Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi is no stranger to social media campaigning. As far back as his first mayoral campaign, Nenshi remembers using Twitter — now X — to connect with voters.
“We said in 2010 that we don't use [Twitter] as a television, but as a telephone where we talk to people,” he said. “When I first started in this business, social media used to be a great way to have conversations with people.”
Fifteen years on, Nenshi said, the digital landscape has taken a turn, fuelled by algorithms and hostility. “Getting the message out” is much more difficult.
“The bots, the trolls, the people who jump on any comments have made it impossible to actually have real conversations with people," said Nenshi.
Naheed Nenshi celebrates his mayoral victory on Oct. 16, 2017.
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