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Toronto is still a hotbed for the tech community and despite the best efforts of the CRTC and the big ISPs to squash it with metered internet we’re powering on and you can bet that social media will meet politics head on to fight the rash decision that could be deadly to our economy. I think it’s safe to say that social media is to politics what the Ecclesia was to Ancient Athens/

Ever since Barack Obama and David Axelrod showed the power of social media in politics when they took the election by a landslide, more politicians have been perking up at the possibility of leveraging social media to power their campaigns and energize the younger voters into hopping aboard. Young voters make up the majority of the swing vote and, if engaged to get to the polls, can be the deciding factor in a campaign. Also a lot of these young voters are growing up and are now reaching their 30s – they also tend to be very web savvy and are listening to the grapevine that is the social web.

Many Toronto residents will recall Rob Ford’s successful mayoral campaign and will also recall being blown away at the fact that he won by such a huge landslide. There was so much social media buzz about the campaign but most of it was negative, so what happened? Could it be that potential voters were too busy bashing Rob Ford on Twitter that they forgot to vote against him? Or could it be that as a result of all the buzz, negative or not, the swing voters voted for Ford simply based on the fact that they heard his name more than any of the other candidates?

On Wednesday Feb 9, at 2pm I will be moderating a panel with some of the industries top minds and experts on the subject and you should get a ticket fast before it sells out! We will discuss the social media phenomenon and its effects on politics with a focus on the municipal election. The panel will take place at the Yorkville Media Centre at 46 Hayden St, 4th floor at 2pm. Here is the link to sign up for “Social Media for Mayor” on the Social Media Week Website.

I am honoured to have the pleasure of hosting the following panelists and I would like to give a HUGE thanks to Justin Kozuch for helping me set this up and to Bnotions (in my opinion, the best development shop in Toronto) for lending the space to this great event! Here are your panelists:

Dave Fleet, VP, Digital - Edelman
Kelly Grant, City Hall Bureau Chief - The Globe and Mail
Jonathan Goldsbie, Resident Communist - National Post
Stefan Baranski, Principal - Counsel Public Affairs
Dave Meslin, Founder - RABIT
Brett Bell, Principal - Grassroots Online

Be sure to follow them on Twitter and get in on the conversation on Wednesday. There will be Q&A after the panel so here’s your chance to ask the experts