Political parties are digital followers not leaders
Behind
the Digital Campaign examines the work done by the political parties'
digital teams in the build up to the 2010 election. It demonstrates how
their strategies have been influenced by digital campaigns in other
countries and outlines the development of the ‘perpetual campaign'. It
concludes that while the internet unlikely to lead to dramatic changes
in the electoral landscape in this election, there are some noteworthy
aspects to the general election digital campaign:
- UK political parties are largely followers not innovators
- Digital media is more effective in personality-led campaigns than
party-led campaigns
- Expenditure and experimentation during the pre-election period has
led to the ‘perpetual campaign' building communities of supporters to
mobilise during the election period
- Third-party and single-issue digital campaigns are more likely to
increase political participation and knowledge
- Social networking tools influence political activists, insiders and
the media - stories generated on blogs and Twitter generally only reach
the public when mainstream media take them up
Behind
the Digital Campaign tracked online activity in the UK European
elections, London Mayoral elections and a series of by-elections in
2008/09 as well as monitoring international online activity in seven
case studies. In addition, online party strategists and activist were
interviewed well before the start of the 2010 election, to examine the
build up to the digital campaign.
Freddy Fallon, researcher on the Hansard Society's Digital Democracy
programme and joint author of Behind the Digital Campaign,
commented: ‘Whilst the internet will play more of a role than in
previous elections, the stories that will be picked up by the media
will, for the most part, be prominent because they are occurring online
rather than simply because of their content. It is likely that the most
meaningful examples of engagement online during this election will occur
through single-issue campaigns and other third parties, rather than
through the parties themselves.'