Jim Cousins (Proxy Blog)

Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central
http://jimcousins.blogspot.com/

Proxy blog by: 'Dave'

Launched: June 22, 2004

Format: Blogger.com (customised template)

Comments: Yes
Trackback: No
Syndication: No

This was one the first proxy-blogs created as part of the proxy blog project.

Information provided includes commentary on relevant movements, articles, appearances and speeches, and an RSS feed from theyworkforyou.com

The author did his best to convince Jim Cousins of the value of blogging and even went to the time and effort to meet up with the man, but - for all of his efforts - 'Dave' was only rewarded with an unfulfilled promise in August 2004 that Jim would take over the proxy blog on a trial basis:

While agreeing the blog would be a very useful and powerful means to communicate with his constituents Jim isn't prepared to take the blog over yet. He does however want to try a few things out with the blog as a means to gauge how effective it really is. We all know that the ease of communication the internet has ushered in has also brought with it information overload, masses of spam and various other timewasters. His main fear is that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages so wants to dip his toe in the water.

So what does Jim want to try out? First of all he's going to put something together on various new laws and more importantly their impact on the local area. He knows how boring press releases are so we won't just get a rehash of the latest Westminster communique. But the most exciting thing he wants to try is posting something on a local issue inviting responses direct to his email address via the blog. He will be garnering feedback for this through the usual channels as well so it will be a good test to see the quality and quantity of responses through the blog compared to the traditional means of canvassing opinion. To make sure enough constituents know about he will include the address of the blog in upcoming newsletters. I've been surprised at the relatively high visitor numbers but only a minority of them are local. Hopefully that should change soon.

Jim failed to live up to his promise to undertake a trial run, and the proxy blog has been inactive since this promise was made.

Jim Cousins still does not have his own website, and relies mainly on this profile on the Labour Party website and the group site at labour-north.org.uk to serve and inform his online constituents.

Posted by timireland on June 22, 2004 3:32 PM in the category Blogs: Proxies

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