12 Jan 10

Political parties look to digital ahead of General Election

Political parties launch digital strategies for General Election campaigning

Following the success of Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaigning, which used online as a major weapon in it’s armoury, it’s no surprise that the UK’s political parties have started launching their digital strategies ahead of the forthcoming General Election.

Restrictions placed on political advertising in tradition media channels mean that online offers an ideal way for parties to raise their exposure and promote specific elements of their manifesto, while also offering a highly cost efficient way of attracting donations.

The Labour Party, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Green Party have all launched online media campaigns since the start of the year.

New Media Age (NMA.co.uk) spoke with some party representatives on the topic:

Kerry McCarthy, Labour’s new media campaign spokeswoman said “Online campaigning will play a more important role than ever before. As a party we’ll be using the web to engage with people about the issues that they’re passionate about, as we’ve done already with sites like backtheban.com.”

The Liberal Democrats chief executive, Chris Fox, was quoted as saying “A big part of this election will be parties’ ability to respond to individual emails, message board comments and tweets”

While a spokesman for the Green Party said “It [online] creates a more level playing field for the smaller parties”

We watch with active interest as the parties look to engage with the electorate in this, the first UK election where online can be effectively used to reach the majority of voters.