Social networking meets politics

Published 30 July 2007

The last year has seen the mainstreaming of the web in politics.

The last year has seen the mainstreaming of the web in politics, particularly in the use of social networking and user-generated content. There are concerns in using such services, as Bill Thompson explains on page 10 but, if evidence were needed that politicians are at least now familiar with this area, you need look no further than this year's New Media Awards nominees and finalists.

Who could have imagined a year ago that the leader of the opposition would be regularly discussing matters of state and party in online forums with voters, let alone posting regular video content? Or that the Prime Minister would make regular appearances on YouTube? Nor, would many of us have believed that the subject of road pricing would gather 1,811,347 signatures on a newly launched ePetitions service, set up by No 10. Or that the first regular internet television station in the UK would focus not on entertainment, technology news or sport but on politics.

It seems that 2007 became the year when social networking became de rigueur for those involved in political campaigning. In France, Sarkozy led the way, while, in the US, Obama and Clinton used Facebook and YouTube to new political heights in the race for the Democratic presidential candidacy. With no general election in sight, the best the UK could muster was the Labour deputy leadership election - where we witnessed Flickring, Twittering, mySpacing, Beboing and Facebooking in abundance.

Such excitement, and nominations, meant that, for the first year since almost the start of the New Statesman's New Media Awards back in 1998, the judges gleefully looked forward to discussing the elected representative category. Finally, it seemed politicians were beginning to understand how to communicate in a digital world. But are we to believe that Alan Johnson really knows how to Twitter, or that Hilary Benn personally accepted all those Facebook friends? Perhaps not.

To find out if politicians really are au fait with the latest iterations of the web we must look to discussions, questions and answers held in parliament, searchable via one of the New Media Award's previous winners, TheyWorkForYou.

There we find that, to date, Twitter, like Flickr, has yet to be mentioned in the House of Commons. However, the term "social networking" was referred to well over a year ago, not by an MP but by a member of the House of Lords, Baroness Thornton, on 28 March 2006, in a debate on the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill. MPs can thank Labour's Iain Wright for salvaging their respect, with the first mention of YouTube on 19 October 2006, Paul Flynn for the first mention of mySpace in the House on St David's Day this year, and the new Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, for the first mention of Bebo just a few weeks ago on 9 July 2007.

However, the prize for first mention of Facebook, and the last word here, goes to the MP for Maidenhead, Teresa May, who, in a debate on MPs' new communications allowance on 28 March 2007, stated: "Members will undoubtedly argue that, in modern times, politicians must communicate more with their constituents, and I certainly agree, but modern times also offer modern means of communication, and those do not necessarily involve spending great sums of taxpayers' money. Indeed, members increasingly rely not on post and the press, but on websites, e-mail, blogs, text messages, and social networking services such as Facebook."

Mainstream indeed.

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