Alberta premier Ed Stelmach reads a question off a computer screen in a clip released Tuesday by his office. (Government of Alberta)Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach's first foray into the world of social media is getting a thumbs-down from an Edmonton blogger and social media expert.

"It's essentially putting out information without that ongoing dialogue back and forth," said Mack Male, who is known online as MasterMaq. Male is one of the city's earliest and most prolific users of the social media site Twitter.

Last month, Stelmach asked Albertans to send him questions through Twitter, YouTube, and his website.

On Monday, the premier's office posted the first of his responses on YouTube -- 18 and a half minutes of video with Stelmach sitting behind his desk, reading questions from his laptop and then responding to the camera.

But recording answers to prescreened questions misses the whole point of social media, Male said.

"If people are asking questions on Twitter, for instance, I might ask the question and then you might respond to it and somebody else might chime in and there's a bit of a dialogue going on around the question," Male said.

"That's the kind of thing that would be great for the premier to be participating in …and that's what's missing here."

Stelmach plans to use more social media

Stelmach spokesperson Tom Olsen said the video responses are a lot like having a conversation with Stelmach in a coffee shop.

He said they plan to do more social media projects in the future, including some that are more conversational.

"It's something that absolutely is key, that you use whatever options are available to you, to get the message out and this is one we hadn't fully exploited," he said.

In Monday's YouTube videos, Stelmach answered questions about energy and the environment. His office plans to release one video each day this week.