Lib Dems punching above their weight in Internet Presence: Excellent
While I was digging around looking at jug-of-water-gate, I happened to come across a politics page on the Open Directory showing that the Lib Dems have more UK websites - just under 700 - listed there than either Labour (just under 500) or the Conservative (just under 600).
The category is UK Parties and Politics.
What gives?
Click the image for a screenshot
Particularly striking is that 350 Liberal Democrat branch websites are listed, compared with 101 “Local” websites for Labour and 118 Conservative Association websites.
I can’t be definitive from just these figures - but it looks as if someone in the Lib Dems knows their Internet Onions, and have been doing some superb strategic internet campaigning, punching a couple categories above their organisational weight.
I’ll be explaining some more detail on this in my Blog Platform column tomorrow afternoon, and taking a look at why the Open Directory (and even more so Wikipedia) can be so important, and putting forward some thoughts about online campaigning.
I will also be doing a more analytical piece over at Poliblog Perspective looking at how the internet presence of the parties has developed in the Open Directory since the year 2000.
In a nutshell, some argue that organisations specifically targetting raising their profile are somehow pushing the boundary, whether by deliberately aiming to be listed on many websites, or by designing a website specifically to do well in search engine results; in my view, it is no different to (for example) having a listing in a County or Professional directory - or sending a press release worded to catch the attention of a newspaper or radio programme.
More in Blog Platform tomorrow.
Tags: lib dem, conservative, labour, open diectory
Categories: Political Blogging, Politics
I think that Liberal Democrats may genuinely have more to say: In Waltham Forest the Labour Party has run out of steam; its membership has collapsed, while their local councilors have lapsed into a complacent managerial authoritarianism that no-one in their right mind can get enthusiastic about.
Whilst it may be due to the fact that the LibDems have more websites, I think it’s more likely because the LibDem section is edited by someone who is willing to put the effort in.
I agree with Ryan. I’m an editor for the Conservative blogs section but people just don’t know about dmoz so they don’t submit their sites.