In one sense I’m disappointed the election is over.
Returning from my own self imposed wilderness at the dismalness of the political scene to the local fold in New Forest East has been a revelation to me to see how social media networks can re energise the election process, and importantly how it has engaged more of our local membership helpers during campaigns – and not just the under 35s. The more active are definitely the silver surfers who have taken to the new technology like a duck to water. So much so, that a regular evening briefing session …
A high-flying prospective Conservative MP, credited with shaping many of the party’s social policies, founded a church that tried to “cure” homosexuals by driving out their “demons” through prayer…
Abi, a teenage girl with transsexual issues, was sent to the church by her parents, who were evangelical Christians. “Convinced I was demonically possessed, my parents made the decision to move to Bedford, because of this woman
Posters matter in election campaigns, because they show people that a party has plenty of support. Knowing that a party has lots of support in turn encourages other people to vote for that party. So last Sunday’s Daily View was a poster special with one you can print off and put in your window.
The jury might be out on whether the 2010 general election is living up to its billing as ‘The Internet Election’, but the verdict on the Lib Dems’ use of the web is a thumbs-up.
Fresh from being crowned king of TV following the first leaders’ debate on ITV1 last week, Nick Clegg can also polish his digital halo after a new report found that the Liberal Democrats have the most user-friendly website. It seems that Clegg, the self-styled people’s champion, presides over a website most fit for the people, according to
I’ve used Edelman’s Tweetlevel tool for my monthly round-ups of how Liberal Democrat MPs are doing on Twitter, so the figures just outabout how the party leaders are doing as measured by that tool caught my eye.
Some of the headline findings are:
Gordon Brown wins Twitter war by volume
Clegg is the leader with most favourability
Cameron “gets people’s goats” – exciting most negative Tweets, but Cameron’s negative ratings have decreased since the call of the General Election
Tory NI pledge gives Cameron significant uplift in favourability
Over 50,000 Tweets on the party leaders since 22nd March, with nearly half of that since General
A ComRes survey of 101 Parliamentary candidates “who are likely to win or retain their seats” has found very heavy use of social media.
Around half the Parliamentary seats in the UK have not changed hands even once between different political parties in the last forty years, which helps explain why overall levels of take-up amongst MPs and candidates is usually on the range modest to quite good (though in fact often compare very well, for example, with large UK firms).
However, as this survey indicates, there are much higher than average levels of take-up amongst those were the election result is …
Changes in position and score are since March’s figures, and the same caveats apply as before to these numbers from TweetLevel (i.e. Twitter isn’t the only thing in the world, and this isn’t the only way of measuring people’s influence on / use of Twitter).
New this month to Twitter are Evan Harris, Nick Harvey and Charles Kennedy, bringing the total number of tweeting Liberal Democrat MPs up to 30.
UPDATE: Mark Williams has also joined Twitter recently. Apologies for missing you first time round Mark.
New entrant Evan is straight in at the top of the list. That’s no fluke: Evan’s put the work into working out how to use Twitter well and has built up a good community which reaches out beyond the usual activists suspects. Paul Burstow’s rise up the table is the other striking move.
It was while following #DEBill on Twitter on the train that, with just over an hour to go, we discovered where we had to be at 12:15. In front of London’s Dominion Theatre, near Tottenham Court Road. Bring a police helmet and clipboard if poss.
My father had struggled to understand how we could have left home knowing only that we had to be in central London at a certain time. We had aimed for Trafalgar Square.
I recognised Open Rights Group‘s Executive Director, Jim Killock, from his Facebook photo. A few people were distributing imitation police helmets and clipboards. A journalist was asking people why they were there.
The sheet on the clipboard explained what we had to do and where we had to go: the Soho offices of UK Music, a short walk away.
Once there, we were to wander up and down outside the building, looking officious. Perhaps everyone was too good-humoured and smiling a bit too much for that.
Still, there were quite a few photographers and video cameras around to record the event.
Staff heading out of the building for lunch didn’t seem to be very conversational. I can’t imagine they mistook us for MI5 …
So you’ve been selected as a candidate for council or general election as a Lib Dem. Hurrah! The first step on the path to world domination and ever-lasting glory has been taken, and now you’re wondering what the next step is. You look at your campaign budget. You realise that thruppence ha’penny and a tin of organic pasta sauce is not going to go as far as the Ashcroft millions the Tories have access to, or the union funding of Labour. You’re going to have to use all your wiles and cunning to even get noticed as a member of …
Opportunities not taken is particularly interesting, as it highlights areas for improvement. It says that councillors and officers tend to face cultural, rather than technical barriers to using social media. Some councils still lack a clear social media policy for councillors or officers, either in a personal or professional capacity. Many councils routinely block access to social networking sites on their computers. The guide suggests ways for councillors to hold their councils to account over their social media approach.
The site also features a video of Lib Dem Councillor for Redlands (and 2009 LDV Blog of the Year shortlistee for her use of social media) Daisy Benson explaining why she uses social media:
Are you up to speed with the mess the Tories made out of trying to use social media yesterday? They launched a website trying to criticise Gordon Brown for something or other. Part of the site included a twitter feed so that any twitter user using the hashtag #cashgordon could get their words on the site. Users quickly found out that these were not screened before going live, which meant you could get anti-Tory sentiment onto the Tory website. And then the more technically minded twitterati discovered that if you included some code in your tweet, you …
There was a little flurry of interest last year as to whether MPs with “MP” in their Twitter name would face a problem after Parliament is officially dissolved for the general election. That’s because after that point technically no-one is an MP and you’re not allowed to call yourself an MP if you aren’t one. That story was rather over-played though it did spur me to dig out quite what the sanctions would be, which in turns out isn’t that simple a question to answer.
But what about MPs’ websites and text on them saying they are an MP? That is potentially …
Changes in position and score are since February’s figures, and the same caveats apply as before to these numbers from TweetLevel (i.e. Twitter isn’t the only thing in the world, and this isn’t the only way of measuring people’s influence on / use of Twitter):
Like many former Liberals of a certain vintage, I was wooed to the cause of electoral reform by the diminutive but formidable figure of Enid Lakeman, who even at an advanced age could spear opponents with her logic and conviction. I wish she were around today to add her appraisal of whether Gordon Brown’s referendum on AV is a step forwards or a step backwards in the long march to Fair Votes.
As virtually everyone seems to be talking about ‘fairness’ these days, surely it is time that LibDems seized the moment and trumpeted our belief in STV? Moreover, we should …
Councillors in Salford will be banned from using Twitter in meetings.
Gatherings of the full council at Salford’s town hall have been covered live by councillors via their micro-blogging profiles.
The debates have attracted hundreds of followers, but town hall bosses have now banned members from using the site during meetings.
I have to admit to being rather confused by this opposition to Twitter that’s creeping across a few Town Halls.
The argument is that councillors who are twittering can’t be paying attention, but how can you report on a meeting if you’re not paying attention to it?
The Hansard Society has a new report out which asks the public what they want out of politicians and the political system online.
Although many studies have looked at what politicians do or don’t do online, those looking at what the public actually wants are rather rarer. That makes this a particularly welcome report and is based on:
Two samples, the first is a national survey of individuals who are already online and the second a group of ‘digital leaders’; individuals with a strong interest in social media and politics. The first group is representative of digital Britain and the second group are the ‘early adopters’ of social media and digital technologies.
In many ways the report paints a positive picture, concluding that the country has:
An online population who are actively involved in civic and political life and who see the internet as beneficial for this.
However, this optimism should be tempered with the knowledge that other research has often seen people draw a distinction between being interested in issues and seeing the connection between them and voting, political parties or election results. Although the report has apparently very healthy figures for the proportion of people who have got engaged with the political system, this includes registering to vote – an important and welcome step, but one whose inclusion boosts the headline figures.
Today is Groundhog Day, but I’ve resisted the temptation to simply give you yesterday’s Daily View again. It’s also the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, which symbolises the turning point of winter towards spring.
Twenty years ago today President FW de Klerk began to dismantle apartheid in South Africa, announcing that he had lifted the 30-year ban on the African National Congress, the Pan African Congress and the South African Communist Party. De Klerk also committed to release jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela, who was freed nine days later. Commenting on the news, Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: “He has taken …
Although as I’ve said before I’m very sceptical of lists which rate users of Twitter by the number of followers they have, there is some merit in some of the more complex Twitter rating schemes. A good example of these is TweetLevel which, as you can see from the details on its site, includes factors such as how well people are using Twitter and how much other people on Twitter respond to them.
Well well well, this is a bit of a rum turn of events in Cornwall.
Councillors send tweets during council meeting.
Western Morning News runs a story about this, taking a few potshots and quoting The Taxpayers’ Alliance slamming the councillors for this behaviour.
One of the councillors then points out that someone from the TPA was actually sending them messages on Twitter during the meeting asking them questions.
But TPA then say, no – they weren’t being hypocritical for criticising councillors for tweeting whilst also encouraging them because the quote they gave the press was in fact in response to being …
Good morning, and welcome to Daily View this morning. 24 years ago, 28 January saw the NASA Challenger disaster.
It’s the date of the death of Henry VIII and the beginning of the Diet of Worms. (If they went to that sort of effort, I hope they lost a lot of weight!)
197 years ago today saw the first publication of Pride and Prejudice and in 1958, Lego bricks were first patented. Today’s bricks still mesh with the original 1958 system.
Birthday bunny hops today go to novelist David Lodge and hobbit-actor Elijah Wood.
2 Big Stories
Boris Johnson to stand down as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority
In direct contradiction to his manifesto, Boris Johnson has decided he doesn’t have time to be a writer, a mayor, and a Police Authority chair, and so something had to give.
Nigel Jackson (University of Plymouth) and Darren Lilleker (University of Bournemouth) have carried out a useful little piece of research into what prospective Parliamentary candidates get up to on Twitter.
Size of Twitter audience
Although size isn’t everything on Twitter, the number of followers a candidate can build up is relevant to the question of whether Twitter can be a useful medium for direct communication with voters (as opposed to indirect communication, i.e. reaching journalists and helpers on Twitter who then in turn reach the public).
This survey found PPCs with followers often numbering in the thousands which leaves open the possibility that some, at least, are reaching significant local audiences directly.
What sort of messages do PPCs send out?
Around 78% of PPCs use Twitter to send out messages discussing local issues and the same proportion also use it to promote their party, with these two groups of messages being the most popular.
Sharing information is also common: 69% promote their own campaigns but also 67% share non-news links, 53% share news stories and 35% provide local information directly in their tweets. That last figure suggest that, whatever the possibilities, many PPCs do not view Twitter as being useful to them for a direct local audience – or perhaps (very wrongly!) think a local audience is not interested in local information.
Personal touches are common with nearly 60% sending tweets about their personal life, just under half expressing personal preferences and 29% sending jokes.
Using Twitter to listen
Directly asking for views is fairly rare though, with less than one in ten asking for views on local or national issues. However, many PPCs are aware that by putting views or links on Twitter they are likely to get feedback, so the number of explicit requests for views understates the degree to which Twitter is used to solicit feedback.
The report also found that:
The number are following varies from 6 to 2,751. To give these figures some meaning we created a follows/following ratio, which compares the number of followers they have as opposed to the number they follow. Thirty six PPCs have a negative rating meaning that they follow more than follow them, so that for them Twitter seems largely about listening to the views of others. Ninety one have a follower/following ratio of 10 or under, suggesting that they use Twitter as a means of promoting their views, but do look at what others have to say. Only 2 have a higher ratio than this implying that for them Twitter is primarily a broadcast channel.
It’s all related
Number of followers, number of people being followed and frequency of tweets are all strongly correlated in the survey results. With the usual caveat about correlation not being the same as causation, it looks as if the more people use Twitter, the more they get out of it – which in turn of course encourages them in turn to use it more.
Welcome, Daily Viewers, to January 15th – and a public engagement special.
A year ago today US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing into New York’s Hudson River. Eyewitness Janis Krums took this famous photo of the plane (right) and immediately shared it with the internet via Twitter, thus proving the website could be used for so much more than telling the world what you had for breakfast. (The only twitpic photo that’s come close since then was of a fox on the London Underground, but I live in hope and carry a camera…)
First up, there’s a report from the Hansard Society which has surveyed MPs and their use of the internet (“A study into how MPs use digital media to communicate with their constituents”):
Ten days ago, in the dying days of the last decade, LDV launched our search for the Liberal Voice of 2009, to find the non-Lib Dem individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in this country in the past 12 months.
Our thanks to all who put forward nominations, all of which were considered carefully by the LDV editorial collective, which has agreed to short-list the following (in no particular order):
Guy Herbert, general secretary of NO2ID, for his campaigning work against the database state;
Peter Tatchell, for his tireless and fearless international human
There are many, many reasons why the snow coup melted away so quickly. In amongst them is the lack of any groundswell of support, whether from backbench MPs or activists around the country, for the latest attempt.
Today’s Guardian throws an interesting light on the detail of how such grassroots opinion is followed in contemporary politics:
Downing Street on Wednesday monitored the Labour grassroots response to Hoon and Hewitt through Twitter, finding little or no support for their push.
That certainly partly reflects Labour reaction but it also reflects the degree to which Hoon, Hewitt and their allies are of a different political generation from those who naturally …
One of the most common reasons I hear people give for not joining a social network site such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn is, “I know it’s useful, but where would I find the time to keep up with what’s happening?”
A typical way of tackling, at least in party, this dilemma is to go through carefully tweaking your
David Evans This strikes me as a proposal for a very complex system that needs to be thoroughly thought out before it gets anywhere near becoming party policy. As a party ...
Paul Holmes Rif - "..taking on both Conservatives and Labour and challenging the Establishment." Yes I identify with those sentiments, which is why I joined the SDP in 1983...
Peter Davies @Peter Wrigley: The key word is option. The landlord has the option to let it fall down or bet it on a Lib Dem win in Makerfield. In either case, he will end up...
cim This is where Coalition comes in. Sure, you didn't make a lot of centre-left voters very happy by backing the Conservatives, but more importantly you went into ...
FS People Expats
If we are being “fair to the police” we need full facts:
A neighbour called 999 saying someone had been stabbed,
The brothers call contains signif...
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The shame of Liverpool Labour councillors taking their allowances but not turning up to do the work
Should Labour reconsider the Brexit red lines?
Raising a flap about letterboxes
Arriving at one of East Finchley's ghost platforms
Restrained
Chase Park fair photos
David Evans 
Paul Holmes 
Peter Davies 
cim 
FS People 