Why some MPs should not tweet

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, December 3rd, 2019 - 7 comments
Categories: making shit up, national, same old national, Simon Bridges, social media lolz, twitter, uncategorized, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags:

There was a bit of a blow up on twitter over the weekend.  At 11 pm one night National backbencher Joanne Hayes  at 11 pm at night got her cellphone out and for some inexplicable reason tweeted this:

Maybe she was having a relapse into her Primary School years.

There was some speculation about if this was actually her account and not a satirical account.  After all you cannot trust everything that you read on the internet.  But she admitted that the account was hers.

Jeremy Greenbrook-Held is a very accomplished left wing activist.  He unsuccessfully stood for Labour against John Key in Helensville in 2011.  Talk about taking one for the team.

He has more recently been a very effective campaigner.  There are a few locals who are thankful for his help.

But Hayes’ outburst is very strange.  As is Simon Bridges’ response who thought that because she was not a Minister there was nothing he should do.

From Dan Satherley at Newshub:

Jo Hayes, the National MP who sent an abusive tweet to a former Labour Party candidate, will not be formally disciplined by her boss Simon Bridges because he says she’s “not a minister”. 

“The thing I would say is there is a world of difference… between a Member of Parliament and a minister,” Bridges, National Party leader, told Magic Talk’s Peter Williams.

“Now don’t get me wrong, there are some things that are clearly beyond the pale for MPs and require significant disciplinary reaction… Ministers though, it seems to me, are held to a much higher standard.”

Hayes has said some strange things in the past.  She thinks that making people poorer will help them, and has railed against so called dead beat dads.  In the last National caucus line up shuffle she was dropped down 11 places, and she recently lost the Palmerson North nomination to a 17 year old, even though she was a former Chairperson of National’s Palmerston North branch.

It may be that Hayes’ illustrious career is in the twilight years. I suspect that next year she will be offered the chance of spending more time with her family.

Toby Manhire has this very valuable advice about twitter which all politicians should read:

A leaked guide to social media for National Party candidates from the last election offered sensible advice for sorties on the information superhighway. “Digital brand = personal brand: Your online presence is an extension of yourself and contributes to your image and brand, so think carefully about what you post and how it reflects on you.”

On Twitter it cautioned against overuse, noting it has “a much smaller, less mainstream audience than Facebook”. But “it can be useful to get your message out to local journalists” – as Jo Hayes successfully evidenced today.

The National Party handbook continued: “Twitter is a high risk medium. Only create a Twitter profile if you are a confident social media user. Since it is so easy for journalists and opponents to follow you, a lapse in judgement or even a typo can land you in trouble.”

Joanne Hayes can be offered up as an example of the perils of Twitter.  Do not go there unless you are very confident with social media.  The demise of many political careers started with a careless tweet.

7 comments on “Why some MPs should not tweet ”

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  1. cleangreen 1
    3 December 2019 at 10:47 am

    She seems to be an angry woman and that is not a good role for any politician I say.

    My suggestion is; Try calm and considerate instead, as that wins far more hearts than anger.

    • Chris 1.1
      3 December 2019 at 1:26 pm

      She isn't necessarily angry, so much as incredibly thick. And I wouldn't want any national MP winning hearts. They've got too many of ours already.

      • Sacha 1.1.1
        3 December 2019 at 9:19 pm

        True. Not so much the perils of Twitter as of opening your mouth when you’re that stupid. Where do they find these creatures?

  2. observer 2
    3 December 2019 at 11:30 am

    William Wood should have read the memo too:

    These seem like lovely people.

    National could reasonably have said "nothing to do with us, just some American kids mucking around."

    But instead they deny the truth of the gesture. Social media 101: if you defend it, you own it. If you delete it, you know it. Stupid.

  3. Wensleydale 3
    3 December 2019 at 12:14 pm

    Nothing to see here. Move along. Just National MPs doing what National MPs do. If you find you're becoming steadily irrelevant, say something controversial on social media. There's no such thing as bad publicity, especially in the run-up to an election. It's nice to see Simon running a tight ship and maintaining the impeccable standards of behaviour for which his party is known. (Starting a post with OMG! Has Jo Hayes been possessed by the spirit of a 14-year-old school girl from Lower Hutt?)

    In other news, some politicians should be banned from using anything more sophisticated than a pocket calculator.

  4. greywarshark 4
    3 December 2019 at 2:04 pm

    What a good post that Bene Bashing one is. It brings together the vicious human-hating, moralistic on sexuality, verbal lashers from National with quotes showing how their minds grind on.

    But these objects for the Bill discussed were great – I hope they passed, I can't bear to watch sometimes.

    https://thestandard.org.nz/bene-bashing/

    And onto the debate concerning the Social Assistance Legislation (Budget 2019 Welfare Package) Amendment Bill.

    The bill is designed to implement three things:

    1. Align benefit increases to increases in the average wage. This will result in a gradual increase over time.
    2. Increase the benefit abatement amount from $80 per week to $150 per week.
    3. Do away with the penalty for mothers who do not name fathers of their children.
  5. peterlepaysan 5
    3 December 2019 at 10:30 pm

    Twitter says so much about yourself.