How Tsipras and Varoufakis turned Greek tragedy into Twitter triumph

Politicians aren’t particularly renowned for a strong game on social media. Whether it’s falling for parody accounts, tweeting their own names, or, er, offering free owls for all, it’s not often they get it right.

Enter the Greeks. Never before has a government embroiled in one of the biggest global economic crises been so good at tweeting. We hear President Coolidge, for instance, was always screwing up his mentions.

Not so with Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

There is no better place to follow the ebb and flow (and by which I mean the never-ending snafu) of Syriza’s colossal fight with its creditors than the feeds of the key Greek players. (Except for perhaps the Guardian’s coverage, which needless to say, is excellent.)

Tsipras and Varoufakis use the social network in a number of ways, but the most entertaining is their incredible mastery of the subtweet.

Whether it’s throwing shade at the troika (the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank) or calling out individual eurozone politicians, their 140-character snark is 100% on point.

Syriza swept to power in January on an anti-austerity pledge and a promise of transparency – and transparent they have been.

As well as tweet-transcribing meetings, it’s even thought that the first that Brussels bods heard of the forthcoming shock referendum was from the following Tsipras tweet.

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Never knowingly retweeted fewer than 200 or so times, the Greek duo seem to be controlling the narrative online as much as (surprisingly) in real life, where they defied expectations and stuck to their guns, allowing the European bailout to formally lapse, and defaulting on its IMF loan.

Tsipras has two accounts – one Greek language, and the other in English. Both he and Varoufakis are keen #hashtaggers, occasionally favouriting their own praise or sass directed at their creditors.

Or, in Varoufakis’ case, a 2011 tweet which reads simply “Here we go”, posted by an account with an avatar featuring Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

Even Varoufakis’ responses carry a sense of drama.

Rather brilliantly, however, noticing the traction the Greek side is gaining on social media – and we fully imagine Tsipras at the negotiating table, chair pushed back, checking his mentions – troika members have hit back.

In particular, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has been tweeting frequently. His contributions strike a more upbeat tone, however. Like a man smiling in a hurricane as his house crashes down around him.

Not to be outdone, Finnish finance minister Alex Stubb, who has the clean-cut look of an X Factor contestant, has also taken up with the blue bird, and is essentially live-tweeting every meeting.

Duncan Weldon, BBC2 Newsnight’s economics correspondent, comments:

At this stage, we’re wondering whether any of these politicians really need to be in the same room. These negotiations could essentially be completed via emoji. 😰 🔜 💰 🙅

Meanwhile, journalists break every twist and turn on Twitter.

Never before has such a continuous, massive political issue been live-tweeted for so long. Oh sure, the British general election was covered indefatigably, as is the US presidential nominations race, but it’s either commentators looking in from the outside, or PR and media-constrained accounts.

Contrast that with Tsipras, who is so technologically with it that his Twitter cover photo is of somebody taking a picture of him with their phone.

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Now, news just in of a possible climbdown from the Greek side in the face of a referendum and a possible two year extension of the bailout. Others dispute this, with pre-referendum negotiations still happening, they maintain. We’re pretty sure we’ll know straight from the bird’s mouth soon enough.

The vultures are circling, but Tsipras and Varoufakis tweet on.