Apps and QR Codes Spice Up Political Campaigns

It is campaign and elections time in North America, with the United States and Canada being swept by the campaign fever.

In Canada, politicians are turning to social media, QR codes and apps to gather the votes.

Social Media in Politics

All major Canadian political parties and candidates have a Facebook account or a Twitter account, or both. A handful of political hopefuls uses Google+. Social media, it seems, is a great platform to be on for you to be heard by the voting public. It also allows politicians and their parties to get more feedback and interact with their constituents.

Green Party of Ontario’s director of communications Rebecca Harrison says that these technologies are the right fit for getting the “youth vote.” According to her, those who are in the 18 to 30 age bracket are the ones who use and are most comfortable with social media.

However, with all the politicians and their respective parties getting on social media, it can be very difficult to get the voters’ attention and interest. So what do they do? Add QR codes and mobile apps into the mix.

QR Codes Give Additional Boost

Several politicians under the Green Party, such as Tim Grant, have put up QR codes on their campaign materials and buses. Liberal candidates Dalton McGuinty and Yasir Naqvi also used these codes for their campaigns.

Naqvi has a special reason to use the QR codes. It allows his constituents to visit his site without typing the URL into their browsers. This is important because a lot of people, according to Naqvi, misspells his name as “Naquvi.”

And So Do Mobile Apps

The Progressive Conservative party puts its campaign a step forward with the “Change Ahead” mobile app. The app literally turns politics into a game, letting people collect points and get badges for liking a picture, sharing links, or supporting the party through status updates.