Is this the UK’s first web 2.0 election? Lots of people think seem to think so.
They’re wrong, argues the Economist, rather persuasively, I’d say.
Killer quote:
Television is the only technology that can reach so many people in a single day. But others are not far behind. Although their circulation has declined, newspapers still reach large audiences. The Sun, which supports the Conservatives, is read by 8m people each day. By comparison, much-touted social media like Twitter are so niche as to be almost invisible. Get Elected, a political-research outfit, has examined 100 tight races, where online campaigning should presumably be fierce. It found that only 45% of the candidates in those races had Twitter accounts. The politicians who used it attracted an average of just 614 followers. The average English constituency contains 70,000 people.
Nuff said?