Much has been made in the local media about Aussie politicians’ use of YouTube for political propaganda for the upcoming Federal election. And then there is the blogified but essentially propaganda-focused KevinO7 site, named for Opposition Labor Party Leader and Prime Ministerial contender Kevin Rudd and set up by the Labor Party.
So is this to be a Web 2.0 election? Well, you’d reckon, wouldn’t you, that the Aussie pollies would by now have picked up on what their American counterparts have figured out, that it’s a smart idea to have a blog? At least for the duration of the campaign, if not on an ongoing basis (let’s be practical, don’t want too much transparency, do we?).
Well, although there may be many, or at least several, blogs being maintained by Federal politicians, then it seems they are keeping well below the Google and Technorati radar. Nor are any blogs showing up on the excellent set of Autstralian election tools set up by Google.
So in relation to the “do Australian politicians really get the blogosphere?” question, I was interested – and hopeful – to see that at The Australian Blogging Conference scheduled for next week, the first session of the day is listed as:
The Politics of Blogging
- Right, left or centre?
- Who cares?
- A politician’s perspective
- Blogging the 2007 Federal Election
Sounds like a good session to kick the day off. Only thing is, there is as far as I know only one politician attending! A blogger, to be sure, but the blogger is Senator Andrew Bartlett, from the minority Australian Democrats. No one attending from the major parties, in spite of invitations having been issued.
So in spite of some use of YouTube and a blogified website for the Opposition campaign, I don’t believe there is much sign currently that the coming Australian Federal election can be seen as in any way an illustration of Web 2.0 at work.
If you have seen more encouraging signs than I’ve been able to find, let us know.
