Budget gets muted response on social media as sales pitch continues

OTTAWA – Gauging the reaction to the Conservative government’s budget depends on who you ask.

One metric? The volume of online discussion about the 2013 fiscal plan was so muted it didn’t draw the attention of spammers.

Finance Canada used Twitter, video and photo-sharing sites to publicize the budget on Thursday in a first-of-its kind multimedia campaign.

Digital public affairs analyst Mark Blevis said there were about 8,600 tweets marked as being related to the budget.

Usually, when a subject suddenly trends on Twitter, spammers jump into the mix — but Blevis said very few took advantage of budget talk.

The digital sales pitch continued Friday, this time accompanied by cabinet ministers fanning out across the country to speak in favour of the plan.