A while back I wrote a column which reviewed the online campaigns of Senator Barack Obama and John McCain to predict the next president of the United States. The victor of that comparison was Mr. Obama.
Now, here in Canada we have our own Federal election going on and I thought it timely to do the same.
If search results are any indication of campaign success the online landscape looks like this. Searching “Stephen Harper” returned 2,820,000 million results. In comparison Jack Layton returned a mere 505,000 results. Stephane Dion came in with a slightly better performance of 874,000. The Green Party’s “Elizabeth May” returned 432,000 results and rounding out the bottom is Gilles Duceppe from the Bloc at 243,000.
Seeing as Mr. Harper has had a greater opportunity to be in the spotlight, it’s easy to understand why he outperforms his next closest rival at a ratio of nearly 3:1.
How are the parties using online social media? Surprisingly well. The three big hitters are all using a few social networking sites or social bookmarking tools. The Liberals and Conservatives have numerous options including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. NDP is the front runner is the social arena. If we use Flickr – a photo sharing website – as the basis for comparison, NDP is the front runner posting 519 images.
Liberals are sharing 122 shots and the conservative party 294. I didn’t spot any social tools on the Bloc site and the Green Party isn’t doing much better with only a single YouTube video on the home page. How about Twitter? Twitter is tool which allows people to quickly send short updates using instant messaging, SMS or the web. Conservatives and Liberals are both using the service, but again the NDP have their Twitter feed properly positioned on their home page and appear to be the most active with over 80 posts.
Where else can the parties be found online? The Liberals launched the microsite www.ThisIsDion.ca which appears to be targeted to youths who don’t know much about the Liberal leader. The Conservatives also launched a couple microsites. The first, www.GreenShift.ca outlines their environmental policies. The second? A “smear” website against Dion.
Yes, even smear campaigns have made their way online. The website www.NotaLeader.ca has had some recent publicity because of the pooping puffin incident of 08′. You heard it correctly, a pooping puffin. Mr.Dion called the web clip a vulgar attack ad; but later accepted Mr.Harper’s apology when he said the ad was “tasteless and inappropriate”.
While the Puffin still makes an appearance on the site it keeps it’s act clean, no doubt saving it’s load for a later trip over to the NYSE and Lehman Brothers websites.
If we look at overall website design and usability. Liberals and NDP take the cake. Their sites are cleanly designed and are very easy to use. NDP probably has the best showing. Stephen Harper’s Conservative site could use some help. Although this may just be an early casualty of the recent canceling of the $14.5 million dollar Canadian New Media Fund which fosters the creation of internet content.
My prediction? Conservatives do well and probably maintain the top spot, the Liberals hang on to a number of seats and watch out for the NDP next time around. To learn more about some of the registered political parties please visit the following websites (alphabetical order).
