PES Manifesto

Internet strategies: some ideas

Publié lundi 1 septembre 2008 à 16h00
par carl0s (vu 566 fois et 2 commentaires)

Political parties primarily use the internet to win votes. A secondary purpose is to galvanise and mobilise supporters. In a previous posting, I argue that many conventional approaches to internet campaigning ignore these simple conversion metrics and try to apply glossy promotional techniques which alienate, bore and patronise the general public - especially a public experiencing tough economic times.

We have to acknowledge that a large part of the electorate are not interested in reading about politics on the internet. Pornography and shopping are the real generators of internet traffic and revenue, and this is not likely to change, despite online video continuing to gain in popularity. Blogs have mushroomed in numbers, but despite the vibrancy of some, a US study recently revealed that only 56% of American internet users actually read political blogs. Of these, only 17% were under 21 years old - and all of these users tended to stick with the same one or two blogs on a regular basis.

It appears that blogs are often literally preaching to the converted, but this is not always the case. In the UK the most popular blogs have tended to be written by conservatives from a center-right perspective. It's certainly true that the readership of these is not necessarily right-wing - showing how wider popularity can be gained amongst the public through quality writing and coverage of interesting topics.

Tags: campagne, internet