A Dublin TD says politicians need to be on TikTok to stay relevant.
Neale Richmond, a Fine Gael TD for the Dublin Rathdown constituency, has been taking to the popular app where you can create and share short videos on any topic.
For the past year, he has been making videos for those curious about government and Fine Gael's policies.
But he's recorded snippets at rugby games and he even gets on the top trends requiring him to bring out his humorous side.
And Neale is certain that it’s important that politicians are on there to spread their messages.
He told Dublin Live: “Some might say politicians are out of touch, they don’t want to hear what we have to say or they’re not engaging with young people so it’s our duty to get out there as much as possible on the radio, in newspapers and all social media channels.
“I won’t lie, I like TikTok, I think it’s a very enjoyable platform. It’s one that can be used to provide information and answer questions.
“I’m quite aware it has a different demographic than most social media channels, so it’s an opportunity to reach out to people who haven’t been listened to.
“My guilty pleasure at the end of a hard day is hopping on TikTok for 15 or 20 minutes and scrolling. Half the time it's barbecue recipes, the other time it’s rugby videos.
“You can see the hashtags, music and what the trends are, they do change and if you want to reach out to as many people you have to adapt to what the trends are.”
Neale believes that Covid restrictions had a huge impact on how politicians did their jobs, which is part of the reason why he considered joining TikTok.
He said: “We couldn’t canvas, we didn’t have clinics, there weren't events to go to so we had to keep in touch with people. We did zoom clinics, lots of online public meetings and building up our efforts on social media.
“With social media, there’ll always be a small minority of society that gives out that you’re on social media in the first place.
“The last thing some people want is a politician in their For You Page talking about the Leaving Cert or the situation in Ukraine when really they just want to see dances or movie clips. It's a full mix but I found the response to be quite good.
“I’ve seen that more colleagues have joined it, Simon Harris came along and blew my followers out of the water but I suppose I’m not quite at his level yet.”
Neale shares a lot of content on his account, and a lot of it is policy related.
But he likes to have a bit of fun with it too.
“A lot of it is policy based, but I wanted to give people an insight to what we do as a TD and you can’t take yourself too seriously on social media, especially on TikTok, you need to have the craic with it as well,” he added.
“It’s a way to show your personality and sensitivity, it can be intense in the comments compared to other platforms but if I don’t like being called something I will say why.
“A vast majority of people have really genuine comments or questions, some about policy, others are like how do you get a job in politics, how do you become a TD and how to make a difference to your community.
“But I’d be very careful of what I show, I wouldn't put anything up about my family and that goes for all social media.
“I show that I’m a human being instead of being a robot TD. If you show your normal life and that you deal with the same problems as everyone else, people relate.
“They want to know that their politicians are going through the same issues they are, like paying for petrol, getting car insurance or whatever it is.”
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