It's fair to say the 2010 General Election was the 'Internet Election That Never Was'. Excited and inspired by the incredible support marshaled online in the US in 2008 many political commentators predicted an eRevolution. Words like tweeting, FB, blogging and Twitpic were bandied about in an attempt to show candidates were "down with the kids". But the post-mortems show the impact of the internet was much weaker than many hoped and predicted.
Can digital campaigning work in UK politics? Perhaps the last election didn't quite live up to the promise of its American counterparts, but big advances were made on the digital side, particularly by the Conservative Party. Building on the successes of 2010 and tapping into the incredible power of digital campaigning - directly engaging your supporters to organise, share and inspire at a local level - is the challenge we face at BackBoris2012.
And we're working hard to do just that, starting with the launch of our new hugely interactive website.
The Online Activist dashboard - giving you the tools to recruit new supporters, create your own events, and spread the word on the ground about Boris's record and achievements - is the most exciting feature of the new BackBoris2012.com. Through the dashboard, you can connect directly with BackBoris2012 Online Activists from across the capital, sharing knowledge and ideas, as well as provide on-the-ground intelligence to the team at campaign HQ. And you'll receive exclusive access to Activist-only updates and contests.
With this revamp we've made it even easier to view and share content and have added a section right on the front page of the website for you to give your input. Now you can tell the world why you’re backing Boris, as well as share your policy ideas with the campaign team.
This is only the first step and we'll be rolling out more features over the coming months. To see for yourself what we're doing, head over to new BackBoris2012.com and join the team!
Read the full Total Politics interview with Boris Johnson here.
Bethany Wheatley is Digital Campaign Coordinator for Boris Johnson's 2012 mayoral campaign
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