For nearly two and half years, Liberal Democrat Voice has aimed to represent grass-roots and discuss party issues online. In this interview, the site’s contributing editor Mark Pack, also the Libdem Head of Innovations, discusses what LDV’s point is and whether criticism of online campaigning is justified.

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What do you think is most important for LDV: get Libdems to talk to each other; encourage people to join the Libdems; or get the upper hierarchy to engage with the grassroots through the site. And why?

I see it as having three purposes: to help encourage Liberal Democrats to engage with each other, such as with policy discussion; to help engage with other people online interested in politics, including raising stories they pick up on or rebutting stories others have run; and to be a ‘shop-front’ for the wider Lib Dem blogosphere which attracts those who through time or inclination don’t want to trawl rounds lots of different sites.

Mainstream journalists are a particular target for the last of these purposes, but it’s also the case that many party members and supporters don’t want to spend that much time online and so like the idea of having a site that brings a lot of different content together. That’s one reason why we regularly highlight content from other sites, such as our weekly round-up of the a dozen stories from other Liberal Democrat blog. That way, people who primarily visit LDV but not other Liberal Democrat sites still get to hear about some of the other excellent sites out there.

Political parties and politicians come in for a lot of flack from internet experts. Why do you think parties and politicians aren’t better at their use of the internet?

I’d turn this question back on those throwing the flack. Although they’re often throwing up good ideas, very few of them have ever, for example, run a successful election campaign. You therefore frequently have a group of people with no experience of running an election telling people who have run – and won – elections how they should do their job.

In that situation it is perhaps not surprising that they’re not as successful at persuading people to change their minds as they think they should be! In fact, it’s very rare to hear people start from an understanding of the problems that politicians and parties face (such as the huge pressures on time during an election) and then target their message at addressing those problems.

No doubt you get accused of being a party mouthpiece all the time, since you actually work for the party. How would you counter that accusation?

The site is run by a team of eight of us – two work for the party (and one is also a part-time volunteer at party HQ), but the rest, including our editor-at-large, Stephen Tall, do not. Amongst our contributors there are some other party staff and several MPs – which adds a lot to the site – but again the majority are not staff or elected people, and there is also a regular trickle of outsiders who do guest posts.

at the end of the day, the site is run by a group of people who want the party to do well. But we’re also liberals, and believe that slavish loyalty and uniformity undermines success rather than assists it. Of course, some stories are best left to non-staff members to write about!

What sort of online tools have you developed to enable Libdems to communicate with each other?

I think there’s a difference in our approach from that of the other main parties – based in part of our different political philosophy. The emphasis in the Liberal Democrats is much more about giving people the tools to use rather than delivering stuff centrally. I think this also suits the political opportunities of the internet in the UK better as often the way to get to large audiences isn’t through one or two sites, but through the accumulation of lots of small audiences over many sites.

So, for example, our very successful campaign buttons get several million impressions each month, widely publicising the campaigns features. But the buttons don’t appear on the front page of www.libdems.org.uk. Instead, they are an easy add on for people to add to their own local websites and blogs.

Similarly, one of our other very successful tools is an email list server, which is available for free for anyone in the party to use. The result – hundreds of local email lists, the cumulative membership of which exceeds our central records – and a much more intense network of communication between different people and parts of the party than could be achieved from the top down. Likewise, www.flocktogether.org.uk lets people advertise their local events and activities, drawing in a wider audience and deepening our roots in local communities.

Isn’t focusing only on Libdem news unlikely to attract new members?

To be successful, a site needs to find a niche that can flourish amongst all mainstream media behemoths. LDV’s niche is primarily news about the Liberal Democrats and news likely to be of interest to Liberal Democrat members or supporters; hence, for example, the appearance of posts by myself with computing tips for those who are heavily dependant on their computer (most party activists) but really would rather not have to be a computer geek.

We do cover some wider political stories – ones which are likely to be of interest to liberals – and that’s where the appeal to a wider audience can come in. But if they want general news without a Lib Dem slant or interest, then there’s plenty of other places people are more likely to go.

Do you think Libdembloggers aren’t cohesive enough? Do they not talk to each other enough?

I think there is actually quite a strong sense of community – along with the occasional squabbles! It was one of the reasons for starting the blog of the year awards (run jointly by the party and Liberal Democrat Voice), which include an awards presentation at our autumn party conference so that many bloggers and readers get to meet each other in person.

Events like that, and the self-organised group of bloggers who carry out interviews with leading party figures, help generate those personal contacts which make a community really function.

If anything, I think the issue is more that at times bloggers can be too concerned with talking to other Liberal Democrat bloggers, and not enough with talking to wider audiences!

LibdemVoice has published a book highlighting some of the best commentary and discussion over the past year. You can buy it from Lulu.com

Reader comments

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   [...] Dr Pack gets third degree Written by Alex Foster on 15th January 2009 – 3:12 pm I don’t mean he’s now even better qualified to run Lib Dem Voice, I mean the Voice’s own Mark Pack been answering some tough questions from Sunny Hundal at the Liberal Conspiracy. [...]

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