How politicians use the web to campaign

The government line

In addition to allowing those in power to give us information, the internet gives so-called ordinary people a voice as well as the ability to communicate more directly with those in power.

In the UK, the Government has been using the internet for a number of years to interact with the rest of us. One of the best-known methods is the Downing Street petitions website, which was set up in 2006 to allow people to send electronic petitions directly to the Prime Minister’s office.

There has been an official site for 10 Downing Street for several years, and the major political parties have websites (www.labour.org.uk, www.conservatives.com and www.libdems.org.uk for the big three).

True engagement with internet users has come relatively recently, though. One early example was Webcameron, which the Conservatives set up in 2006 to allow their newly elected leader to address people using video messages. It no longer has its own site – the video messages are still being produced but now they’re hosted on the main Conservative party site.

Party on

The campaign of the US President Barack Obama was notable for setting new standards in how it engaged people and encouraged them to donate using the internet. The candidate’s website included a MyBO section, which allowed people to organise themselves into groups to campaign and drum up donations. It was considered a significant factor in Presi dent Obama’s success.

The Conservative party website in the UK has something similar, Myconservatives, which bills itself as an online network for people to help with campaigning. Labourspace, similarly, asks people to give their ideas for how to “change your world in 30 secs” and the Lib Dem Network invites people to sign up, invite friends and find out about campaigns and events.

The Government and political parties haven’t been shy of taking their message elsewhere on the web using social-networking sites such as Facebook and tools such as Twitter to get people interested. The Downing Street Twitter page not only carries messages from the Prime Minister, it also replies to some of those who ask questions.

There’s also the Downing Street Says website, which carries reports from the Prime Minister’s daily press briefings.