Lib-Dems overhaul website and digital strategy to increase online audience

Interesting to see what the Liberal-Democrats are doing at the moment to increase their online presence.

Firstly they have overhauled their website which is about time because their old one was awful. I’m not sure about the blue however, but maybe Cameron was right and the Lib-Dems are more aligned to the Tory way of thinking – God I hope not.

Then, according to PR Week,

The Lib Dems will launch a new digital campaigning platform called Act in two weeks, following on from the relaunch of the libdems.org.uk website last week.

A third website, specifically focused on members and activists, will roll out in approximately one month. ‘It will give them the tools and materials they need for campaigning,’ said Lib Dem CEO Chris Fox.

The moves follow last month’s high-profile launch of the Tories’ myconservatives.com e-campaigning platform.

The bulk of the digital work was handled in-house by the party’s digital team, which includes Catherine Turner, David Angell and Sam Lockwood.

Fox added that the party’s technology panel, chaired by MP Lynn Featherstone, oversaw the activity, while digital agency Being worked on the website relaunch.

‘We’ve split the functions into three,’ said Fox. ‘Users want to know what we’re about, then how to do things.’

The Lib-Dems have always been reasonably forward thinking in terms of online politicking and engagement. In late October, the Hansard Society launched a study to say the Lib-Dems had the highest proportion of MPs on Twitter than any party. Labour has numerically much more however.

But, simply having an online presence isn’t the be all and end all of online engagement, it is a matter of what you do with it that matters.

I still think Labour is ahead, but that is just me. I’ve said it before, Labour has the sensational Labour List as well as a number of other sites, which includes bloggers such as activists as well as standing and past MPs. Also there is Bloggers4Labour which is an ok read. Labour Home also exists but I admit I haven’t really gotten to know this site yet, but it seems to be a grass-roots local issues blog/newsite.

The Tories have a presence in the form of personal blogs like Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes, with Conservative Home acting more like a RSS feed than a blog sometimes. Fewer Tory MPs are involved online according to my estimation.

I haven’t done a huge amount of research on it yet, but if anyone out there has the figures for blogging MPs, I’d love to see them. Would be an interesting stat.