Facebook and other similar online social networks are already proving a valuable tool for community activism and national and local politics, delegates heard at last week’s London symposium ‘Empowering citizens through technology and participation’, hosted by the International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy (ICELE – http://www.icele.org).
The Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb, himself already a Facebook ‘whale’ (the term used for someone with more than 1,000 friends on the network), said politicians should look to start small and grow their online networks.
“I discovered that every secondary school in my area has a Facebook group for former pupils, and every village has a group. There are also many students who live in my constituency but study outside, so are away for 40 weeks of the year. But they are always on Facebook.”
By inviting as many local people as possible to be his Facebook ‘friend’ and join his network, Webb said it makes people more receptive to him when he canvasses in person. “If you knock on the door, they are more likely to know who you are, to connect. And if I am holding a meeting and forget to have leaflets printed, even at the last minute I can contact people online and say I am holding a surgery tomorrow, please come.”
It is hard to link online activity directly to increased votes at an election, he said, “But people do say that they will vote for you because you seem to work hard and keep in touch.”
But he said it takes a lot of hard work to build and maintain a large social network online. “Anyone who thinks they can do Web 2.0 in their spare time can forget it. If you go down this avenue, be prepared to spend some time on it, or pay someone to spend time on it.”
Mr Webb’s remarks were supported by a local politician on the panel,Bath and North East Somerset Labour councillor David Speirs.
The founder of the B&NES Network on Facebook, Speirs said the network was useful for holding discussions and organising meetings,protests and petitions. His council also had a private restricted access Facebook group for councillors’ internal use, he said.
“I can organise a leafleting session and find out exactly how many and who will attend. Councils need to learn from this – there is a need for online forums, and for personalised councillor profiles.”
