Nicole Gooch and I continue our investigation into the Keep Carmel Twitter campaign run by One Small Planet during the 2011 NSW Election. The NSW Greens announced that they have complained to the NSW Funding Authority.
“Claimed” said a tweet on the ‘Keep Carmel’ Twitter feed. Carmel Tebbutt had just won the inner-Sydney seat of Marrickville by a tight 0.9 % margin.
It signalled the end of a nearly two month long Twitter campaign which posted 370 tweets promoting the candidate’s achievements and future promises, engaged with the media, and rebutted the campaign of the Greens candidate Fiona Byrne who threatened Labor’s hold on seat. What twitter readers would not have known if that the Twitter campaign was a commercial marketing venture run by ex One-Tel director Brad Keeling.
I reported on this story with Nicole Gooch. It raises questions both about role of marketing in political campaigns and whether Brad Keeling’s One Small Planet and the NSW ALP are in breach of the NSW funding laws which limit the value of donations from third- party organisations.