There has been quite a bit of analysis and chatter about the blogosphere and the web and its impact on politics recently. For what it’s worth, I thought that I would stick my oar in. ‘Blogs are great- but on-line political communication in the UK is still a disappointment’ is on LabourList.
There has been an explosion of innovation in the web and social media as it applies to politics over the last couple of years. This is a thoroughly good thing. While we are in the innovation phase, there is more heat than light but things will settle down. Just not yet.
While the parties themselves have made great strides in their on-line presence, there is a basic organisational problem. New media is seen as a side bar to communication and campaigns operations. The real power comes when it is properly integrated. I note that David Plouffe in Audacity to Win (review follows later today hopefully!) made a point of ensuring the new media operation reported directly to him right from the off. That’s integration and that’s why the campaign ended up with 13 million email addresses- more than a third of whom donated and almost all volunteered. So the points I make in the piece are not a criticism of the new media operations per se; it’s much broader than that.
Finally, Shibley Rahman made the point in the comments on the piece that I had ignored the community dimension of on-line communications. That is a fair criticism. There is no doubt that LabourList has its own community feel as do many of the other sites I mention. In my defence, though it is a point I should have made, I still feel that we are talking a small minority who actually participate but it is expanding. Again, that is not a criticism; it is an observation. The real impact for the web and social media will be when, in terms of engagement and campaigning, it breaks through into the mainstream. That will happen. But not just yet.
Here is a list of the websites I mention in the piece
Post script: I should also have added Tweetminster which is increasingly doing an amazing job of checking the political temperature of the tweeting political classes.
Wed, Jan 6, 2010
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