The Three
Originally uploaded by Rebecca Mckevitt
The UK Conservatives are gearing up for the elections and here is an appointment that should please their supporters.Sam Coates is moving over to Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) to take on a new media role. Sam will be working with Rishi Saha, Head of New Media.
Here is a lovely quote I found on Sam’s blog post announcing the move.
The power of web 2.0 has not been in the top-down broadcasting of information, but in collaboration and the building of communities.
(source)
I wish him luck and I really want to see what new appointments Labour will make – I already noticed they have plans for getting their MPs onto various social networking sites.
I have noticed for some time that the Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are incorporating digital comms to their wider communications strategy and there is talk of more online engagement on the way for the coming election.
Where I see a disconnect is between Headquarters’ attitudes and the attitudes of MPs (Members of Parliament). The recent study by the Hansard Society which suggested that MPs are primarily using the web to disseminate information rather than engage may suggest a risk aversion that is only natural but quite unsastainable in the current era I think.
MPs are using the internet primarily to inform their constituents rather than engage with them. The most widely used digital media are those which are mainly passive in nature, such as websites. Interactive forms of media which could be used by MPs to develop a two-way dialogue with their constituents, such as blogs and social networking, are used less commonly.
(source)
The major issue with this situation is that I seriously doubt there is enough time – well, depending on when the election will be called – for MPs to turn that around and actually engage online as part of their campaign. Voters are already dissilusioned enough as it is without having an MP getting on the online bandwagon just for their election campaign.
There is another thing as well. Just as there is no ‘one and true’ solution in communications equally there is no panacea in online communications. Each MP will have to find their own way of doing things, which tools work best for what they want to do and build their own network. All these things take time – and the less time you have the more mistakes you will probably make.
I can’t wait to see how the parties will run this election…
Read On:
Samuel Coates joins CCHQ’s new media team on Conservative Home
Tories Beef Up Their Web Presence on Iain Dale’s Diary
Labour links MPs’ websites to Twitter and Facebook on Brand Republic
MPs Online: Connecting with Constituents report by the Hansard Society
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