The Ontario election kicked into high gear Wednesday, but little notice took hold on Twitter and other social media sites.

In the first hours after the writ was dropped to officially launch the Ontario election campaign, each of the four main party leaders let fly with their opening campaign tweets.

Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty, whose Twitter account had more than 14,400 followers on Wednesday afternoon, is seeking a mandate to form a third majority government after Ontarians go to the polls on Oct. 6.

"Looking forward to talking to Ontarians about future they want -- new-economy jobs, clean energy, clean air #OLP," he tweeted as he held his first campaign rally in Mississauga.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, who trailed with just under 9,900 Twitter followers on Wednesday afternoon, tweeted a familiar message of his own, telling followers, "A PC govt will end the waste, scandals, and secret deals that have become the trademark of the McGuinty Liberals # http://twitpic.com/6heo4t"

Hudak also tweeted about stopping at the famous Big Apple in Colborne, Ont., where his young daughter Miller picked out an apple pie for her neighbourhood friend Anna.

NDP party leader Andrea Horwath, whose Twitter account had more than 6,200 followers, posted her own introductory tweet: "A bus full of media ready to travel on the #NDP bus! I'm looking forward to a campaign about ideas. http://yfrog.com/h73n8dgj"

And Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner told his more than 1,700 followers: "#GPO launches campaign focused on local jobs, saving energy to tackle rising prices, promoting good health. http://ow.ly/6nNfB #voteON"

But in an online social sphere where the masses dictate the most popular topics of conversation, it's not yet immediately clear who wants to talk about the leaders and their ideas.

Shortly after noon, the trending topics on Twitter in Toronto were dominated by the Russian hockey team's fatal plane crash and lighter conversational fare, such as "#ThingsIDidOverTheSummer." By late afternoon, "#inappropriatefuneralsongs" and "#areyouseriousbro" had moved up in the ranks of the most popular topics on Twitter.

The election, however, never cracked the top 10 list of trending topics in Toronto.

Digital public affairs strategist Mark Blevis told CTVToronto.ca that he expects interest to build. "I'd be surprised if politics, especially at the beginning of the school year, will gain that much traction that it would trend in the city."

There are two main hashtags related to the Ontario election, Blevis said, pointing out that Twitter users are marking their election-related tweets with the tags #voteON and #onpoli.

People have to know how to use the tags, which serve to easily group related tweets from across the online social network, he said, noting that the few who are using them already are at the "epicentre of political interest."

Blevis, who lives in Ottawa, did some analysis of social media traffic during the spring federal election. He has already started tracking the Ontario provincial election online.

"Twitter and Facebook are hosting the majority of election conversations," he wrote in a blog post published Wednesday that also noted YouTube has emerged as a source for official party videos, clips from mainstream media broadcasts and people's personal opinions on the subject.

As the campaign progresses, the four main parties' campaigns will all be trying to sway voters to not only identify one issue they'll will take with them to the voting booth, but to also ensure the so-called "ballot box question" will work in their favour.

According to the director of Ryerson University's Infoscape Lab, Greg Elmer, social media is one important tool in achieving that goal.

"Social media are an integral part of modern political communications," Elmer told CTVToronto.ca, describing the main components of a campaign geared towards harnessing that potential:

  • the leaders' tours, which the news media focuses on for daily stories
  • the interaction between the party and its own base, getting them fired up to volunteer, donate and vote
  • the "dirty campaign," where the parties' "war rooms" scheme ways to attack opponents in ways that they hope will resonate through the media

Paid advertising plays a major role in both attacking opponents and attempting to sell a party's own proposals.

In today's complex media environment, Elmer said people are much more likely to see a speech soundbite, image or video clip on the Internet than they are through traditional TV news broadcasts.

Fraser Macdonald, who worked on Mayor Rob Ford's successful campaign last year, told CTV News that Twitter, as one example, is great as an instant feedback tool for campaigns and for learning about breaking news.

However, he cautioned that the Twitter audience skews young and left, with older, right-leaning voters not having much of a presence.

In Toronto's last election, "If you based pre-election support levels on Twitter, it would have been Joe Pantalone taking it over Smitherman, with Ford in 4th or 5th," Macdonald said.

"To me, this makes it a very poor method of gauging support."