2.0 Jags – Labour’s Viral Campaign

In a nod to the successful online campaign and mobilistation of support through social networks that spearheaded the Obama election, Labour launched Go Forth – The Campaign for a Labour Fourth Term.

But unlike it’s US equivalent, that grew support slowly, establishing an online community before going mainstream, the Labour equivalent feels more like spin – with Prescott appearing on TV and in newspaper interviews sporting 2 blackberries and trumpeting his new found love for Facebook.

Futhermore, any successful online campaign is about communication and inclusion, it’s about connecting with an online community – a fact that is confirmed by an analysis of Obama’s presidential address:

“The most amazing contrast for me was the use of internal language by President Bush, who referred to “me,” “I,” and “my” a total of 44 times compared to President Obama’s use of internal language only 3 times.

In contrast, President Obama used inclusive language such as “our,” “we,” and “us” a total of 142 times compared to President Bush who used inclusive language 64 times”

Source webinknow.com

Looking at John Prescott’s first blog entry, we find 12 uses of internal language,  and only 4 uses of inclusive language. Let’s hope that as the site grows the balance between talking and listening will become a little closer…