An election like no other - you tube is here
There has been talk lately about the possibility that Gordon Brown might be about to call for a general election. Whether it is months away or still a couple of years, one thing is for sure it will be unlike any election we have ever had before.
Many MPs as well as the central political parties have been starting their own video channels on the popular website YouTube. The site is already eating into the market share of more traditional forms of media and young people especially can spend more time each week watching videos on there than watching television.
This presents a tremendous opportunity for politicians. They can now quickly produce a simple video with a clear message and make it available people to see. If this is done well and updated regularly and integrated into every aspect of their campaign it could be an extremely powerful tool and best of all it can cost next to nothing. However, it is very unlike more traditional forms of media in that it is two way. Just as easily as the politicians can post videos saying why their constituents should vote for them. Their constituents can respond by saying why they won't vote for them and what they really think of them.
On the whole politicians have been very slow to embrace what looks like a perfect tool for them, and I think the two way element is he reason. The Labour party have for years kept their image 'clean' through spin. Manipulating the media and only allowing certain stories to be told while brushing others under the carpet. David Cameron's Torys have embraced this like it is the only way to beat Labour. David Cameron set up his own site for posting videos called WebCameron. I think he has really missed the point here. It is as if he learnt that you people are using video on the internet to communicate and he thought he would have a go, but he did not want people to be able to post comments or responses which might make him look like dishonest. So instead of putting videos on YouTube he started his own site. Well by doing this he has ensured that the only people who see his videos are those that either love him or hate him. The swing voters who have not made up their mind who he really should be targeting will stay on YouTube and why shouldn't they. He has effectively cut himself off from those needs to reach the most.
One MP called Tom Watson posted a video on YouTube entitled 'Tom's Challenge to Dave'. In it he criticises David Cameron for posting videos away from YouTube suggesting that David is scared of opening himself up to response. He bets David Cameron £100 that within a year he will have stopped posting videos. Ironically that was almost a year ago now and it was the last video that Tom Watson posted, also when you try to post a comment to the video it tells you that the comment has to be approved before it will appear under the video. He could not have been more hypocritical if he had tried. This was spotted by a YouTube user called Colin Munro who posted a video response to Tom Watson's video exposing the situation and holding him to the bet he made. Politicians may not keep their promises but they should honor their bets.
There are millions of YouTube users who could start making videos about their politicians around election time and politicians would be fools to ignore them, effectively saying they are not interested in what the public have to say. So gone are the days when politicians an paint themselves in whatever light they like and expect the public to believe it. Never before have politicians had to deal with such a volume of response, those that do will have an big impact and those that treat it as just a place to broadcast videos like more traditional forms of media just look silly and disinterested.
YouTube could be very good for UK politics. If you are hypocritical and dishonest then you will be exposed on YouTube. So if there are any good honest politicians out there there is a massive opportunity for them to stand out without having to spend a lot of money on PR. I hope that by the time the election comes enough good MPs will be on YouTube challenging the bad ones. Those that refuse to use YouTube will effectivley be admitting sleeze and the sleeze that do use it will be exposed for what they are.
This ebeded you tube video was made by Colin Munro. Colin runs a Guru account on youtube called Giving it a go as well as being producer over at a stretham based television production company called Quirky motion. He is particularly happy right now with his purchase of a Tria, the new laser hair removal device from Japan.