Brave New World of the Political Internet
If parties and candidates move now to establish a presence on the Internet, perhaps they can offset the populist aspects of the Internet (like bloggers and YouTube) that threaten their control of their own images. The Guardian (UK) reports on the British Conservatives' move to attract support from an untraditional group of potential voters. It may represent another development in the trend away from political parties' dependence on formal membership. (And that raises questions about funding political activity.)Tories unveil their secret weapon: 'webcameron'
- Video blogging site to be modelled on YouTube
- Party hopes to reach disaffected voters online
"David Cameron will today unveil radical plans to harness the power of the internet by reaching out to a blogging generation that is disaffected and disconnected from mainstream politics.
"At the heart of the initiative, which is designed to make the Tories one of the most technologically progressive parties in Europe, is 'webcameron' - a website for video blogs by their leader. Mr Cameron will provide regular clips with him speaking direct to camera, as well as written blogs and podcasts.
"The site will also feature guest bloggers - kicking off today with John McCain, the US presidential hopeful - and video blogs from members of the public that will be stored and shared online...
"The site has taken ideas on sharing video and images from YouTube.com and flickr.com, and also social networking sites such as MySpace...
"'It very much represents the values of David Cameron's Conservative party, of openness and community. We see this site as being a way that people can engage with politics in a meaningful way on their own terms, and share a platform with David Cameron and thought leaders around the world on the guest blog, which we think is going to be very powerful.'...
"Today's move reinforces the way all parties are moving away from relying on their declining membership to execute policy and organisation."
In a follow-up story, How parties stack up on the web Ros Taylor describes the online efforts of British parties.
posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:20 AM
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Cyber Hazards of Online Politics (from The Guardian (UK):
Cameron blog hit by cybersquatters
"David Cameron's video blog has been targeted by cybersquatters supporting the UK Independence party (UKIP)...
"Webcameron, which launched last week, features the Conservative leader talking politics from his kitchen and hotel rooms.
"However, a rival site with a similar internet address, webcfameron.info, appeared two days after the launch of the official .org.uk Conservative site...
"Jonathan Robinson, the chief operating officer at NetNames, said: 'Politicians are just as vulnerable to online threats as film stars or any major brand.
"'One of the first steps of setting up a new website is checking the availability not only of your desired domain name, but also of alternatives including the .com and .co.uk versions.
"'Unfortunately, in this instance, David Cameron has seen his effort to harness the power of the internet stumble at one of its first hurdles.'
"Another website with a similar name, webcameron.com, run by an Australian poet called Cameron M Semmens, crashed following the launch of Mr Cameron's website, after UK users went online to try to find the video blog.
"The poet has since put a note up on the homepage of his website stating clearly that it is not Mr Cameron's weblog...
"Mr Cameron has also not registered the webcameron.eu domain name..."
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