The following is the fourth in a series of articles on the April 11 general elections. ― Ed.


Social networking services are being fully employed in political campaigns for the first time this year.

The decision has been welcomed by some politicians and supporters, but the developments may yet prove to be a double-edged sword.

On Dec. 29, the Constitutional Court ruled that limiting the use of social networking services in election campaigns was unconstitutional, opening new horizons for would-be politicians and public officials.

With the changes, users of social networking services are no longer prohibited from posting messages in support of or against a specific party or a candidate in the run up to the vote. Previously users were restricted from doing so for 180 days leading up to the vote.

“After the regulations regarding election campaign activities conducted through social networking services were eased, voters were given more freedom (in expressing their views),” a National Election Commission official said.

“There have been no major changes in our monitoring operations due to the change, and we are at present unaware of significant increases in the number of violations.”

However, the use of such services is not free from issues.

Some candidates appear to be experiencing problems arising from unfamiliarity with social networking services as campaign tools, while some supporters have already been found to be violating related regulations.

The Twitter account of former Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, who is running as a Saenuri Party candidate, has been blocked three times. Kim and the Saenuri Party have claimed that the developments were the results of organized efforts to hinder his campaign, saying that the blocks were caused by a large number of people reporting the account as spam.

The claims were refuted by Twitter, which said that access to an account would not be denied only because a large number of users have blocked the account, if the account is operated properly. The company also said that the main reasons for being denied access is repeatedly sending messages to users who are not followers of one’s account, and following and being blocked by numerous users in short periods of time.

While such developments may have been results of unfamiliarity with a new tool, others have employed social networking services with malign intent.

A Twitter user was found to have spread falsehoods regarding a candidate running in Gwangju, while the National Election Commission has requested an investigation into four Twitter users for posting song lyrics inciting opposition to candidates supporting free trade agreements.

While social networking services offer a quicker way of spreading messages, experts say that their effectiveness as campaign tools remain untested.

“Fundamentally, messages spread through the services can’t be used to verify whether a candidate is qualified or not, nor test their policies,” professor Yang Seung-ham of Yonsei University said.

“At present the messages tend to be focused on publicity, but the right choice cannot be made if elections become centered on popularity.”

Yang also pointed out that the composition of the users also affects the impact of campaign activities conducted through social networking services.

“As the main users of social networking services are for now those in their 20s and 30s, these tools will be more beneficial to the opposition parties,” Yang said, adding that the conservative Saenuri Party lacks appeal for younger voters.

The nature of the comments made by politicians and the voters may also be restricting the efficacy of social networking services as campaign tools.

“Due to the limit in the word count for each message, the posts tend toward the shallow and provocative, and they are spread without verification. For instance the story about Na Kyung-won and the 100 million won treatment spread very quickly,” Yang said. The former Saenuri Party lawmaker was reported to have had received a 100 million won ($89,000) dermatology treatment while she was running for Seoul mayor last year. The story was later proved to be false.

“Social networking services could bring fundamental changes such as lowering campaign expenses but it will not be in the near future. As things stand now, social networking services cannot and should not become the main campaign tools.”

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)