If there’s an election, it won’t be fought on the internet
Alex Hilton, of Recess Monkey ‘fame’, has written an opinion piece in the Telegraph [via DK] in which he very much suggests that the next general election - whenever that is - will be fought on the internet.
It certainly won’t if it is this autumn. In fact, even if it isn’t it, it most likely won’t be all that much so either. There is no way that the internet is ready for it.
Yes the internet will become a larger battleground than it ever has been before, but it isn’t ready or capable of supporting a full-scale political battle for the hearts and/or minds of the electorate. And the politicians aren’t ready either. So few MPs blog - Iain Dale could only find 30 - less than 5% of MPs - for his 2007 Guide to Political Blogging that it seems absurd to suggest that the election will be fought online.
Alex Hilton does have some good points about why the internet will develop into a very usable political and electoral tool in the future, such as the development of communication and conversation systems.
But neither side is ready. Yet. By 2009/2010 it is quite likely that the internet will have developed to make politics and political engagement online feasible and politicians are likely to have come to terms with the changes. In many ways it seems to me that having an election now would make the general election after that far more likely to involve the internet, since the extra breathing space would have existed for the potential to develop in, and, whichever side loses, would be far more likely to take the plunge into the new electronic world of politics, forcing the other parties to follow suit.
As much as we bloggers may like to say that we are having an impact, currently it is pretty minimal. It can, and will, expand - but not yet, and certainly not in time to actively affect the outcome of a general election this autumn. Close, but no cigar.
Source: The Telegraph
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True, but it shouldn’t stop us doing what we can after our Master goes to the Palace
I think that was my point - it’s not my fault if the sub-editor didn’t read the piece and put a misleading headline on it.
Alex Hilton
In that case, I apologise Alex.