreeing to consider reaching an objective.
And opposition members, this applies to you as well.
Very few Australians are actually “really” interested in “Me too position paper on the same subject as what the Minister said”.
Yes it fills Newspapers and the evening news….. NEWSFLASH….. Hardly anyone buys newspapers anymore and as for the evening news ? (Samo Samo – ratings dropping 30% per year).
If you want the attention of the Australian people, turn politics into a fun game.
BHP just won a contract for 100 million tones of
This will enable ship builders in
Do you:
A) Ship the ore to get a fast quick profit? 20 points
B) Change the rules so that the steel is smelted 1000 points
and formed in
C) Try to convince the Ship makers to open a plant in
(By giving them a thirty percent discount on the steel.) 50,000 points
In this way, at least Australians will understand what the Government does and why it does it.
Fairfax or News Limited had such a (budget analysis) game on their web site earlier this year.
It is a shame that their version was designed as political criticism rather than a tool to obtaining the engagement and attention of the next crop of voters.
Yes, a game is a good idea. Each item in the game is basically a mini referendum poll.
If the game becomes a set funnel for a pre-existing lobbied target then I’m afraid Australians (who incidentally have a higher IQ than our American friends) would see through the ruse.
Put it on Facebook and you never know – we might get the
whole world having a say in how to govern
Ahem – whisper whisper whisper……..
Sorry, what was that? We already have the whole world telling us what to do?
No, that can’t be right – We’re Aussies. We make up our own minds - don’t we?
