Melanie Batley on a new technology platform that takes the campaign to supporters whatever social networks they are involved in

Over 350 million people have a Facebook account, 60 million use Twitter and hundreds of millions of videos are watched on YouTube every day, so it's no wonder politicians are pouring time and energy into online activity. Yet, what evidence is there that the investment generates tangible results for candidates? Until recently, most online political activity focused on gathering ‘friends' and depositing comment into an already overcrowded cyberspace - not exactly the hard stuff, like votes and cash.

In the UK, for the first time ever in an election, each of the main parties used social communities to co-ordinatevolunteers. And while these tools have already delivered some impressive results for campaigns in the UK and US, this is just the beginning.

A new technology called Wildfire is unleashing the power of existing social networks to enable greater volunteermobilisation online, while also linking all offline campaigning activity in one place. Welcome to the new frontier ofpolitical campaigning.

Barack Obama was the first politician to create his own online social networking community, mybarackobama.com, or MyBO to its friends. Through it, supporters were able to join an Obama community,complete with policy information, online discussions, local campaigning groups and all the latest news and videos.

Members were directed to recruit friends, make phone calls, canvass door-to-door, attend local events anddonate. Regular updates were also sent to supporters via email and text.

The beauty of this own-brand social community (modelled by a cofounder of Facebook) was the massive database that emerged from the details submitted by members. These details were the basis of an extensive micro-targeting effort.

It was a significant step beyond simply having an online presence or taking advantage of the viral featuresof social networks.

Most campaigns simply do not have the resources to build their own social networks from scratch. And then there's the element of duplication: a candidate's audience has already set up shop in their desired social mediaoutlets. It's difficult to convince them to spend time in another one; why not find a way to leverage the networks that the target audience already inhabits?

That's the concept behind Wildfire, a new technology platform that takes the campaign to supporters within whatever social networks they are involved in. A Facebook user would log on to find a list of campaign tasks to undertake during a particular week; both online and offline activities. This method is a big advantage over the old days when volunteers had to report to campaign headquarters, so allowing more people to get involved.

Then, each volunteer accrues a "personal impact rating" which increases with every additional friend they recruit or phone call they make; a sort of inbuilt gaming feature with rewards, such as bumper stickers, t-shirts, exclusive pins or private dinners with the candidate. The impact rating appears on an electronic personal dashboard which also includes the latest campaign news.

Back at headquarters, the campaign can track the progress of volunteers, seeing in real time when tasks arecompleted, along with a comprehensive view of the top volunteers and the impact of their campaigning. Thetechnology then links every form of offline and online data about a voter or supporter in one database, a firstin campaign technology, drawing together a candidate's existing voter databases with all available informationon Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the campaign's own website.

Click on an individual record and you will see a comprehensive profile of a person, from their name, address, phone, email, voting history and donation records, to recent campaigning activity, friend links, issue interests, survey responses and the patterns of their online activity.

With this rich information, campaigns can deliver relevant direct mail, email, texts, advertising and videos based on where supporters live, their interests and profiling, while mobilising entire segments of supporters to deliver votes and raise funds. Though Wildfire has so far only been used with a small number of candidates in the US, it is catching on quickly, and would be both affordable and easily imported for individual MPs.

Wildfire is the latest breakthrough that is giving new power to candidates to mobilise supporters both online and offline, and engage personally and effectively with the electorate. It's exciting not just because it can help win elections, but because the tool is enabling wider political participation and a renewed public dialogue.

In the end, perhaps it's the techies who will save democracy.

Melanie Batley has worked as a US campaign adviser and was a researcher for the Conservative Party

This article was first published in Total Politics magazine