Att kunna använda Internet i politiska kampanjer eller inte

I söndagens Washington Post fanns en intressant artikel om politikernas användande av Internet, Social Media eller Web 2.0. Sedan presidents Obamas mycket framgångsrika användande av mediet under hans presidentkampanj - och även nu som president - har flera europeiska politiker avundsjukt försökt göra likadant. Men jag tror att det krävs mycket mer än så. Det handlar om att använda ett helt nytt angreppssätt i kommunikationen (!) med väljarna, inte att fortsätta föra ut politiska budskap till tänkta målgrupper. Vilket är vad många ändå gör.

I Sverige har politikerna diskuterat detta och haft seminarier på ämnet, bjudit in Obamas kampanjledare och så vidare. Sen krävs ju dessutom en story som får människor av alla sorter att engagera sig - internet är ju trots allt bara ett redskap. Det hade Obama helt klart - men har vi det verkligen i Sverige? Diskuterar vi verkligen vad vi vill med vårt land? Nu och om femti eller 100 år? Och vilka krav och val som det medför för oss som lever nu? Det är nämligen det som de gör här i USA... I artikeln i Washington Post fick jag detta bekräftat. Med exempel från framför allt Tyskland som går till val i helgen.

Nedan finns ett utdrag men länken till hela artikeln finns längst ned.

Puttering Along The Digital Autobahn

By Clay RisenSunday, September 20, 2009

The most popular politician in Europe isn't Germany's Angela Merkel, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi or France's Nicolas Sarkozy. It's America's Barack Obama. Europeans love his image and charisma, but they especially love the way his 2008 campaign used the Internet to rewrite the rules of American politics.

The European political establishment has rushed to follow suit, convening conferences and working groups on how to re-create Obama's online energy. These days every politician has a YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter feed and blog. In May, more than 600 German politicos turned out for PolitCamp09, a crash course on campaigning Obama-style. "Obama has set the standard, and now every leading German candidate is falling over himself for a stronger presence on the Internet," wrote the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

With Germany's national elections Sept. 27, the campaigns are in high gear. But for all the leading parties' talk of digital politics, their Web strategies are just that: talk. Their blogs are Potemkin Web sites -- the posts are just rehashed news releases -- and their Facebook groups often have fewer friends than the average American teenager. The parties still think that the Web is just an advertising tool, not a way to raise money, activate volunteers or create a movement behind their candidates. As one official from Germany's center-right Christian Democrats told me bluntly: "It's not for the voters. Most of it is just to show the newspapers that we're modern and relevant."

But if European politicians don't understand the political power of the Internet, others do. Fewer and fewer Europeans are involved in mainstream politics, and they are moving more of their daily lives online. The result is a gap between the public and the European political center, one that fringe groups are eager to exploit. Right-wing extremists are becoming increasingly sophisticated online organizers. They've made great strides in Germany and elsewhere using the tools of online culture -- song downloads, games, social networking -- to spread their message. Europe's digital generation might not like politicians, but that doesn't mean it isn't political. And if the mainstream politicians don't connect with young voters soon, someone else will.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091801145.html