In a week full of talk about the election, where every news programme runs 15mins on what happened on the campaign that day and there is soon to be the first live debate between the leaders of the main three parties, what has happened online? Something I've been watching is the fan sites on facebook. Since the end of last week the conservatives fan site has increased by roughly 3000 fans, the lib dems by 5000 and labour by a few thousand too. As I write the numbers stand at LD 19,456, C 42,830 and L 20,259. These numbers might seem big, but consider that even now Obama has over 8 million fans.
Those numbers and particularly their increase seem rather small considering this is the most important time for support of the parties in 5 years. Is politics compatible with the goal of many marketing campaigns these days: to make their comsumers into 'fans'? To see that brand as more than just the product but something that captures imagination and creates the fan-factor. Fans go to concerts, follow you, want to see you, want your autograph, have an emotional connection - think beatles fans, politics at the moment certainly seems unlikely to attract this kind of attention.
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