MPs: I encourage you to engage with the public via a weblog

This entry was posted on
Monday, June 6th, 2005
at
10:39 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.

Today the Hansard Society has released a report Parliament’s failure to communicate with the electorate.

What I’d like you to do today is to take a link to this post and forward it to your local MP with a short and polite email:
https://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2005/06/mps_i_encourage.asp

Dear MP-type person. You need to seriously consider the possibility of engaging with your constituents and the public in general via a weblog. (Click here to read more about his.)

You may in the past have thought of a weblog as a form of vanity publishing or even a personal public diary, but in reality it is a powerful networking tool. The value lies not in the technology, but in fully realising the concept of two-way communication as opposed to one-way broadcast. Think of it as a large, ongoing public meeting.

And, unlike your typical surgery, this interaction with the public will not always involve people who are unhappy with you or matters that may or may not be under your control. It will mostly involve the slow and steady building of a network of people willing to support you and help you.

But the technology alone cannot do this. What is most important is the concept of transparent engagement.

No, it’s not for all MPs. It’s an especially unhelpful approach for someone like Geoff Hoon who – happily – is charged with addressing the problems raised in Hansard’s report.

But I would argue that an MP who is unable or unwilling to engage in this way is not fit for office in the first place.

Do you have something positive and important to say? Would you like that to endure in a way that automatically draws like-minded people to your side? Would you like to end your dependence on local and national media?

Then get in touch, and I’ll show you how it works.

Cheers

Tim Ireland
manic AT bloggerheads DOT com

UPDATE – Guardian – So, you want the public to show parliament more respect? An open letter to Geoff Hoon








About Tim Ireland

Tim is the sole author of Bloggerheads.
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