Cool Dad

Every time a political party announce they are going to launch some form of innovative marketing via the web I chuckle to myself, that is because most MP’s can’t get to grips with their emails never mind the inner workings of a young web savy potential voter.

The latest announcement is that the Conservative party are going to spend Half a Million pounds targeting ‘online friends’; In an echo of Radiohead’s recent album launch, there will be no fixed charge for becoming a Conservative supporter on Facebook, MySpace, iVillage or Bebo.

WHAT? The party wants people to pay to effectively become a ‘fan’ (in Facebook terms) of the Tory Party? That’s right, George Osborne says; “People can pay as little or as much as they want to”, which is nice of him but prey tell what do I get for my generous donation?

…regular updates on party activity and invitations to take part in social action projects in their area..

and that, says Mr Osborne is ground breaking in UK Politics. I’m inclined to agree, asking people to cough up (as much or as little as you want) to get a couple of emails a week is a joke, no one is going to take them up on this especially given that these online ‘friends’ will not be able to vote in leadership elections or any of the other activities open to a full party member.

According to the report Labour and the Lib Dems already do an online supporters network and do not even consider asking for a donation until you want to become a member. Social networking sites are just that however they are fast becoming a mass marketing tool for anyone who has enough money to line the pockets of News Corp or Facebook inc.

The reason Myspace lost millions of regular visitors to Facebook was because of Facebook’s ease of use and minimal intrusion from people trying to sell you stuff, this puts punters off. We don’t expect services for free so can live with ads but users do not want to be bombarded with targeted marketing every time they log in to see what their friends are up to. Of course facebook is going the way of myspace by becoming more and more difficult to use because of it’s applications platform.

Which brings me back to the Tories spending £500,000 on this form of marketing; I’m not aware of how much money the Conservative party has to piss up the wall trying to get new supporters but I’m willing to bet the uptake vie Myspace, Facebook and the like isn’t going to make a great return on their investment. I don’t know who’s idea this was, but they certainly haven’t spoken to anyone who uses these sites on a regular basis.

I’m all for political parties to engage supporters and prospective supporters via the web, but stop trying to be my Cool Dad. Please.