Online political campaigning: unofficial trumps official, again
It’s a common feature of online politics, at the national level at least, for unofficial campaigning to reach wider audiences than official campaigning.
There’s a range of reasons for this – several supporters trying their own thing are more likely to hit the jackpot than one single official team, unofficial efforts often move more quickly than official ones, there’s more scope for humour and irreverence if there isn’t an “official” label, and so on.
Smart internet campaigns therefore not only look to their own work but also to working cooperatively with that the wider mesh of unofficial efforts.
There has just been a symbolic example of the importance of this – the unofficial and still very new Facebook group We got Rage Against the Machine to #1, we can get the Lib Dems into office! has just overtaken the long-established official Liberal Democrat page for number of fans.
UPDATE: Paul Waugh has some useful numbers in the Evening Standard on how the first televised debate boosted the Lib Dem social media numbers, though the biggest boost was to this unofficial Facebook group.
I am curious about what the Lib Dems are doing to promote their view on the digital economy bill. As it’s a hugely important to a large number of traditionally politically unengaged folk who are geographically scattered but very internet savvy, I’d have thought it was perfect for some online campigning.
Hi, I created this group – thought you’d like to know that we’ve now also passed the Labour and Tory fanpages numbers too.
Anyone intersted in helping promote the group can use the simple link attached – http://www.libdem2010.com
Ben
Very good going Ben – excellent move on your part to create the group!
Helen: Nick Clegg is talking about repealing significant parts of the act: http://www.libdemvoice.org/clegg-commits-to-digital-economy-act-repeals-18938.html