Christian Wolmar has stepped up the social media London mayoral race

The social media race for Mayor of London has just stepped up a gear. Labour candidate Christian Wolmar, a transport expert noted for his unconventional thinking about cities but not necessarily for his Twitter prowess, has found a charming new way of communicating his campaign slogan:

I aim to make London more (•_•) <) )Affordable / \ \(•_•) ( (> Liveable / \ (•_•) <) )> Sustainable / \ — Wolmar for London (@wolmarforlondon) July 10, 2015

These three cheeky dancing figures are a simple example of ASCII art (pictures made up of text), and they're found pretty commonly on Twitter, though not usually among politicians. Many believe the sequence originated as a way to set down in print the immortal moves of Beyonce's Single Ladies dance:

All the single ladies, all the single ladies... (•_•) <) ) / \ ( •_•) \( (> / \ (•_•) <) ) / \ — MHDI (@myusuf3) April 29, 2013

Whatever its provenance, though, I think we can agree this ushers in a new era in political discourse. As BuzzFeed's Siraj Datoo puts it:

#politics2k15 is truly here https://t.co/50Qfr0pEP1 — Siraj Datoo (@dats) July 10, 2015

Wolmar was given the idea by his designer, and is keen for his innovation to catch on: "this is what I'm in the whole game for," he tells me, "I wanted to shake things up." "I really don't think the tweets that say 'warm welcome from Hill Rise Old People's Home today as I gave a speech' is what you need," he adds. Though he acknowledges: "you have to do that occasionally just to recognise Hill Rise Old People's home. They might appreciate that." Wolmar says he would welcome other Labour mayoral hopefuls adapting their Twitter game to match his—he claims they've already taken hints from him on policy areas like the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street. If any of their social media teams are reading, here's some advanced emoticons they might like to make their own: "Puts on sunglasses guy"

Authorities hoping for ... •_•) ( •_•)>- (_) ... a huge bust YEEAAHHHHH http://t.co/6DqGD7GRcbpic.twitter.com/iV89BAL3lN — Slade Sohmer (@Slade) May 20, 2014

The "look of disapproval (_):"

Just had council refuse to tell me how to spell someone's name in case I use that to email them because they can't give out emails _ _ — Jules Mattsson (@julesmattsson) July 9, 2015

And, if things are going really badly, "suicide:"

/ ACTUALLY ) — Mao Ware (@hamsandcastle) May 8, 2014