This entry was posted on
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at
9:24 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.
Draper and many bloggers defend strategy
Derek Draper, editor of LabourList, has rejected suggestions that his web strategy is too Westminster-focused. He told PRWeek: ‘There is a massive spread of issues on the website. It should be about the whole country and the Westminster village is part of that.’
He also pointed out that top Labour politicians were onside: ‘When I have asked them to do something for LabourList, not a single member of the Cabinet has been anything other than keen.’
Draper was speaking in the wake of rumours that his web tactics were dividing the party.
One Labour insider claimed: ‘There are lots of people at all sorts of levels of the party very uncomfortable with the Derek Draper ego show.’
But Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson told PRWeek that Draper was doing ‘sterling work’.
Meanwhile, LabourHome’s Alex Hilton said: ‘The one thing that Derek really has brought to the table is that he has delivered buy-in from senior figures.’
Fellow LabourHome founder Jag Singh said: ‘He has done a good job of getting upper echelons to buy into his project.’
Blogging Labour MP Paul Flynn was also supportive, saying: ‘We were underperforming before. It is nice to have a presence at all.’
I’m loving this ham-fisted PR. So reassuring. So organic. So “2.0 without the hype”…
I live in hope that Tom Watson’s quote is only two words long because they’re the only two words of praise they could dig* out of his statement.
(*See: Movie/theatre posters)
More love and kisses here. I can’t help but wonder if MessageSpace money was spent on this massage.
(Not that they have much of it. They throw some big names about, but I’ve seen a lot of Commission Junction ads filling their inventory lately.)
–
UPDATE – Alex Hilton and Jag Singh ‘disappeared’ two entire conversations from their website yesterday without so much as a placemarker (or gravestone). They do this in the name of using the authenticity of blogging to reach ‘normal’ people, you understand, and have no wish to dwell on the hang-ups of ‘anoraks’.
A valid question is being shamelessly dodged here and here, if you’d care to watch. The ‘nutter’ tag just made its first appearance (not far behind ‘obsessive’ and ‘anorak’), and here, I get a lecture about leaving politics to the experts.
(Grass roots, baby. Welcome to 21st century campaigning. Now, shut up and do what we say. … No, don’t do what he said. Besides, he didn’t say anything. … No, he didn’t. Look, here’s the big empty space that proves he didn’t say anything: ___________________ Satisfied? Now run along…)
–
UPDATE – Not that we’re anywhere near that stage, but wouldn’t it be funny if there were a major division about them trying to ‘disappear’ information about a minor division?
By spark up February 19, 2009 - 6:08 pm
interesting that jag singh and paul staines have been portraying the guido/labourlist spat as an egostorm seeded by derek draper's desperation for attention and bloghits – when, according to alexa data, labourlist is actually getting traffic comparable to that of guido fawkes…is it in fact paul staines and messagespace who are feeling under threat here.
By Manic February 19, 2009 - 6:55 pm
Thanks for that.I don't trust Alexa data beyond thumbnail sketches, but maybe there's a way to verify that independently.(Incidentally, according to Paul Staines, his Google Analytics data amounts to an "independent audit". He's a funny guy, and a politician through and through.)
By BenSix February 19, 2009 - 7:49 pm
How dare you? Alex Hilton opposes sneaky deletions quite forthrightly (well, when it's the Tories, of course).By the way, have you taken a peek at Spark Up's blog? She/he has the full post of "Threat From A Comrade", plus a comment from Jag Singh which reveals that Degsy was considering MessageSpace ads for LabourList just a few days ago. Unverifiable, of course, but I remember a remark about a "letter" on the LabourHome threat thread.Ben
By BenSix February 19, 2009 - 7:53 pm
Damn, the link got lost in the post…http://www.recessmonkey.com/2008/08/02/exclusive-…
By Manic February 19, 2009 - 10:39 pm
Gosh, Alex Hilton an outright hypocrite.. who'da thunk it? Nice find. Ta. I'll look at the other stuff soon.No HTML in comments here, BTW – but if you post a URL, a hyperlink with be generated automatically. Just type as if it were a plain-text email.
By mikkimoose February 19, 2009 - 11:58 pm
Two small observations:* Draper's dirty antics have probably brought him most of that traffic. Linklove even from his enemies. Very effective technique for getting traffic, he's obviously learned from Guido. Especially handy when the site was looking like it was DOA. Remains to be seen how well it will do in the future.* I'm sure you're very pleased that you don't have to choose between Hilton and Draper, now that they've both decided to join forces.
By CPLOL February 20, 2009 - 12:14 am
Have blogged the deletions:http://chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com/2009/0…Will add a link to this.Also how the Schillings link should have stayed Draper's fire:http://chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com/2009/0…
By Matt Wardman February 20, 2009 - 12:24 am
>(Grass roots, baby. Welcome to 21st century campaigning. Now, shut up and do what we say. … No, don't do what he said. Besides, he didn't say anything. … No, he didn't. Look, here's the big empty space that proves he didn't say anything: ___________________ Satisfied? Now run along…)ROFL.