This entry was posted on
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005 at
9:16 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.
*This door is now closed.
I’ve been campaigning, building and advising for close to two years in an attempt to get more politicians blogging. In this time, help, aid and advice has been given (often freely) to members of the Labour, Lib-Dem and Conservative parties.But until the election has been and gone, the best/only advice I can offer you is this:Now is not a good time for you to launch a weblog.My current MP is a sweetie-pie. I’ve had action taken on my behalf, and even got a question asked in Parliament. But I’ve also lived in areas where I’ve not seen or heard from my MP for years on end… until election time, when they suddenly started appearing in the High St and turning up at my home. I tend to ignore or slam the door on these people. Others are inclined to give them a right bollocking while they’ve got the chance. It is my considered opinion that this is the kind of reaction you will get from the more seasoned bloggers you will be relying on to make this networking tool work in your favour.Starting a weblog as little as 3 months ago would have suggested that you were perhaps committed to this new level of communication in the long term. Starting a weblog now suggests that you will only be interested in the exercise for the duration of your election campaign.
By MJLloyd February 2, 2005 - 10:33 am
Bit harsh. I mean, it’s probably about now that MPs are sitting down with their staff and saying things like “Right, how can we communicate better with the voters to get them to vote for me” and some enthusiastic young staff member says “I think you should blog sir” and because this is the time of year (four years) that MPs are really paying attention they might say yes.Besides if MP x blogs for three months once every four years that’s better than him never blogging at all. Not as good as him blogging all the time, but it’s progress
By Manic February 2, 2005 - 11:03 am
Not if the impression MPs get is that blogs are for campaigning only (look at what happened in the US).
By davblog February 2, 2005 - 2:36 pm
Project Martin
If Ben can have his top sekrit Project Marilyn then I can have my Project Martin. Tim says that it’s…
By Shane McCracken February 2, 2005 - 3:01 pm
Although the next few months are the best chance of getting MPs to try blogging it is also the best chance to destroy the concept by having MPs do it for the campaign alone. If people associate blogging MPs with transparency, communication, and honesty then that is good, if they associate them with campaigning, vote begging and opponent trashing (which already is an annoying part of some MP blogs) then it is bad.
By Manic February 2, 2005 - 3:38 pm
(points up)What he said.