This was, as many have said supposed to have been the new type of election, where all the campaigning was done digitally, through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, these being the most valuable and most visible to the public. The trend was set during the latest US Presidential election where there was a real buzz about how new media was being used by the Obama camp to engage and encourage voters, especially the younger ones to participate in what was an historic moment.
The three main parties in the UK have all tried to follow suit with the American model, all having Facebook pages, Youtube channels as well as what seems to be the obligatory Twitter account. This cannot be said to have been completely successful as none of the parties have properly understood how to use these tools, the main one being the Twitter # tag, which has caused all the parties some kind of embarrassment.
However it is impossible to deny the power and influence of television as was displayed recently with the leader’s debate on ITV and Sky which pulled in 9.6 million and 4.1 million viewers respectively compare this with the roughly 150,000 people in total following one of the parties on Facebook. It is true that these people are more engaged than those who watch the debate, however these are the people who have already made their minds up and the parties are in a sense preaching to the converted. The ones who are members of these groups and are politically engaged via Twitter are frequently the younger voter/party activist. The overall influence of televised debate was greater than that of the digital campaign as it allowed people a more rounded view of each of the main parties’ leaders without the large amount of spin and bias that is on party lead groups.
