Following my recent post assessing the influence social media is having on the upcoming election in Thailand, I’m grateful to have been able to interview prominent Democrat MP and former Governor of Bangkok Apirak Kosayodhin on the subject.

Unfortunately the interview was via email only, which is never an ideal format, however his responses were of interest as he has a background of using social media for campaigning – long before Facebook was popular in Thailand – and has been the Democrat party’s primary spokesman on social media.

In responding to my questions, Khun Apirak discusses his views on the significance of social media in the election, plans to tackle the country’s digital divide, why incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit started from scratch on Twitter , how his team manages its social communication and more.

Why is social media important for politics in Thailand?

In the year 2000, the number of internet user in Thailand was about 2 million. In the year 2010, the number of user has increased to nearly 18 millions. Nearly 10 million of them have Twitter or Facebook account, where about 66% are young Thais between the ages of 18-35.

The Democrats Party of Thailand sees this as an opportunity to reach out to the people, especially to the young Thais, first-time voters (potentially aged 18-22), and the city people. Without social media, the party could only use other costly and time-consuming ways to promote the policies, such as making posters or advertising cars. By using social media, we can promote the policies with almost no expense, except internet cost, within an instant time period.

Other than its no-cost expense and no-time consuming benefit, we also see the benefit of social media as a two-ways communication tool between the Party and the people. By using social media, the people are able to give feedback to the party’s policies or to participate in creating new and creative policies.

Since the Democrats Party welcomes all suggestion and participation from everyone, social media could become a gateway for all Thais to be involved with the Democrats Party and Thai politics to help leading Thailand to the better future.

You’ve been using social media with political campaigns since the days when Hi5 was Thailand’s most popular social network. How have things changed in today’s digital age with Facebook and Twitter dominant?

In the year 2008, I ran a campaign for my second term as Governor of Bangkok. Back then, social media were still a new function in Thailand. The most popular social media was Hi5, where many teenage Thais used to get in touch with their friends, Facebook was less popular with fewer users, who mostly were working-age people.

I began to use social media for my campaign tool, because I saw its potential to reach out to the online community with nearly no-expenses. I focused more on Hi5 because of its popularity, but I also used Facebook to reach out to its users. Today in Thailand, the most popular social media has been shifted from Hi5 to Facebook and twitter, where nearly 10 million Thais are involved.

For the current national election, The Democrats Party sees the potential in social media. Therefore, we have focused our campaign on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, where they have become a gateway for two-ways communication for our MPs and the Thai people.

There have been different reasons put forward but can you clarify why Abhisit launched a new Twitter account for the election when his original one – @PM_Abhisit – was one of the world’s top ten most followed leaders? Surely starting from scratch with zero followers was not ideal?

After Mr. Abhisit dissolved the House of Parliament, he was no longer a Prime Minister of Thailand, but the leader of the Democrats Party. We saw that it was inappropriate for Mr. Abhisit’s Twitter account to still have “PM” as his profile name. Therefore, the social media team created a new twitter account for Mr. Abhisit: @Abhisit_DP.

The reason we did not simply change the profile name was because we tried to avoid criticism that Mr. Abhisit used the “PM” title to attract followers and then still use them after he is no longer a prime minister.

How important is it that election rules are updated to reflect the significance of social media as a campaign tool. What areas are most in need of clarification?

Every time the Election Committee of Thailand (ECT) requests participation from all parties to discuss the matter, the Democrats Party has always sent its legal team to participate. However, my last campaign was at the end of the year 2010 for the position of constituency MP of Bangkok. During the campaign, I used Facebook as my campaign tool, where ECT did not oppose it. Therefore, I do not believe social media should be illegalized for election campaign. Moreover, social media is an election tool with nearly no-cost expense. Therefore, I believe the medium-sized and small-sized parties would greatly benefit from this new campaign tool.

While social media is a fantastic communications tool it is important to look at the bigger picture. Thailand has a huge digital divide with less than ten million out of Thailand’s 67 million population use Facebook, with even less using Twitter. How important is it to improve internet access for those Thai people who cannot get online?

The rate of internet penetration in Thailand has been increased from 2 million users in the year 2000 to nearly 18 millions in the year 2010. It is obvious that the number of internet users have greatly increased within short period of time, not only in urban area but also in rural area.

Therefore we see the important of national broadband to allow all Thais to have access to internet; no matter they are in urban or rural area, because we believe that everyone should have the same amount of access to State’s welfare. We also have a plan to launch a 3G network in major cities, such as Bangkok, Chiangmai, and Phuket, and the network would be available for the whole country in the future.

PT’s electoral campaign includes a promise of one tablet PC per school child and free WiFi. What are the Democrat party’s proposals to help reduce the huge digital divide in Thailand?

The Democrats sees that the number of internet users in Thailand has increased from 2 million to nearly 18 millions in less than 10 years time. More and more people are going online, therefore, we are planning to link everything to internet, such as E-learning, E-health, and E-government, for all internet users.

Students and patients could learn and be updated from internet, while everyone could be involved with Thai politics through internet as well.

As for a plan to reduce digital divide, we have a plan to launch a 3G network within this month in major cities, such as Bangkok, Chiangmai, and Phuket. The network would be available for the whole country in the future, where the network center would locate at every sub-district (tambon) across Thailand.

You’re a big believer in social media but also run to a very busy schedule, how many of your updates do you post yourself?

On Twitter, I always post all the updates myself. After each campaign, I post all the pictures and information. On Facebook, I always take time to read the posts and comments on my wall. My team members also answer or respond to the posts and comments on my social media channels, but they would always put “(team member)” behind the sentence.

Which social network is your favourite, and why?

My favourite is Twitter, because it is easy to use and is constantly updating. Also, since Twitter account is connected to my Facebook page, I could update both at the same time.

Are you a BlackBerry fan, iPhone user or do you own a different phone?

I use both phones because they have different functions, which are all useful for different occasions.

To allow readers to keep up with the party during the election campaign, can you reveal which Democrat MPs are currently using Twitter?

Many of our MPs have twitter account, for examples:

For all available Twitter accounts, please visit Democrats Party of Thailand website: http://campaign.democrat.or.th/member

The Democrats Party of Thailand also has its own Twitter account: @democratTH

And finally, can we expect that you and your colleagues will continue to use Twitter strongly after the election is finished?

Definitely, the Democrats Party does not plan to only use Twitter and other social media for an election. We plan to use social media as a way to connect with Thai people, by using it as a way to promote our policies and receiving feedback from the audiences.

We are also using social media to promote democracy and a gateway to political activities, which we are hoping the social network community would become more active in politics and help leading this country for the better future.

Thank you Khun Apirak for taking time out of your schedule, which is particularly hectic in the run up to the election, to answer these questions.

I do have a number of follow-up items that I am hoping to pose to K Apirak, but responses will be very much dependent on his workload and availability, so we shall see whether the follow-up progresses.

In the meantime, you can find more from Apirak on his Facebook page and Twitter account. His interview with The Nation and this PR Department news announcement may also be of interest.

All photos taken from the Apirak Kosayodhin Facebook Page