Photo by ellievanhoutte.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, the use of new media and social networking tools by the candidates was all the rage. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and blogs became necessary elements of any campaign looking to connect more directly with supporters and undecided voters.

With a feisty election season upon us, such tools have slowly but surely made their way into local campaigns. More elected officials and candidates are using Twitter, Facebook pages are more common and some campaigns are even hiring staff to focus exclusively on new media. No, being great with new media and social networks won’t win anyone an election — there’s still plenty of door-knocking, baby-kissing, and parade-marching going on — but it does play an important role in a well-developed and fully integrated campaign, especially for citywide office.

Of course, like anything that dramatically rises in popularity, not everyone is using these tools correctly. It’s easy enough to have a Twitter account; it’s harder to actually put it to good use. Sure, anyone can produce YouTube content — but if it’s only your closest relatives watching it, you’re not exactly leveraging the service for what it’s worth.

After the jump, we assess who’s using social media correctly — and who’s not — in the District of Columbia.