MPs and web technologies: an untapped opportunity?

Abstract

Nigel Jackson originally started out as a political practitioner and moved onto commercial marketing. As a senior lecturer in public relations at Bournemouth University he has been able to combine his practice experience of both campaigning and marketing. His main research interests are the impact of new technologies on politics and British political parties. ABSTRACTMPs have not previously been assigned a major role in electoral campaigning, being considered only one element of a political party's 'marketing' tools for winning votes. Evidence now suggests that the relationship between MPs and their constituents is changing. The concept of 'constituency service' implies that individual MPs can have a much greater influence on local voters and so possibly buck national trends. At the same time the concept of the 'permanent campaign' is transforming political campaigning whereby the political elite needs ever-greater control of the tools used to provide messages to voters. The internet is a potential battleground between MPs who want greater control of their own local campaigning and the party elite who want to ensure a consistent, coherent and controlled message.The Internet is a new addition to the campaigning armoury, yet the focus so far has been on egovernment, e-democracy and election campaigns. By concentrating on how and why MPs use their websites this paper considers whether MPs have fully understood and utilised this new medium.Key questions include whether their websites are 'sticky', interactive and a means of creating a targeted message.The findings of this detailed study of MPs' websites show that apart from a few pioneers, MPs have not progressed beyond using the Internet as 'shovelware' -the vast majority view their website as an electronic brochure and not a new form of two-way communication.

Online Political Communication Strategies: MEPs, E-Representation, and Self-Representation

“…It remains a key communication function for a legislator to demonstrate an active role within the legislature, offering transparency and accountability while simultaneously presenting themselves as hardworking parliamentarians and representatives of their constituents (Jackson, 2003). However, the broadcasting communication paradigm is challenged by social trends in using the online environment for two-way communication, and the co-creation and sharing of content (Koch, Fuller & Brunswicker, 2011).…”

“…The most prominent of these is that they have limited resources for communication, therefore do not have the time or staff to monitor and respond to inbound communication (Jackson, 2003). MEPs have a higher budget than most national legislators, so have the ability to be innovative if they wish.…”

“…MEPs have a higher budget than most national legislators, so have the ability to be innovative if they wish. National legislators also argue that the Internet adds little to their representative role, they claim those who wish to interact with them will do so face-to-face, in constituency surgeries, or privately by email (Jackson, 2003). While constituents can contact their MEP by email, and can visit local surgeries or the office of the MEP in Brussels, the possibilities for face-to-face interaction are rather limited.…”

“…Homestyle focuses on identifying communication priorities but dovetails with the broader concept of constituency service (Cain, Ferejohn & Fiorina, 1987) and, for online environments, e-representation (Coleman, 2007) E-representation concerns the extent to which the Internet supports the representative functions of elected members of parliaments within democratic nations (Jackson, 2003). Previous research has shown that e-representation is usually expressed in communication through the provision of information targeted towards specific voter groups, so using the Internet as a direct communication channel between the representative and a constituency (Bimber, 1998;Ward & Lusoli, 2005;Ward, Lusoli & Gibson, 2007) in order to explain their contribution to the area they represent within the legislature (Fenno, 1978;Denzau, Riker, & Shepsle, 1985).…”

Members of the Scottish Parliament on Twitter: good constituency men (and women)?

“…In the UK, much of the 'peacetime' research has focused on content analyses of elected members' personal websites (e.g., Halstead, 2002;Jackson, 2003;Ward and Lusoli, 2005;Vicente-Merino, 2007;Goodchild et al, 2007). In these studies, whilst the parliamentarians themselves have tended to believe that their website is a useful tool for communicating with their constituents, the nature of this communication has been largely one-way, with few opportunities for constituents to enter into two-way, online dialogue with their representatives.…”