Angela Merkel on Facebook

66.281 people like Angela Merkel’s profile on Facebook. Not really surprising, if you take a look at this awesome bunch of information. Watch out for her hobbies: gardening, hiking and cooking. Interesting. She also whistle-blows her favourite musicians: “Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Beatles, Karat”. And what a service that she adds in brackets after Karat: “East German rock band”. That’s all somehow nice, a little bit funny, but what if I want to know more about her politics, what if I want to become part of a discussion about it?

Angela Merkel (respectively her office) posts circa once a week a political statement she has said in a newspaper, or optionally a video. There are always hundreds of people who click at “like” and also hundreds of people who discuss the topic. Web 2.0 as a democratic tool for discussions?

Let’s take a look at the post concerning young carolers. 563 persons have commented on this topic. At first glance. A second look shows: Some people write about her attitude towards Angela Merkel (“angela is the best woman”), some write about personal problems, which should be solved by the government (“I have finished my B.A. program for nearly 2 years and a half now. I need the German public help”). Mostly, there arise big topics as integration, which parties are finally the best and the price of gasoline. As anyone can imagine, this ends up in a chaotic discussion.

So, if you wanna see a little bit action on her profile, you have no other chance then clicking the page of "Süddeutsche Zeitung". They have figured out, what Angela Merkel's page should look like.

by Ger_watch