Category Archives: Online politics

Don’t bitch about the party’s message – run your own

By The Voice | Sat 13th September 2008 - 7:55 am

That’s the intriguing story from the US, where a leading Democrat activist is encouraging people to make up their own message and then run internet ads based on it:

Every day, thousands of times over, we critique campaign messaging, debate the quality of ads, muse about targeting strategies, and suggest new lines of attack. The problem is, as Matt has often pointed out, the only help the Obama campaign wants comes in the form of campaign donations and volunteers to work on field operations. So, no one is really listening to our suggestions. We are not making a difference on messaging.

There

…

Also posted in LDVUSA | 4 Comments

Why blogging matters to Lib Dems more than most

By Stephen Tall | Thu 4th September 2008 - 7:26 pm

This is the fortnight of lists and awards in the political blogosphere. Not only has Iain Dale produced his annual little list, but the Lib Dem Blog of the Year awards are once again upon us. All of which may seem a little self-indulgent. And it probably is. But there’s a serious point to blogging, and one which is of unique relevance to the Lib Dems.

All the main national newspapers employ commentators who write regularly on politics. But cast your eyes down the lists of columnists in the serious press and you will see something missing: a …

Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew rawnsley, boris johnson and iain dale | 12 Comments

Sarah Palin: how the McCain campaign blundered on the internet

By Mark Pack | Sun 31st August 2008 - 9:20 am

In the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s selection as John McCain’s Vice-President running mate, the coverage I came across was dominated by the possible drawbacks of her selection.

In this coverage the McCain campaign seemed to be failing very badly when it came to framing the discussion around her selection, but I didn’t read too much into it because after all the UK media across the political spectrum is very favourably disposed towards the Obama campaign and nearly everyone I know involved in US politics is on the Democrat side. Perhaps what I was hearing said more about where I get my US political news from than about the reality on the ground in the US?

However, taking a look at what is happening online, it looks like the McCain campaign has made a serious blunder. When there is a big news event, many people go to the internet for more news, and all the more so when the news involves someone or something they had not previously heard about.

And so, unsurprisingly, after the Sarah Palin news was announced, there was a huge surge in search traffic on Google with people looking for information about her. Indeed, the surge was so huge and sudden, Google Trends categorised the search as “volcanic”.

But the McCain campaign has failed to ensure that its version of the Sarah Palin story comes out well in search results. They not only haven’t been taking the opportunity to run good online ads targeted at people searching out information on her (as detailed over on TechPresident), but they haven’t managed to get decent entries into the search results either.

Also posted in LDVUSA | 9 Comments

Total Politics list of top 50 Lib Dem blogs published

By Stephen Tall | Thu 28th August 2008 - 1:08 pm

You can see the full list over at Iain Dale’s blog, but here’s the top 10:

1. Liberal Democrat Voice
2. People’s Republic of Mortimer (Alix Mortimer)
3. Norfolk Blogger (Nich Starling)
4. Quaequam Blog! (James Graham)
5. Liberal England (Jonathan Calder)
6. Lynne Featherstone MP
7. Millennium Dome, Elephant
8. Peter Black AM
9. Love & Liberty (Alex Wilcock)
10. Liberal Burblings (Paul Walter)

Thanks to those who voted for LDV, and congratulations to all the blogs who made the list. And for those who didn’t, remember: it’s just a list.

Tagged alex wilcock, iain dale, jonathan calder, nich starling, norfolk blogger, paul walter and total politics | 11 Comments

Party policy process takes to Facebook

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th August 2008 - 5:20 pm

The party has been using the internet in various guises as part of its policy process for quite a few years now (e.g. with the http://consult.libdems.org.uk site), but I think the Facebook group for the new women’s policy working group is a first. It’ll be interesting to see how much it adds to the overall consultation process.

Also posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged facebook | 3 Comments

The future for Twitter ain’t looking so bright

By Mark Pack | Thu 14th August 2008 - 12:24 pm

Twitter has just axed the ability to receive updates by text message (for people outside the US, Canada and India). This radically restricts its appeal and usefulness as this means both you can’t use it as a free news-by-text service anymore but also it reduces the instant interactivity which appealled to many.

More details in my post over at PoliGeeks and on Alex Foster’s blog. As you’ll see from those posts, there are workarounds to continue to get updates via your phone, but they aren’t nearly as convenient or easy to use as the previous texting service.

Also posted in News | Tagged twitter | 13 Comments

Book review: What should you be getting up to on the internet?

By Mark Pack | Mon 11th August 2008 - 2:55 pm

Should politicians blog? Does it matter if a local party has a website that allows comments or not? Is it a good idea for a councillor to stick a film of themselves up on YouTube? Is the local party organiser really doing something useful on Facebook?

Answering any of these questions requires more than a technical understanding of how you use the services. It requires instead an understanding of what your organisational and communication objectives are, and then how these technologies may, or may not, help you achieve them.

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s Groundswell makes this point for commercial organisations. It sets out to help organisations answer the question of whether, and if so how, they should be making use of social computing – those tools which heavily rely on interaction between people, feedback and content generated by the public such as YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace and blogs.

Also posted in Books | Tagged facebook, myspace and wikipedia | 1 Comment

Liberal Democrat Voice says, the party acts…

By The Voice | Thu 7th August 2008 - 4:10 pm

In May Liberal Democrat Voice carried a piece from Lynne Featherstone about the lessons from May’s elections, in which she laid out five challenges for the party including,

We should ensure that we have at least a modest local internet presence covering every part of the country, helping point the public at more news about the party, how to join, how to get in touch with the local team etc. With the number of existing sources of news and information about the Liberal Democrats, I am sure it can’t be beyond the wit of a clever programmer or two to be able to put together an effective mini-site system that covers our internet black holes at a minimum of cost and effort.

A few days ago the following email went out to local parties:

We have agreed a deal to put in place a local website for every party of the country which does not have its own local Liberal Democrat website.

This deal, with Prater Raines Ltd , will mean that wherever someone lives in the country, they can find the Liberal Democrats easily on the internet and get informed and involved. It will also mean that the party’s campaign buttons and films are much more widely publicised around the internet.

Where a local party does not have a website (e.g. because it is very small and has not been able to afford one or find a suitable volunteer) this deal will ensure that there is a simple, professional looking site. It will contain relevant local contact details, as used currently on www.libdems.org.uk, along with up to date news about the party and its campaigns.The party will also provide an appropriate local web address for each of these sites that can be used in any local activity to help promote it.

Tagged prater raines | 4 Comments

What next for social networking?

By Mark Pack | Thu 7th August 2008 - 9:45 am

Predicting which companies and software are going to prosper and which are going to fizzle and disappear is a notoriously unreliable business, but it certainly looks at the moment as if Facebook, Myspace and Bebo are pretty well entrenched as the major social networking sites not only in the UK but also in many other countries, including (perhaps crucially in terms of predicting the future) the US.

Possibly this trio will change slightly in composition, having one of its members replaced or being joined by a fourth or fifth, but at the moment all three seem set pretty …

Also posted in News | Tagged bebo, facebook, myspace, twitter and wordpress | 9 Comments

Are you using the party’s web browser toolbar?

By Mark Pack | Thu 31st July 2008 - 2:55 pm

If you use Google to search the Internet, then you can redirect some of the advertising revenue from Google’s ads into the party’s coffers (sorry, not your own!) if you use the Google search box in the party’s free Internet browser toolbar.*

Once you’ve got the toolbar, just stick your search queries into its search box rather than into a Google search box anywhere else, and – bingo! – money starts being paid to the party. (We don’t get to see what your searches are, by the way, we just get a cut of the total advertising revenue from all …

5 Comments

Get the party’s latest films on your iPod

By Mark Pack | Wed 30th July 2008 - 6:40 pm

You’ve probably seen the Liberal Democrat TV feed which appears on numerous sites (such as this one), carrying the latest YouTube films from the party.

Now you can also get the films on your iPod, with the latest films automatically appearing as they are released.

The feed to subscribe to is:
http://feeds.libdems.org.uk/LDiTunes

(In iTunes, go to the Advanced menu and then Subscribe to Podcast. Enter the above address in the URL: window.)

This feed supplies the non-subtitled versions of the party’s films. …

Also posted in News | Leave a comment

A new look for Lib Dem Blogs

By Mark Pack | Sat 26th July 2008 - 10:01 pm

Earlier today, Ryan unveiled a new design for Lib Dem Blogs. I really like it; not just the cleanness of the design, but also the new mute feature and the improved mobile phone support.

Ryan’s explained some of the thinking and features behind the new site on his blog. Since Lib Dem Blogs started there have been various attempts to copy the idea for other parties. None have come close to being as good or successful as Ryan’s efforts. So thanks Ryan – both for this new look and for running the service in the first place.

6 Comments

Calling all young Lib Dems: Meet the women and men who make the news

By The Voice | Sat 26th July 2008 - 3:40 pm

Journalists of the Press Gallery have started their annual search for the best young political writers of tomorrow in a competition designed to encourage students to voice their views on government and politics. The winners are invited to tour the Houses of Parliament and meet leading politicians and political journalists.

The topics for this year’s competition are:

Years 10-11: if you had half an hour to meet the Prime Minister, name one thing you would ask him to do to make Britain a better place, explaining why you think he should adopt your idea, and how …

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Are you a Lib Dem living in Cornwall?

By The Voice | Fri 25th July 2008 - 5:30 pm

If so, you might want to know that the Western Morning News – the south-west’s regional newspaper – is holding a readers’ Q&A event with David Cameron in Cornwall next week.

Do you have a question for Dave? Perhaps: “What did you really think when David Davis told you he was resigning?” Or “How are you getting around without your bike, with only a chauffeur-driven car to rely on?” You can attend in person or submit questions online. Full details here.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about LDV’s Mark Pack…

By The Voice | Wed 23rd July 2008 - 1:28 pm

… Is over at Total Politics’ Daily Politico Q&A here. Whether you want to know about his favourite dish, his unusual hobbies or his political hate figure – all that and much, much more is revealed.

Also posted in News | Tagged total politics | 8 Comments

Are UK politicians right to concentrate on Facebook?

By Mark Pack | Tue 22nd July 2008 - 9:45 pm

Take a look round Facebook, and you’ll find multiple examples of all the main political parties, and their MPs, making use of it to promote their wares and network with supporters. However, look at other social networking sites such as Bebo or Myspace and you’ll find only a relatively sparse party presence, with very few MPs around.

Is this concentration on Facebook justified? After all, it is only one of several social networking sites, and as recently as June last year it only got 16% of the UK social networking site traffic, lagging behind Myspace on 29% and Bebo on 34%.

However, …

Tagged bebo, facebook and myspace | 23 Comments

The Iain Dale Total Politics top blogs list

By Stephen Tall | Tue 22nd July 2008 - 2:19 pm

I have a confession to make, dear reader. There’s an email I’ve been, erm, sitting on while I try to work out what to do with it. And it’s from Iain Dale.

If you read his blog (what do I mean ‘if’, of course we all do) then you’ll already know what it’s about. If not here’s the ~~copy ‘n’ paste~~ skinny:

In early September TOTAL POLITICS, in association with APCO WORLDWIDE will publish the 2008-9 Guide to Political Blogging in the UK. It will contain articles on blogging by some of Britain’s leading bloggers, together with a directory of

…

Tagged ConservativeHome, iain dale, Liberal Conspiracy and total politics | 20 Comments

Twitter: a passing fad or a useful campaign opportunity?

By Mark Pack | Thu 17th July 2008 - 7:55 am

Over on PoliGeeks I’ve done a brief posting about some of the latest traffic statistics regarding Twitter. In brief: usage is continuing to grow extremely quickly and Twitter is now (on at least one measure) more widely used in the UK than in the US.

Tagged twitter | 8 Comments

“Ten Green Bloggers sitting in a Room”

By Steve Webb MP | Mon 9th June 2008 - 9:08 am

Last Monday, 2nd June, a group of ‘ten green bloggers’ assembled in my office at Westminster to plan to take over the universe. Or if not that, perhaps at least to save the planet.

I have been aware for some time that the Lib Dems’ Facebook campaign on getting the Climate Change Bill toughened up hasn’t really caught fire in the way that I hoped. So I was delighted to be able to bring together a cross-party group of people who share the same commitment to the environment, but also have expertise online / in communications, or who are well …

Tagged facebook | 74 Comments

Consumer power meets search engine optimisation

By Mark Pack | Tue 3rd June 2008 - 6:13 pm

As you may have noticed, a pair of Liberal Democrats has been blogging about unhappy experiences with Abbey’s Customer Services recently (in brief – they aren’t very good at servicing customers).

This has led me to spot a very clever piece of unhappy customer reaction, namely the website www.switchtoabbey.co.uk. The slogan “Switch to Abbey” featured in a major Abbey advertising campaign a little while back, so an unhappy customer bought the .co.uk web address and plonked their tale of Abbey Customer Services woes on it.

With some …

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Are you using the party’s extranet?

By Mark Pack | Mon 2nd June 2008 - 10:25 am

Extranet screenshot The party’s extranet is a resource for party activists, elected representatives (including councillors) and staff and the home for artwork, campaign materials, policy briefings and also resources to accompany the party’s big national campaigns, such as the crime and health ones.

Access is open to all party councillors, staff, approved Parliamentary candidates, local party Chairs, EARS officers and Membership Secretaries, trainers and up to eight other nominated people per local party.

Full access details are on the site and if you’ve not yet registered, you can kick off the registration process online too.

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A new way to decide who to vote for

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th May 2008 - 4:40 pm

The folks from www.publicwhip.org.uk have just released a vote-match style website for the Crewe & Nantwich Parliamentary by-election. It serves up a number of different policy questions, and then tells you which party is the best fit for your answers.

As their news release says:

While activists are descending from all corners of the country to Crewe & Nantwich to help with their party’s by-election campaigns, volunteers from the Public Whip today launched an online questionnaire to help people make up their minds about who to vote for. The webpage http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/byelection compares people’s opinions to the way each party has voted in

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Also posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged crewe and nantwich by-election | 14 Comments

Liberal Lords a-blogging

By Jake Holland | Wed 14th May 2008 - 7:45 am

The Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords have launched a new eNewsletter.

Every month you can be updated on what’s happening in the House of Lords, what the members of our group in the House of Lords have been up to and read a short Op-Ed from one of the Lib Dems in the Lords.

This month Tom McNally has written about the group’s role holding the Government to account (see below).

You can read the full newsletter at http://blogs.libdems.org.uk/lords.

Holding the Government to account

The partial reform of the House of Lords in 1998 was one of those acts

…

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Joan Ryan’s website

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th May 2008 - 9:23 pm

Matt Wardman and Helen previously commented on this site about the website for Joan Ryan, Labour MP for Enfield North.

Now I’ve had a time to take a proper look, and talk to one of her constituents, it raises some interesting questions.

What caught everyone’s eye is that most of the content on http://www.joanryan.net/ is only accessible if you register – and in order to register you have to be a constituent of hers. All MPs face some issues with getting casework from people who are not constituents of theirs, and it’s not uncommon to see various messages or even restrictions on contact …

5 Comments

A striking political use of Facebook in Lebanon

By Mark Pack | Tue 6th May 2008 - 8:43 am

Stanislas Magniant wrote about what happened after he gave a presentation about online politics:

During the Q&A session, one person helped me put things in perspective, in the most humbling manner. That person is a member of the Parliament in Lebanon.

Because of political threats on his life and that of his family, he’s been forced to live in highly secure locations, with bodyguards 24/7. And because he can no longer go out and meet with his constituents, he’s resorted to use Facebook to keep in touch with them, to exchange ideas, and to prepare for next year’s election. I don’t know if

…

Tagged facebook | Leave a comment

Online buzz and the London Mayor election: final figures showing Paddick getting the most positive coverage

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st May 2008 - 12:36 pm

The latest figures from http://www.opinion-tracker.co.uk/ about the online coverage being garnered by the London Mayor candidates show Brian Paddick as the only one out of himself, Livingstone, Johnson and Berry to overall be getting more positive then negative coverage. Full details on their site.

Also posted in London | Tagged brian paddick | 3 Comments

BBC Election Night 2008…

By Alix Mortimer | Mon 28th April 2008 - 6:30 pm

… will kick off at 11.35pm on One this Thursday, and will feature a regular bloggers’ spot on the programme itself and an accompanying minute-by-minute blog of results, news, anecdotes, pictures, groundless speculation and, please god, a few laughs.

Your present correspondent will be in the yellow corner, diametrically opposite to, and equidistant from, Iain Dale and Luke Akehurst. Part of the premise is that we, El Bloggers, are going to try to beat the Beeb on getting results in. Our blogs will be syndicated to the BBC blog and because we don’t have to get

…

Also posted in Local government and News | Tagged iain dale | 26 Comments

I’m not blogging about Grant Shapps…

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th April 2008 - 11:44 am

… because I’ve nothing really to add to Alex’s excellent piece, other than to say, “Oh dear BBC, you really did get your story horribly wrong, didn’t you?”

Tagged grant shapps | 6 Comments

Twitter News

By Alex Foster | Thu 24th April 2008 - 10:15 am

Blogger Chick Yog believed that the Lib Dems are staffed by robots.

This proved not to be the case.

Although some believe our fearsome leafleting capability is due to an army of robotic leafleters, the sad truth is in most cases it’s a handful of overworked activists punching way above their weight. And so it is in LDHQ – although the output might look like it is the result of a fearsome supercomputer processing all known political information and spewing it out in dozens of helpful different feeds… in fact, it’s just Will Howells and Mark Pack, with, between them, a …

Also posted in Humour | Tagged twitter | 3 Comments

Paddick writes for Comment is Free

By Alex Foster | Wed 23rd April 2008 - 1:20 pm

Just in case you missed it, yesterday Brian Paddick had a piece on the Guardian’s Comment is Free

Londoners want a serious alternative. Time and again during this campaign people have said to me: “Ken did all right for the first few years, but power has gone to his head.” But they have also said that they can’t imagine letting Boris run a bath, let alone London’s transport system. Typically they conclude that either Ken or Boris is marginally less bad than the other. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but that’s how most of us vote most of the time.

Read …

Also posted in London | Tagged brian paddick | Leave a comment

Op-eds

Vince Cable writes…Labour and Fiscal Rules (Vince Cable)
Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy (Josh Babarinde)
Mathew on Monday: “We need to be bold” (Mathew Hulbert)
As a party we must be better defined for the 2029 general election (Chris Bowers)
From national averages to local realities: inequality in our communities (Tom Walker)

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Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Category Archives: Online politics

Don’t bitch about the party’s message – run your own

Why blogging matters to Lib Dems more than most

Sarah Palin: how the McCain campaign blundered on the internet

Total Politics list of top 50 Lib Dem blogs published

Party policy process takes to Facebook

The future for Twitter ain’t looking so bright

Book review: What should you be getting up to on the internet?

Liberal Democrat Voice says, the party acts…

What next for social networking?

Are you using the party’s web browser toolbar?

Get the party’s latest films on your iPod

A new look for Lib Dem Blogs

Calling all young Lib Dems: Meet the women and men who make the news

Are you a Lib Dem living in Cornwall?

Everything you ever wanted to know about LDV’s Mark Pack…

Are UK politicians right to concentrate on Facebook?

The Iain Dale Total Politics top blogs list

Twitter: a passing fad or a useful campaign opportunity?

“Ten Green Bloggers sitting in a Room”

Consumer power meets search engine optimisation

Are you using the party’s extranet?

A new way to decide who to vote for

Liberal Lords a-blogging

Joan Ryan’s website

A striking political use of Facebook in Lebanon

Online buzz and the London Mayor election: final figures showing Paddick getting the most positive coverage

BBC Election Night 2008…

I’m not blogging about Grant Shapps…

Twitter News

Paddick writes for Comment is Free

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Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Category Archives: Online politics

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