GRIFFITH council hopefuls have taken their campaigns to social media in a bid to build their profiles.
In just over three weeks, the people of Griffith will take to the polls and both the mayor and councillor candidates are using every tool available to their advantage.
Councillor Doug Curran, while keeping a relatively low profile on social media, said he was using Facebook to monitor the general feeling of the public and “come up with a plan of attack”.
“I’ve been using social media (to see) what people are thinking,” Cr Curran said.
“I’ve noticed that people are very free with information, they might not call or email you anymore, but they’ll put complaints or suggestions on Facebook.”
He said council’s flood page proved a vital resource during the disaster and he was “very happy” with the level of feedback.
“Social media is an emerging prominent area of communication,” he said.
“The days of face-to-face and phones are going. Now we look at comments (online) and form opinions from the information that we’re given.”
Cr Simon Croce, who will run for mayor, has pre-empted a win by changing his profile picture to a photograph of himself wearing “mayoral bling”.
“I put the picture up as a bit of fun, just making light of the situation,” Cr Croce said.
“We have enough seriousness in the world as it is.”
Cr Croce said social media had not been utilised to its full potential during this election campaign, though he found it useful during the City Park canal fencing debate.
“Moving into the future, I think it will be used more,” he said.
“It is a tool.”
Mayor Mike Neville has ramped up his election campaign efforts on Facebook.
Also, a new Facebook page, Griffith Vote 2012, has been set up to keep people up to date with all the latest election news.