Politics in the digital era

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October 2007

In this month's podcast, i-level's Oliver Newton talks digital politics with Katie Perrior, co-founder of iNHouse PR and media adviser to Boris Johnson, and Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey and winner of the New Statesman New Media award for Best website for an Elected Representative.

Wyatt, previously director of The Computer Channel at BSkyB, is chairman of the All Party Internet Group at Westminster which he formed. He has been described as the "fastest emailer in the West" by Radio 5 Live following a competition to find the quickest MP to respond to constituents' emails. In this podcast he gives his views on how digital media can help politicians deliver their message efficiently.

His predictions are that video blogs will become an important tool for politicians as people want to see their MP talking to constituents in real situations. "In America you no longer get Obama or Clinton saying 'Hi I'm wonderful' ...instead you get interviews with people who may have never been to a political conference before... encounters which you'd never see on national TV," he says.

Meanwhile, Katie Perrior points out that off-beat political bloggers like Guy Fawkes, 18 Doughty Street and Conservative Home are read as avidly and watched as closely by the Conservative Party as the political coverage in the national press.

And in an age where TV and radio are only after sound bites, Wyatt argues that websites allow you to state exactly who you are and what you're offering. Wyatt, who is also active on MySpace, Facebook and Second Life, says that online social media gives politicians the opportunity to meet the 18-35 year-old non-voting segment exactly where they are in the same way as you would meet the 45 year-old male constituent at the pub.

Perrior adds a cautionary note though, saying that Facebook comes with a "health warning" and that several MPs have ended up with "egg all over their faces" in their attempts to add "friends".

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