• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 1 of 11

Gallery

Was it Google wot won it?

Posted on 9 Apr 2008 at 16:39

So will a strong online campaign or groundswell of support on YouTube sway the election when Brown and Cameron face the ballet box in 2009? The US Pew Research Center claims 42% of 18-to-29 year olds regularly get their campaign news from the internet, outstripping all other sources. But until British MPs start to realise that the internet is the best way to engage with voters, they seem destined to miss out. "It's a challenge for politicians, a lot of whom don't come from this generation," says Sayers. "There's almost a structural problem with it - there's an inevitable suspicion about top-down internet setups."

Only when the British politicians pull their finger out will we see the swingometer move from offline to online, as it has in the US.

Author: Dave Stevenson