Mammoliti: ‘If I get a smell of communism, they’re off the (Facebook) page’

Tips for people who want to join Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti’s new Facebook group: Don’t wear a Che Guevara shirt in your profile picture. Don’t list Das Kapital as one of your Favourite Books. Do, perhaps, consider listing Joseph McCarthy as one of the People Who Inspire You.

Don Cherry went after “pinkos” at Mayor Rob Ford’s inauguration. Now Mammoliti, the conservative and controversy-courting Ford ally, is going after people he sees as reds. To get his approval to join the group he started Monday — “Save the City..Support the Ford Administration” — you must not emit the sour odour of “communism,” he said Tuesday.

“I’m really sick and tired of hearing from the communists in this city,” he said in an interview. “I don’t want anything to do with them. I don’t want to listen to them. I don’t want to listen to their griping and their whining. I want to listen to people who are clearly working for a living, and wanting their tax dollars to be used in a particular way. I’m clearly trying to wean out the typical communist thinker who will be doing nothing but whining.”

Mammoliti was a union leader in the 1980s and New Democratic Party MPP in the early 1990s before making a sharp turn to the right. He has frequently referred to citizens who have spoken against budget cuts at committee meetings as out-of-touch and self-interested “socialists.” “Communists” appears to be new.

The group had 588 members as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Mammoliti, who often seems to delight in inflaming his opponents, said he had not yet rejected any applicants.

“But I will be monitoring their comments,” he said, “and if I get a smell of communism, they’re off the page.” Asked by a laughing reporter how he would smell communism, Mammoliti laughed and said, “Only Mammoliti has that keen sense of smell.”

His olfactory system appears to have failed him already. Jordy Cummings, an actual Marxist whose Facebook page features hammer-and-sickle images, wrote: “Well I’m a communist, and Giorgio didn’t ban me. Giorgio is a decent individual, this is just his persona in the media.”

Of the 169 citizens who spoke to Ford’s executive committee at an all-night meeting two weeks ago, all but three opposed any kind of cuts to city programs and services. But Councillor Doug Ford, Mammoliti and Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, another member of Ford’s executive, have dismissed the anti-cuts speakers as unrepresentative of the broader population.

“This site is really for those that have not got a chance to get to City Hall and depute,” Mammoliti wrote on the group page.

Group members have indeed proven friendlier to Ford’s small-government ideology than the meeting deputants. One said “we can easily find 10 libraries to close.” Another endorsed private child care, saying “we don’t need any more socialized daycare for condo-owning yuppies who can afford to pay for a full-time nanny.” And one signed off for the night as follows: “Thanks for this Giorgio. We have long felt shut out.”

Other group members, however, have denounced Ford and Mammoliti. Several complained that critical posts had been deleted. One wrote, “It’s distressing that a member of city council. . . would elect to delete the voice of the people — any people — when they express their opinions after being invited to do so. It’s called discourse.”

Mammoliti said he had deleted nothing but a rap video, which appears to have been for the Beastie Boys classic “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party).”

A group member reposted the video, saying, “Giorgio, not sure if you removed this or for some reason I didn’t do it right…anyway, we all got to fight for our right to party and have a good city!”

Mammoliti responded: “I agree but it’s not the place for it…sorry.”

Mammoliti is a proud Twitter skeptic who refers to postings on that social media website as “twits.” He said he was now at least willing to consider starting an account.

“It’s baby steps for this twit,” he said.

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Five social media marketing tips

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Facebook used to be just a place where mothers would write about their kids, brides would talk to girlfriends about their upcoming wedding and friends would share photos of their latest trip or party.

Then businesses got wind of the 750 million people on Facebook and decided to chime in, with business pages that tout specials, deals and other business-related promotions.

But there’s an art to communicating in an atmosphere that’s supposed to be about sharing, not selling.

Matthew Funk, a social media expert with TK Carsites, offers tips that apply to car dealerships and really any business wanting a Facebook presence. Here are highlights:

1. Use Facebook to make friends, not customers

“People develop positive feelings with a person, not for a page,” he says. Write about your local community and events, and try to post items of interest that go beyond your business. A good viral video “doesn’t make you think, `I want to buy a car from the dealership,’ but it does keep you in the news feed and reinforces the name.”

2. Post three times a day, no more

“Don’t overwhelm people,” he says. “That’s a turn-off.” Funk says the best times to post are 7 a.m., 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., “the peak high-traffic times for Facebook.”

3. Don’t post silliness just to add another item

Surveys of favorite ice cream flavors are a waste of time that will just annoy people, he says. “It has very little real worth. Share stuff that has a reason for sharing.”

4. Provide incentives; don’t be pushy

“People come to your social media to find perks, but they don’t want sales forced on them,” Funk says. Offer the deals just once a week, not every day, he recommends.

5. Be exciting

“Whenever possible, post the kind of content you’d want to share with your friends,” he says. “Facebook marketing isn’t about selling as much as it is about sharing.”

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