Tories need social media policy to avoid a repeat of Cameron-Duncan Smith Twitter gaffe says Tech Mahindra

'Politicians' image consulting in the physical world needs a corresponding mechanism online' says VP Narayanan.

David Cameron and his party need to follow the Liberal Democrats and write a social media policy in order to capitalise on an online world slipping beyond its grasp.

That is the belief of Ananthakrishnan Narayanan, vice president of Europe at software services and integration firm Tech Mahindra.

Following the publication of its list of the top 10 UK politics tweeters, Narayanan told Computing, "Members of the public tend to follow people, not organisations.

"For example, Oliver Letwin has 1,400 followers, but has not tweeted. Social media is a platform. You need to share your thoughts, opinions and points of view, and engage with the public.

"But that is not necessarily something people in public life or the media glare would aim to do, particularly if they're in positions of power, as politicians are," said Narayanan.

But Narayanan lauded the Liberal Democrats for being the only major party with "any kind of guidelines that will translate into a framework".

Such a framework, he said, will be essential for politicians to bridge public and online profiles in the future in order to stop events such as Cameron "mistakenly tweeting a fake Ian Duncan Smith handle", as the prime minister did last week.

"Every politician has a public image and that's built over a period of time," said Narayanan.

"They have image consultants and PR contributing to that persona, as well as guidelines and policies laid out by their parties. If that can happen in the physical world outside, you need a corresponding mechanism online."

Tech Mahindra's top 10 list of political tweeters, measured on a scale of audience number per tweet, level of interaction with followers, and overall following runs as follows:

  1. David Cameron
  2. Ed Milliband
  3. William Hague
  4. George Galloway
  5. Tom Watson
  6. Nick Clegg
  7. Ed Balls
  8. Grant Schapps
  9. Caroline Lucas
  10. Chuka Umunna