Switched-on mps turning to facebook as a mouthpiece

I WAS DEEPLY impressed when I learned last year that Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala launched a Facebook page. The fact is that he was nearly 60 years old then, and very few people at that age are acquainted with this new medium.

It was less surprising to learn later that the then secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission had created a page, mainly to answer questions concerning the capital market.

Yes, it's not a page where he would upload his photos or write personal notes on a daily basis, like teens and other adult users are doing.

opening A page into a forum

Thirachai must be glad that he got acquainted with this medium before joining the Yingluck 1 government. While serving as finance minister, he used the page to show what he was doing in that capacity. When he was dismissed from the post, he started turning the page into a forum - where fiscal facts (as opposed to the government's) are revealed to the public. It's not surprising that he has won a large number of fans. As of February 4, his page had recorded 5,356 "likes".

And it seems his "opponent", Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong, is

busy counterattacking. Displayed on his page were photos tagged by friends.

With a new bullet given by Thirachai, former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij, a Democrat MP, is also busy updating his page with new developments concerning the party's action against the government's moves on public debt.

Somehow, the impression is that some Thai politicians have been charmed by Facebook. Korn has been really active in making new posts, yes, some by his team - particularly when he was busy with a Cabinet post.

Before, the only access to the public was through newspapers, which later posted interviews on people in the news on their websites. Now, those public figures do not need to wait for phone calls. Yes, Facebook is attractive in the way that it is a free space where you can express whatever you like or want to, without having to care if anybody wants to hear it. If you're lucky, people will search for your page and read your posts. If not, you just took a chance. The next one could be a big hit. As a plus, they don't need to be concerned about editing. All the words they want to express are just right there, untouched.

After a brief search, I was surprised that I could not find a page by former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. What I got was a page called "Friends of Abhisit".

Two pages were dedicated to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, with one having over 500,000 "likes".

Indeed, politicians elsewhere are also using Facebook to reach their supporters.

One post by Newt Gingrich, fighting his way to become the Republican candidate for the upcoming US presidential election, was "On Day 1, I'll dismantle 40 per cent of Obama's big government that hurts investment, kills jobs and strangles the economy. Can we get 3,000 'LIKES' from supporters who stand with me in this effort?" Posted on February 3, a day later he got over 20,000 "likes".

tapping Youtube

US President Barack Obama's page also showed a video from YouTube to support his policy to ensure fairer pay for female workers. Another YouTube video also showed Ted Kennedy's endorsement for Obama four years ago. "I know what America can achieve. I've seen it. I've lived it - and with Barack Obama, we can do it again," he said at American University. The page is remarkable in the way it drew over 25 million "likes".

Certainly, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would not mind all these developments. Whatever, the more famous public figures are, the more followers they have. That should only guarantee the success of Facebook's initial public offering. For now, he might be surprised that a tool that was supposed to be a chat board for university students is now a public board for young and old supporters of politicians.