Power bloggers
Left of centre political blogging is on the rise and could be a big factor in deciding the outcome of Labour's deputy leadership election.
March 19, 2007
If you were to choose two words that people today use almost daily that they had never used or had even heard of five years ago, the words would probably be "iPod" and "blog". Just a few years ago, blogs were relatively rare. Now there are millions. They're devoted to every topic imaginable, from football to flower arranging, from Big Brother to Big Bands. There are some 37m blogs in the world, with a new blog created every second, yes, every second. The "blogosphere" (according to Wikipedia, the "collective term encompassing all Web logs or blogs; blogs as a community; blogs as a social network") doubles in size every six months. It is now 60 times bigger than it was three years ago, with 1.2m new postings each day - about 50,000 per hour.
Like the iPod, having your own blog is fast becoming a status symbol. It is therefore no surprise that politicians are getting wise to the potential of the blog as a means of engaging with the electorate in a fast and efficient manner. Modern politics and government are changing in a fundamental way. Politicians need to become more transparent, more open in their dealings with the electorate. The internet, and interactive tools like blogs, are ways of achieving the greater transparency and openness that the public not only wants but demands. People all over the world are embracing new technology and unless politicians do the same they risk losing a vital link with the people they are trying to reach.
It is no surprise therefore, that political blogging has become immensely popular in the UK over the past couple of years. Labour Home and Conservative Home are both well established and are beginning to provide a much needed platform for a vibrant and passionate grassroots debate about the future direction of both parties. What is more, all of the declared candidates in Labour's deputy leadership election have now set up their own blogs, indeed Jon Cruddas's increasing popularity at grass roots level has been put down, partly, to his foresight in courting the ever increasing community of Labour bloggers. There's no question in my mind that political bloggers are a major new development in British politics.
Blogs take the media out of the hands of the corporate world and put it into the hands of anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Their audiences tend to be political junkies who have almost non-stop access to a computer and large amounts of time to surf the internet for breaking news. Yet, in part, this is what makes some political bloggers so powerful - their ability to influence the influencers! Yet almost all of the most popular and populist political blogs in the UK tend to be anti-Labour. Right of centre political "gossip blogs" like Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale's Diary receive hundreds of thousands of hits each month and are proving to be influential in setting the news agenda ahead of the printed and broadcast media. Left of centre, pro-government blogs are nowhere near as popular and, as yet, not particularly influential - few (if any) are read by the likes of Nick Robinson and Adam Boulton.
It could just be however, that things are about to change. Respected and influential commentators like Tim Montgomery, who runs Conservative Home are predicting that 2007 will be the year when Labour blogging (and bloggers) comes of age. If Montgomery is proved right, if left wing blogging is to have an impact in 2007 then it is likely to be as a direct result of the contest for the deputy leadership of the Labour party. Candidates like Cruddas, Benn and Blears have already grasped the idea that blogs offer a simple, efficient and effective means of engaging with their declared and potential supporters. They collectively recognise and understand that the candidate who is able to get almost instant feedback on national, regional or even local issues will be much better placed to help shape the terms of the debate in a way that will resonate with the wider constituency that will eventually choose a new deputy leader.
So yes, blogs do matter and yes blogs and bloggers could end up having an influence on the outcome of the deputy leadership election. Why? Because the election of the Labour's deputy leader might well provide the catalyst for the first meaningful move by a British political party to properly harness the power of the internet and enable candidates to actively encourage instant and meaningful engagement with members and supporters.
guardian
