The Labour Party should get off Twitter – before it’s too late

The party has to choose between appealing to people on Twitter, or the wider public

It’s about time the Labour Party, especially the leadership, faced up to the uncomfortable truth: we are obsessed by what’s happening on Twitter and it is hurting the party.

Ban it. Delete it. Avoid it at all costs. It’s a wrecking ball to the party’s chances of re-election. The Labour leadership and its MPs should take the decision to stop using Twitter and try life without it.

Look, I’m not a luddite. I joined Twitter in 2009, and people used to joke I was always on it. Twitter has been a godsend for my career as a journalist and writer. I launched and ran the UK’s most popular left-wing blog because I felt the left was unable to get heard on social media; I have run numerous successful (and unsuccessful) campaigns through social media; I helped launch Netroots UK, a space for left-wing digital activism, back in 2011. I have been very much online for about 20 years.

But I’m not trying to get elected. And frankly Twitter has become a noose around the Labour Party’s neck. Twitter is hindering – not helping – the Labour party get elected, and it’s time to admit that.

First and foremost, the Labour Party accrues no benefits from being able to spread its message through social media. Let others – journalists and activists – do that on its behalf. Jeremy Corbyn thought social media would give him an edge over the Conservatives but this turned out to be a mirage; the party was just preaching to the converted. It should keep its time and effort on social media to a minimum.

Instead, Twitter is like quicksand for the Labour Party – the more it struggles to get heard, the deeper it gets sucked into the ground. The platform has become an echo chamber for factional arguments. And those arguments take place with added ferocity and viciousness because people know Labour MPs are paying attention.

Worse, its MPs get sucked into Twitter arguments, which poisons the environment even further. The party spends most of its time talking to itself and little to the people it’s trying to persuade. It can’t even focus on hammering a few key messages because any wild tweet by an MP can become a controversy and throw the party off its message.

Twitter skews our perspective on the world. The conversations and debates that MPs get sucked into are mostly alien to the public; the time it takes up could be better spent elsewhere. In my view, Twitter has become an utterly cynical and negative space for progressives, and a party that sounds cynical and negative isn’t going to get elected.

It needs to break away from this space in order to think differently. Its women MPs are constantly barraged by vicious and threatening tweets, which I can’t imagine is good for their mental health either.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

Twitter also murders nuance. It’s great for MPs who want to pump out slogans and clichés all day, but not for people who know that life is a bit more complicated. This place is better for MPs like Zarah Sultana and Richard Burgeon who want to preach the gospel, than for MPs looking to get reelected in marginal seats. If the party wants to come across as moderate, nuanced and less hysterical, getting its MPs to stop using Twitter would be a great start.

The Labour Party has to choose between appealing to people on Twitter, or the wider public. If it wants to get elected it needs to do the latter. Social media is great for journalists, activists, campaigners, agitators and grifters. It’s not so great for people trying to get into government.