Lost pets and personality: why Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi may be the master of Twitter

Naheed Nenshi: mayor, pet detective and inexhaustible cheerleader for his city.

The Calgary mayor, named the world’s best earlier this year by the international City Mayors Foundation, owes no small amount of his success to his nimble navigation of social media.

The Calgary Herald has covered Nenshi’s propensity for trying to reunite people with their lost pets. In the 38 days ending on June 15, Nenshi retweeted 38 times about lost or found dogs, cats and birds.

But it’s not just pets. In the past week, Calgary’s mayor has alerted his substantial Twitterverse following (247,000 at last count, for leader of a city of 1.1 million) to found car keys, a pop-up shop featuring a fiddle concert, a multicultural celebration in the park, a lost iPhone, Scouts registration and a high school reunion.

And he tried to help Kevin find his sweater. [[https://twitter.com/nenshi/status/614271657461428224]]

In a profession where a public blunder can be a sentence to political purgatory, Nenshi has mastered the online arena.

“Nenshi is Nenshi on Twitter. He’s himself. He’s not just spouting ideological platitudes,” says Steve Ladurantaye, head of news and government partnerships at Twitter Canada. “He’s just him, he’s talking to people and responding to them and interacting and being friendly.”

Ellis Westwood, senior account director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, says Nenshi really became a social media superstar during the Calgary floods two years ago.

“He looked like he was up 24 hours a day for days on end, constantly on Twitter, individually helping people who were asking him for help, individually messaging thousands of people,” Westwood says.

“I think he just lifted the bar within a few days.”

Public figures should have a personal brand, he says, and be authentic about it.

They need to be accessible and engage with the public through social media.

And they should manage that feed personally.

“I don’t think it’s acceptable for any politicians to not manage their own Twitter personally,” Westwood says. “If he [Nenshi] can personally manage a Twitter feed during a major municipal crisis, individually responding to thousands of people, then there’s just no excuse. No one can say they’re too busy.”

Some do better than others.

The list of top Canadian politician Tweeters, according to Ladurantaye and Westwood, includes:

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Toronto Mayor John Tory.

“They’re not locked down by party structure and people above them,” Ladurantaye says. “I think a lot of MPs are kind of timid because they’re worried that if they say something that’s a little controversial or that isn’t quite ideologically in line with their party they’re going to get smacked down for it.”

That didn’t deter former cabinet minister John Baird, who he calls the “king of Twitter” for his ability to be his own interesting person and to push Canadian diplomacy internationally.

Westwood adds Treasury Board President Tony Clement and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, for engaging the public, even those who disagree with them.

And he singles out B.C. Premier Christy Clark for her sometimes cheeky approach, like when she tweeted a call-out to “yoga-haters” after her planned Yoga Day event was cancelled. [[https://twitter.com/christyclarkbc/status/609040549753032704]]

“When I saw that, it made me laugh and I thought, this is done right. I think it made her seem very human,” he says.

Steve Kent, deputy premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and Yasir Naqvi, an Ontario Liberal MPP, both get nods for their unflagging support for their local communities.

Ladurantaye didn’t want to single out any worst users but Westwood has some suggestions, including the entire Bloc Québécois caucus.

“Their personal brands are non-existent. Basically all they do is have a managed Bloc Québécois presence,” he says. “It says you guys don’t count; you’re just bodies.”

And Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau gets a failing grade.

“I would be surprised if he touched Twitter at all,” Westwood says. “It’s basically a Liberal party communications vehicle and there’s zero engagement.”

Twitter Canada offers training for politicians and candidates on making the most of the medium.

Ladurantaye’s advice:

“Authenticity is the No. 1 thing,” he says. “If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re serious, be serious but don’t try to be funny if you’re serious or serious if you’re funny because people see through that pretty quickly.”