So the Canadian election is coming to a close and I've been having a lot of conversations with friends and colleagues analyzing what has transpired and how social media has played a role.

We've all been witness to the Obama campaign and their innovative use of social media and the internet. Explicitly what was different about their internet campaign was the way they asked people to give more than money or support but their labour. This labour might be getting them to come into to campaign offices, but it was more likely to solicit their help in doing work online. Whether that be raising funds or reaching out to friends in key swing states.

All the Canadian political parties are using social media platforms like Facebook, and YouTube, and similarly all political parties have elements of social media on their own site. However without exception, their use is primitive, and generally of a symbolic nature, rather than an explicit social nature.

There are two primary means of employing social media, one is the base level of connection, the social element, that brings people together, and this most often takes place via people sharing videos or emails or web links (a/k/a urls).

The second is on an organizational level, which in the case of a campaign, involves mobilizing volunteer labour to be more efficient and effective. This is the social media that Obama has focused on, and has really made the difference for him. While its true he has also done amazingly well on the social connection, he has done far better on the social mobilization.

In Canada the parties are still too timid to really embrace the latter, although all are dabbling in their own little ways.

The NDP have the most comprehensive platform, titled the Orange Room. My primary criticism of the NDP however is that they are insular rather than inclusive. They have all the tools, but their culture precludes non-NDPers from feeling any appeal to get involved.

The Tories on the other hand have a virtual campaign office, which is a decent site that lays out several means for people to get involved in the campaign. While it does have a bit of insular culture, far less than the NDP, and far more focused on actual labour towards the campaign, to be done online. The tories have a larger base to mobilize and they are at least willing to try to use the net to do it.

The Tories also used social media on the offensive, via the notaleader.ca website. Unfortunately for them it has been a total fiasco from the start. The puffin incident was several days of bad news, and they've barely been able to keep the site online throughout the campaign. It is amateurish and unprofessional. Had they put this much energy into the social media aspect focused on mobilizing their base they would be clear into majority territory rather than stuck 10 yards short as Canadians still distrust them.

The Liberals under Dion are uninspiring, and their social media use reflects this. They use the tools in the minimilaist of ways, and are blowing the biggest opportunity, given that social media could have been used to contrast the Liberal Party as open and inclusive compared to the secretive and arrogant Tories. With that said, they have been focusing their social media efforts on YouTube, and using YouTube to influence mainstream media coverage throughout the campaign.

The Greens are also using social media, and somewhat effectively, although not in an inspiring way. They have lots of blogs, but like the NDP they suffer from insularity and don't understand the difference between that and inclusivity. It's not about speaking to the choir but seducing the electorate.

In fact both the Greens and NDP should have done what a number of non-partisan sites such as Vote for the Environment are doing which is getting voters to target particular swing ridings. The NDP in particular kind of suffer from a geographic bias that has them getting tons of support in a few ridings, but hardly any at all in most others. It's too bad they didn't employ a strategy similar to Obama's targeting of swing states, and have say NDP members in Toronto solicit friends and relatives in ridings across the country.

To conclude, my analysis is that a combination of fear and cynicism is preventing Canadian (federal) political parties from effectively using the Internet this current election cycle. They still seem to be afraid of the internet's potential to embarrass rather than embrace its potential to empower.