Politicians Overlook Online Technology in Race for Votes
Politicians Overlook Online Technology in Race for Votes
July 16, 2007: Despite high-profile pollies such as Malcom Turnbull, Joe Hockey and Kevin Rudd embracing blogs and other online venues such as MySpace and Facebook as a means of promotion, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) believes that Australian politicians on are generally overlooking technology as a key tool in this years federal election.
The AIIA says the Aussie politicians are fighting with the proverbial one-hand behind their back by not taking advantage of new technologies, noting that compared to US politicians they are really dragging the chain.
“On one hand we have the Clintons posting a Sopranos-style satire and Barack Obama TV on YouTube grabbing international headlines, and until this week the best Australia has to offer is a few very tame blogs,” said AIIA’s Chief Executive Officer Sheryle Moon.
“We reviewed the online presence of some of the key players in the Australian election race and found they’re just not using common technologies to connect with their electorates. This is surprising given this will be a make-or-break election for both sides of politics. If we are to continue calling Australia the clever country it’s time politicians lead by example.
Moon urged politicians to dive in to new communication options such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube to increase their capacity to communicate with voters. She offered congratulations to Ministers Turnbull and Hockey and key Opposition spokespeople Rudd, Gillard, Garrett, Swan and Conroy who have opened up shop on MySpace and have cultivated relatively strong online presences.
“Ministers Turnbull and Hockey lead the pack with friendly, interactive sites and tongue-in-cheek blogs. With this approach they would be naturals in MySpace and the increasingly popular Second Life,” said Ms Moon.
Opposition Spokesperson on Environment Peter Garret also scored highly on the AIIA scale, as does Prime Minister Howard, despite being trumped on the MySpace front by Opposition leader Kevin Rudd.
Interestingly, the Association notes that despite the ICT industry being her forte, Senator Helen Coonan has a surprisingly weak online presence with a website only, no blog, second life avatar or myspace and only one youtube posting.
“Senator Coonan has only a modest presence despite ICT being in her bailiwick – our members would welcome the opportunity to enhance her online influence,” said Moon.
“It’s good to see some of our pollies entering a new arena, while others are sticking with what they know, which is a shame,” said Ms Moon. “The beauty of these new technologies is their power to inject real energy into electioneering. There’s plenty of scope for humour, creativity, impassioned debate and originality. And let’s face it – couldn’t we all do with a little of that?”
Indeed we could, however, with online personas being outsourced in increasing numbers, one has to wonder just how often it is the pollies tending their avatars and blogs instead of their PR machines.
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