Thursday, November 01, 2007

The Killer App?

The Liberal Democrats are definitely cornering the market on Facebook, nearly all of their MPs are members, they are the most active posters and now they have their own application allowing the party to place their most recent campaign slogans and videos within the profiles of supporters. Sadly the app still has a video of Leader Ming Campbell (ahem) visiting the flooded towns during the summer (whoops); but could this be a new way to build relationships with Facebook's young, politically disengaged users?

The criticism of much political communication using Web 2.0 tools is that largely they use these interactive media to post static communication, so the kind of brochure-like material we associate with Web 1.0 websites. This adaptation to the Facebook environment is certainly gimmicky but allows a greater degree of connection between the party and its supporters and may encourage more interest in politics and the party. it is not inevitable, but there is potential.

No comments: