Not the Obama Girl!

The No. 10 website’s latest initiative – Number10TV  - has been criticised by the press before it has even been re-launched. The basic premise is that it is a publicity stunt – designed to shore up Gordon Brown’s appeal rather than to engage citizens in any meaningful way.

Newsnight carried the story in its programme last night (I was a talking head – it can be downloaded via the previous link), suggesting that even when British politicians use new technologies, they don’t do as well as their American counterparts.

Is this true? Our ongoing research suggests not. While candidates in the US Presidential elections may have launched sophisticated online campaigns, there is little evidence that they will engage the public after the elections. They may seem more vibrant than their UK counterparts, but vast sums are spent (and raised) to make them so! And the media coverage of their online campaigns is – in the main – exceedingly positive.

This isn't the case when British politicians use new technologies to connect with their constituents. These go unnoticed by the media but in our evaluations of governmental and Parliamentary forms of online engagement, we note that the public responds well to initiatives taken by MPs, ministers and government officials so long as politicians do more than broadcast themselves online.

A clear picture emerges from our research; the public wants to engage with politicians; particularly, they want to participate in initiatives that tie in with policy processes and which deliver clear outcomes. Citizens – egged on by the media - may be momentarily seduced by publicity stunts, and may enjoy viral campaigns and political jokes but the future of online politics looks bleak unless some real progress is made in developing deliberative forms of engagement which ensure that their voice is heard and responded to in meaningful ways.

Laura Miller, Senior Researcher, eDemocracy.

l [dot] miller [at] hansard [dot] lse [dot] ac [dot] uk