Tuesday 13 April 2010

Shaun Bailey: A video update (but no comments)

One thing about this campaign that is fascinating for anoraks like me is the way that Labour and the Tories are apeing the Obama campaign's methods and tools in a way that we have never seen before over here. We have of course televised debates for the first time on a national level but at the local level here in the Bush both Andy Slaughter and Shaun Bailey are using blogs, YouTube and online ads in a way I don't think they would have done before.

I've tried to make my own modest contribution by using video where I can, as well as covering meetings and interviews - with Slaughter here, Bailey here and Emerson here. It's all good for bringing what can be quite tedious campaigns to life for local people, so well done to the candidates for using these new methods.

With the Standard reporting yesterday on the way our constituency is a 'front line' in the general election both parties are throwing a lot of resources and big hitters at it.

And here we have the latest innovation - Shaun Bailey is recording weekly campaign diaries for all our benefit. For very little cost (a camcorder and an internet connection) he's able to reach 149 people in 3 days at the time of writing. But what's this? Comments are disabled on the video, so presumably he doesnt want any pesky voters letting him know what they think of what he's had to say!! That most definately wasn't Obama-like, but well done for trying..

3 comments:

  1. Comments disabled! Ah, the irony. How will his vigorous social media supporters earn their keep? ;) Expect them here...
    Nice to see social media and video being used by a local candidate. Of course, the real juice in the Obama campaign came from real people making their own content...

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  2. It's really interesting to see the difference between the social media campaigns.

    Merlene Emerson isn't bothering. No tweets. Site links to Lib Dem Facebook & Twitter accounts.

    Shaun Bailey is going all out. Twitter, Facebook, even an iPhone app. And a video diary. And lots of articles here. Very interesting. I've already mentioned his active commenters a couple of times.
    But if you look at Twitter, he's only following 10 people. Even though he's being followed by 460. Like with the comments being off, he *almost* gets it, but then fails spectacularly. It looks like he's not listening. He's using it as a broadcast platform, which is not the point of social media. The whole point is that you follow people who follow you.

    You'd think Bailey was more active than Slaughter - but on Twitter Slaughter is following
    1600 people and being followed by 1000. Twice as many as Bailey. But not everyone he follows is following him.

    You might assume this stuff is trivial, but I think it says quite a lot about the different campaigns.

    I'm sad that the Lib Dems aren't as vocal here, and that Merlene Emerson isn't using these tools to reach people. I'd prefer a stronger three way debate to the oppositional Lab/Con.

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  3. I am pleased to share that I have discovered the wonders of tweeting and very excited that the whole political landscape has changed so dramatically since the leaders debate! You can all follow me @merleneemerson

    Rupert, together we can make it happen in Hammersmith!

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