Originally Posted by Aardvark

A lot of MPs are not Internet savvy and don't understand what can and can't be done. They listen to apocryphal stories about grooming, but don't consider the hard work done in other countries to control output so that a lot of what we see is sanitised. They don't understand the innocent pleasure that a lot of social networking sites give to millions of people.

Youtube is a very good site and I have found all sorts of videos that interest me - mainly old comedies and traditional dancing. Many of the videos have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The site could even be a source of votes at the next election, if only UKIP candidates understood the sort of people who are tuning in and pitched their messages accordingly. A sharp production of a humourously presented message with a few young people and some nice music (check rights) would pull in potential voters.

Although a lot of stuff on the net from the former Soviet Union pushes the bounds and probably includes non-consensual sexual material, the USA has forced producers of porn to maintain a list of the models used and to confirm that they are consenting and over 18. That's how responsible sites operate, but our older MPs, and a mass of UKIP supporters, live in a vacuum and don't understand the way the world is changing. If you don't believe me look for websites for our MEP candidates; there is a sound argument that we should not support candidates that don't have a web presence (mine is cr@p and needs updating).

Anthony's politigg site is a classic use of the Internet. It draws feeds from all over the place and people will be viewing it in their tens of thousands already (AB to confirm traffic levels). I'm not saying it will happen, but what if politigg had a milllion regular viewers by the time of the next GE and suddenly linked to all of the candidate websites at the start of the campaign. Those candidates with good websites, a solid Youtube presence and a message presented with punch and style and devoid of typos, poor English and drivel about Bilderbergers and treason will have a massive advantage. Viral marketing works; viral campaigning will work also.