The real value of crowdsourcing

How can we use the principle of crowd sourcing in politics? The last couple of weeks have seen Labour and the Conservatives attempt to get their supporters involved in the campaign with strikingly different results.

Last Wednesday we launched “Your Budget Response“, a project that put the collective wisdom of the British public to work on helping to unpick the small print in this year’s Red Book.

As an opposition party, there’s an obvious asymmetry of resources between us and the Government – who have a huge number of civil servants at their disposal. A project like this is an attempt to level the playing field by encouraging anyone with access to a computer to join our team, pore over the figures and find the “devil in the detail”.

The submissions (over 1000 of them) were sent direct to our Treasury team for further analysis. And we got some great stuff which, now that the Budget debate is over, we’ll be publishing on Conservatives.com over the coming days.

This exercise proves that George Osborne’s “army of armchair auditors” is definitely out there, ready and willing to go through the figures and hold the Government to account – uncovering the truth behind any manipulated stats or misleading economics.

The idea for the site was itself sourced from the crowd. The blogger Dizzy Thinks (his fantastic blog also an example of what can happen when politics and technology collide) pointed out that Gordon Brown’s “10p tax con” (the unraveling of which was the defining moment of the 2008 budget) was first spotted by bloggers and that the Conservatives should take this as an indication of the level of expertise that could potentially be tapped into.

In contrast, Labour have invited their supporters to submit ideas or designs for their next poster, which will be displayed on 10 digital ad sites in London and Manchester over Easter weekend.

They’re displaying the shortlist over on the Labour website just now, and while I don’t really want to get into the aesthetics, it’s really striking how negative and personal the majority of the adverts are.

I guess time will tell whether Labour’s foray into crowd sourcing pays off for them, but I can’t help but wonder if they’re tapping into “the wisdom of crowds” or just the hostility of the hardcore activist.

Originally posted at http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/redyellowblue/archive/2010/04/02/69712.aspx

Reaching undecided voters online

There can be little doubt that the role of the internet in the 2010 election will be significantly different to what we saw in 2005. The 3 parties haven’t all just changed their leaders – their overall approach to a medium that played (at best) a bit-part at the last General Election has also changed completely.

Through blogs and Twitter, we’ve seen a revolution in the way political parties communicate internally – with sites like ConservativeHome becoming must-reads for party members messaging each other about the political events of the day.

But the big question at this election is how best to use the internet to reach out beyond the people who will already vote for you to the huge number of undecided voters. We know they’re unlikely to be reading the political blogs or following even their local MP on Twitter – so how do you reach them?

Well, we know they’re definitely searching on Google, connecting with friends on Facebook and quite often starting any web browsing session on a portal like MSN or Yahoo to find out what’s going in the world today.

That’s why search plays such a big part in our online strategy. For example, when we relaunched Conservatives.com in 2008, we ensured that the site was properly optimised for search so users could find key policy information easily using Google. And that work paid off, as proven by recent research by the natural search conversion agency Tamar.

And Google Adwords, which allow us to strategically place messages according to users’ search terms, are important too. For example, on Wednesday anyone searching on Budget-related terms from “Alistair Darling” through to “car scrappage scheme” would be presented with an advert for George Osborne’s video response on YouTube.

Research by Diffusion found that our strategy on Facebook has also paid off, with innovations like our “donate your status” campaign during last year’s European elections helping to send our key messages from our supporters on to thousands of undecided voters. PR Week concluded that the Conservative Party “dominates” Facebook, with more supporters on the platform than the other two parties combined.

We’ve also recognised that it’s important to engage with people on the sites they already visit rather than expecting them to come to us. MSN (which reaches an astonishing 50% of the UK online audience) recently played host to an interactive webcast with David Cameron, and we have worked with Mumsnet, LinkedIn, the Army Rumour Service, Money Saving Expert and SAGA in the past few months alone.

Mark Hanson (writing on this very blog) is right to say that it’s important to keep your own supporters informed, and to give them the tools they need to fight a successful election campaign, both offline and online. That’s why we launched MyConservatives.com, which allows our supporters to fundraise and campaign for the candidates they support and the issues they care about.

It’s also why we’ve invested so much in e-mail, which remains by far the best way to get in touch with large groups of supporters. ReturnPath research found we scored a “landslide” victory over the other parties when it comes to e-mail, with Labour going a full 58 days without sending a message to their subscribers.

So, with the election campaign proper just around the corner, it’s going to be an exciting few weeks and I’m looking forward to keeping you up to date on this blog.

Originally posted on Brand Republic’s “Red, Yellow and Blue Blog” at http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/redyellowblue/archive/2010/03/26/69028.aspx

Engaging a mass audience online

Amid all the buzz about the influence of social networking sites like Twitter on political campaigning, we often forget about how the majority of people in the UK get their news online – through portals like Yahoo and MSN.

With 22 million unique monthly users, MSN (originally the Microsoft Network) reaches approximately 50% of the entire UK online audience. With Windows Live Messenger, MSN’s hugely popular instant messaging program, included the figure reaches 27million. In comparison, Twitter is used by around 3.5m people in the UK every month.

As the default homepage for all PCs shipped with Windows (and that’s a lot of computers), MSN reaches right across the wide online spectrum – including “silver surfers” and casual web users – very many of whom eschew traditional newspapers or TV news.

And that’s why the event we held this week at MSN – a Q&A webcast with David Cameron – was so important. It gave David the opportunity to engage with a really important community that includes a lot of people who will be voting for the first time when the General Election is finally called.

And the level of engagement was very high – we had a huge number of questions come in on a wide range of topics, and the live webcast on Thursday evening (filmed in front of an audience made up mostly of first-time voters) was broadcast to an even bigger online audience.

We’ll be holding a lot more events like this in the run-up to the election as we look to ensure that as many people as possible get the opportunity to put their questions to David and the Shadow Cabinet and hear about our plans to change Britain.

If you missed the MSN event, a replay is available to watch in full here. And if you want to find out first about future webcast events, click here to sign up for our regular e-mail bulletins.

Originally posted at http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2010/02/19/engaging-a-mass-audience-online/

What happens when you let users control the agenda?

It’s often said that people aren’t interested in politics. But we know that, when you address an issue that people care about, that generalisation simply isn’t true.

And there are few things that Britain cares more about than the NHS, as evidenced by the explosion of the #welovethenhs hashtag on Twitter a few months back.

So, when we published our draft manifesto on health last Monday, we knew there would be a lot of online activity. But we didn’t want to just publish the document – we wanted to start a conversation with people about exactly what they want from their National Health Service.

So we used Google Moderator, the same tool President Obama used in his “Open for Questions” initiative, to source questions for a live webcast in which David would take users’ questions.

The voting aspect of Moderator allowed us to open the process right up, so we weren’t just inviting users to submit questions – we were asking them to pick which ones would be answered.

We were told this was a risky approach (many of the popular questions from Obama’s event were focused on marijuana legislation) but we were struck by the high quality of questions and the huge number of votes placed on them – over 40,000 in just four days.

Is this proof that if you trust the people, you will get good results? We certainly think so, and it makes me think back to an argument made by the filmmaker Ivo Gormley about the Number 10 petitions site, which he said was filled with joke petitions simply because nobody actually believed their views would be taken seriously.

In this case, we were clear from the outset that David would be addressing the top questions – and we’d only intervene if questions were in some way offensive or not on the subject of the NHS – which we hardly had to do at all.

The webcast itself, which was broadcast from the King’s Fund in London, went off without a hitch – and we were even able to get some questions in from Twitter and the live chat that accompanied the event.

The other chapters of the draft manifesto will be published in the coming weeks, and we’re looking forward to holding similar events where the users will control the agenda. If you’d like to be kept up to date with this and other online initiatives, don’t forget to sign up to our e-mail newsletters.

Originally posted at http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2010/01/11/what-happens-when-you-let-users-control-the-agenda/

Eric Pickles makes his debut on AudioBoo

Our Chairman, Eric Pickles, has long been praised for his strong web presence, with www.ericpickles.com keeping the people of Brentwood & Ongar up-to-date with everything he’s up to in his role as their MP.

Since he became Chairman of the Party, he’s been dabbling in social media with his War Room Briefings, a series of YouTube videos showing you what’s going on at Conservative HQ, and giving you an exclusive look at our preparations for the upcoming General Election.

His enthusiasm for Twitter has also become famous around Westminster, and he’s been breaking news of candidate selections, unveiling campaign posters and undertaking “twinterviews” on the site since joining up earlier this year.

So it was inevitable that Eric would also be keen to get involved with AudioBoo, which is a great new way of recording quick, easy audio messages using either your phone or computer.

You can listen to the Chairman’s AudioBoo debut (in which he discusses events from the last year, the campaign ahead and the importance of having a good Christmas break) by clicking here.

This service could be a great way for elected (and aspiring) politicians to document their thoughts from the campaign trail in the coming months, and let their personalities shine through using what is a far more intimate medium than just plain old text.

Seen this way, AudioBoo could be YouTube for the spoken word, but without the requirement for extra kit (camera, editing software) that can make the leap into online video a bit too intimidating. And, let’s face it – there are some people who just aren’t suited to it…

All you need is a microphone and a computer (or, if you’re feeling more adventurous, an iPhone or Google Android device) and you can record your own message, in your own voice to distribute to potential voters via your website, e-mail list or by using Facebook or Twitter.

I’m sure we’ll see other Conservatives adopt it with the same keenness as Eric – and I look forward to hearing the results!

Originally posted at http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2009/12/29/eric-pickles-makes-his-debut-on-audioboo/

New features on Conservatives.com

It’s been a hectic few weeks for the New Media team at CCHQ – the most obvious things keeping us busy being the launch of MyConservatives and the webcasting of Conference 2009 (…and if you missed any of the action, the replays are all available here).

But we’ve been adding lots of new features to Conservatives.com too, some of which you might have missed along the way. And now seems as good a time as any to round them all up – so here goes…

For starters, we’ve recently introduced the new Party Shop, which is selling all sorts of items from pens to umbrellas and everything in between. It’s a great addition to the site, and also a good place to stop off if you’ve not sorted out your Christmas presents yet!

Another significant change is on this very blog, which has been moved over to the popular WordPress platform. The main benefit of this is that users no longer have to register to post comments and we’re seeing lots of new names contributing which is great news.

Along with the new Blue Blog, we’ve also started using Del.ici.ous to bring together interesting stories from around the web. Look on the right hand side of this page to find links to, amongst other things, an NME story on Eric Pickles’ recent Spotify ad.

One of the other things you’ll see on the right hand side of the page, along with our most recent tweets, are our most recent Flickr photos – another new addition and proving to be an excellent way of storing the latest shots of David Cameron and the Shadow Cabinet.

And if you look at the bottom of this post, you’ll see a new “share” button. Hover over this to see all the sites you can post our news stories, blog posts of videos to – including Twitter, Facebook, Digg and so on.

A lot of these new additions are in response to suggestions from users – so if you’ve got any ideas for how Conservatives.com could be further improved, let me know in the comments thread below or send a tweet to @craigelder.

Originally posted at http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2009/10/23/new-features-on-conservatives-com/

Putting Pickles on Spotify

If you’re using Spotify today, you might just hear the voice of a very familiar ‘chum’ – our very own Party Chairman, Eric Pickles.

That’s because today we’ve become the first political party to advertise on the music streaming service.

For the rest of this week, Spotify users will be hearing a warning from Eric about Labour’s debt crisis – you can download the MP3 here.

We think this is a great way to reach people who wouldn’t ordinarily be interested in politics with a message that the country needs to hear.

If you’re not already on Spotify, you can sign up here. It’s a free (and legal) way to hear loads of great music.

And while you’re on there, have a think about what song you’d put on a Conservative Party playlist…thoughts welcome in the comments thread below!

Originally posted at http://blog.conservatives.com/index.php/2009/10/20/spotify/

Young Rewired State

On Sunday I was on the judging panel for Young Rewired State, an exciting 2 day event at Google’s London HQ that brought together developers between the ages of 15 and 18. The aim was to “hack the Government into shape” by producing prototypes for government websites that don’t, but probably should, already exist.

The 16 teams decided to make life difficult for the judges by producing projects of an incredibly high standard but, after much deliberation, we were able to pick some winners.

The best in show award was collected by Schoolroutr, a web-based tool that helps pupils work out the safest route to school by showing possible journeys on a map alongside reports on local crime that are produced by an online news search.

Another winning idea was TFHell, which allows commuters to use their mobile to see when their bus is due to arrive, based not on the timetables but the live data London buses already send back to their depot.

The other winners were Will Work for Peanuts and How’s My Train, which focused on recruitment and transport issues respectively.

But from a political perspective, perhaps the most interesting project was Blog-o-tics, which gathers data from the Parliament website on recently proposed legislation and performs a search to find out the blogosphere’s reaction to each bill. This information is then presented in a graphical format showing whether a majority of bloggers are for or against the bill.

The results (which you can see for yourself here) make for really interesting stuff, and it’s easy to see how projects like this could be the first step towards something along the lines of the YourOwnDemocracy idea that was outlined on TechPresident a few months back.

So, all in all, a fantastic weekend which promises great things for the future of online innovation in Britain, and also demonstrates that young people are very interested in not just the workings of government, but also what they can do to help it work a little better.

Originally posted at http://www.conservatives.com/News/Blogs/Young_Rewired_State.aspx

How Ken Clarke is listening to business on LinkedIn

Last week, Ken Clarke and the rest of our Business team held a special summit, where hundreds of business people were invited to tell them what steps a Conservative government could take to help their businesses through difficult economic times. You can watch a video of the event here.

And Ken is now looking to take the “Listening to Business” approach online, using the social networking site LinkedIn – following in the footsteps of other prominent public figures like Bill Gates and Barack Obama.

Due to its specific focus on business, LinkedIn provides an ideal platform for Ken to source opinion, and he is inviting users to answer the question “What one thing could Government do to help your business in the current climate?”

The answers have already started rolling in, and will provide Ken and the rest of the team with some great ideas for how to help British business thrive. To submit your own response, visit Ken’s LinkedIn page – you’ll need a LinkedIn account to leave a response but it’s easy (and free) to sign up.

And if you’d like to give your feedback to this idea, or suggest other online communities the Shadow Cabinet could get involved with, leave a comment on this blog post, find me on Twitter (I’m @craigelder) or send me an e-mail.

Originally posted at http://www.conservatives.com/News/Blogs/Listening_to_business_on_LinkedIn.aspx

What politicians can learn from “Us Now”

Last night I was on a panel following a special screening of the documentary “Us Now” in Parliament. It’s a fascinating film which examines the nature of traditional power in a world where people are able to organise themselves so effectively online.

Case studies featured in the film include the football club Ebbsfleet United (now owned by a group of football fans who, organising themselves online, purchased a 75% share) and Zopa, the social lending website which claims to be the only bank that is actually liked by its customers.

And, inevitably, the film looked at what effect the internet revolution will have (and is having) on our democracy – and Helena Kennedy, Rupa Huq, Sion Simon, Ivo Gormley (the film’s director) and I took part in a panel discussion on that very subject following the screening.

Inevitably, there were some disagreements. Rupa Huq, for example, quite reasonably questioned whether the Number 10 petitions site could ever be taken seriously after hosting such petitions as “Jeremy Clarkson for Prime Minister” – which went on to gather over 50,000 votes.

Ivo Gormley answered this point perfectly, arguing that the reason that so many of these “joke” petitions are posted and subsequently voted up is that the public realise that none of them will make one bit of difference and therefore treat the site with disdain.

It was a far more articulate version of something I had raised earlier – that the Number 10 site basically allows the Government to do online what it excels at offline: ignore people’s concerns.

In David Cameron’s recent speech in Milton Keynes, he set out plans to transfer control from the powerful (the government) to the powerless (the public). But what role does the internet have in this?

Watch “Us Now” (in the best traditions of the internet, Ivo has made it available to watch in full here) and let me know your thoughts. Either leave a comment on this blog post, send me an e-mail, or contact me on Twitter – I’m @craigelder.

Originally posted at http://www.conservatives.com/News/Blogs/What_politicians_can_learn_from_Us_Now.aspx