Apropå sociala medier och deras politiska betydelse rapporterar the Guardian att de brittiska partierna inte var särskilt effektiva i sitt användande av sociala medier under valkampanjen. Intressant nog tycks Labour ha använt sociala medier på vad som i artikeln hävdas är det strategiskt bästa sättet – för att bygga relationer samt mobilisera och aktivera sympatisörer. Det är precis vad jag också försökt argumentera för i tidigare inlägg. För att citera Matthew McGregor på Blue State Digital som intervjuas i the Guardian:
”Philosophically [Labour] seem to have the right idea,” says McGregor, ”getting supporters to make phone calls and knock on doors. A big part of campaigning should be using new media tools to build relationships that help in activating activists. What the Conservatives have done seems to be based on a philosophy that believes in focusing on people who are undecided. I am not so sure that’s the smart thing.”
Jesper Strömbäck 
Matt McGregor was advising the Labour party so I suppose he would say that, however he is probably right that they used it well but it was not unique as suggested. Five out of six parties competing nationally encouraged supporters to promote the party via social networks and get involved in the campaign. The Conservatives created their own social network for activists that was a complete copy of mybarackobama (called funnily enough myconservatives.com). What Labour did well though was to follow the only strategy they could and be successful at it. They needed to inspire their supporters to be active supporters bu instilling pride in the party and give the sense it was not a futile gesture. The change we see campaign built up pride in the party’s achievements, Twitter hashtags #labourdoorstep was used to show there was support in the country and give a positive picture of canpaigning; #mobmonday got activists competing over the number of people they rang. The Conservatives were much more relaxed, myconservatives as a tool was massively under-promoted and not one of the campaigns hit their targets (mostly just for £150 in donations). The Liberal Democrats focused on mobilising activists around wider campaigns showing they were more of a pressure group and had no aspirations on government.
A fascinating election – more in our book out at end of the year http://tiny.cc/ekbbv
Cheers, Darren
Hi Darren,
Thank you for your comments! Very interesting, and I look forward to reading your new book later this year! Cheers,
Jesper