Politics and the Internet

The task we have been set is to review two political sites in terms of the kinds of involvement they encourage. The sites i selected from the given list were Kevin MP and Malcolm Turnbull.

Lets start by looking at the front page..... Turnbulls' site starts by directing you to sign up for his e-newsletter, which I skipped and went on to the rest of the site. Kevin on the other hand is less formal, by using his first name only, and yes also has the email sign up.... but also also has a box on the bottom left asking for visitors to get in touch. There is also links to facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Youtube and flickr. This is in addition to an embedded YouTube video that has a go at Turnbull links to other videos and to 'hot topics'.

Now on to page two for Turnbull and yes there are the links to facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace and flickr as well. Their is a link 'contact Malcolm' on the top right and the rest of the page that takes you to a page that give postal, telephone and fax contact details as well as a web form for leaving comments. The site also give links for a range of information that is all styled in the more traditional broadcast format, just through new media like podcasts and big slabs of text interlaced with pictures.

Overall both politicians are encouraging the same types of interaction within their main website. I would say though that Kevin encourages more interaction than Malcolm, just by the fact that his site opens up with the possibility for interaction where as Malcolms' site requires visitors to click through a few layers before they can interact.