Like, Share, Vote by Jamie Bartlett, Jonathan Birdwell and Louis Reynolds

There’s a fairly standard structure and substance to writing about social media and politics: first point to some disturbing trends in politics (but remember only to point to trends that look bad*); then point to the spread of social media and the good it can do; beat up politicians a bit for not doing more of what you think they should be doing with social media; end with a hope for a political future rescued by more savvy use of social media.

The Demos pamphlet Like, Share, Vote does little to disturb this stultifying convention, but it does lay them out the conventional viewpoint clearly, and with a broader set of evidence than usual – looking across Europe rather than just the UK or the US.

That makes it a good introduction to the subject and it also throws in some expert guides to how campaigning groups can make more use of social media to mobilise political forces. It is also copiously footnoted, providing a good jumping off point for further research (as long as you buy into the basic outlook set out above), and ends with well selected generic tips for using social media to engage people with politics, though the references to free tools that can be used are a little thin and leave out some very popular free ones.

In other words: if you want a good introduction to the conventional wisdom about social media and politics, this is a great read. Just don’t turn to it expecting anything more.

* Turnout out down? Boo! But number of voters willing to switch between parties up? Sssh, don’t mention. Party membership down? Boo! But party campaigns generating more grassroots activity in marginal seats? Sssh, don’t mention. And so on.