When David Cameron met Christian O’Connell on Absolute Radio and uttered the now infamous comment when O’Connell asked him why he didn’t use Twitter, he boobed big time. The Tory leader’s utterance “The trouble with Twitter… too many twits might make a twat.” may prove to be a far bigger faux pas than originally thought and for quite different reasons.
By branding users of the social network as twats he effectively curbed his party’s ability to make the most of the social network. In short if you are a Tory MP on twitter the leader thinks you might be a bit of a twat. The ‘twat effect’ is now becoming evident as Tory MPs fall behind on the network that was one of the social media pillars of the Obama campaign. Tweetminster delivered a breakdown of MPs (and MEPs) today that put the Tories 5 points behind Labour.
The party breakdown of politicians (MPs + PPCs) on Twitter was as follows:
- Labour 34%
- Conservative 29%
- Liberal Democrat 24%
- Others 13%
If you look at the latest share of tweets the Tory party is in third place with just 18% behind Labour and the Liberal Democrats. This election wont be won or lost on twitter by any stretch of the imagination but is does seem a little naive to immobilize a key platform just to get down with the kids.
Ballot Blogs 
How astute of David.. The whole #cashgordon affair blew up in his face thanks to his colleagues use of Twitter. The Cash Gordon website is now a national joke, Samuel Coates lost any credibility he might have once had and thousands of pounds have been wasted.
On a positive note, we tweeters all had a great laugh at the Tory’s expense!
p.s Sam Coates, you really must make a full public appology to @jimmysparkle or you might find yourself cleaning loos for a living.