Given Trump’s tweeting, Hong Kong people should welcome Carrie Lam’s stand on social media

It’s difficult to see why setting up a Facebook account would involve such a long deliberation process for one chief executive aspirant. It would seem to be a no-brainer – social media broadens public engagement.

Having started “late in the game”, and being deemed “too removed” from the lives of ordinary citizens, social media is probably the best way to establish a direct channel of communication with the people, even though studies have pointed to the limits of its influence.

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Social media is central to public outreach. As seen not just in the US presidential election, but also our own Legislative Council election in September, campaigns are most active on social media.

Electioneering on such platforms does, of course, mean candidates have less control and a lot more work for their campaign offices. There is less control over what people say and share about you. Opponents and their supporters can hit harder. And there’s also the demand and pressure to generate content. Public engagement has become much more demanding of campaign resources since the advent of social media.

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And in the very scripted world of politics, where teams specialise in tweaking words and tuning nuances, social media does give candidates a less-packaged feel. Calibrated well, it gives them that personal touch. It’s a craft and, if done correctly, enables them to build rapport, as well as broaden their support base in ways unavailable through the more traditional electioneering channels.