MPcandidates for Labour mustembrace social networkingbefore the general
election, the party's new media campaign spokesperson has
said.
Kerry McCarthy told
labourlist.org that politicians have in the past misunderstood
social media and warned her colleagues, "This is the first election
where people do not have to wait for the politicians to come to
them. All our candidates need to start building up online
collateral from now on."
She said that new media campaigning is not dissimilar to
traditional campaigning, but admitted MPs had got it wrong in the
past. "There was a misunderstanding that new media would be like
old media, i.e. about broadcasting. New media is more powerful in
the way that we develop relationships, help constituents [and]
converse with members."
She added that the next election will be the first where
constituents do not have to wait for politicians to knock on their
door or do an interview to find out what they have been doing.
"Voters will increasingly be searching the web to find out what we
think about the issues, what we have been doing in the locality and
looking to see what we sound like," she said.
McCarthy said Twitter
is her social network of choice, where she has built up a following
of over 2,000 people.