Web 2.0 and the Nova Scotia Election
Back during the last US Presidential Elections, I wrote a blog about the candidates utilization of the Internet in their campaigns. It was way back in the election when it looked like John McCain didn’t have a chance in hell of getting the Republican nod, and Barack Obama had just won a legal battle to have his campaign staff take over the MySpace site which someone else started in his name. I had no idea back then that Obama would turn his campaign into a social media blitzkrieg… picking up where Howard Dean was cut off in 2004.
Obama and his campaign staff knew how to do it… they knew how to effectively use Web 2.0 and engage a whole generation of otherwise disenfranchised voters. By reaching out to them online, because he knew that he probably would get them to come out to the rallies… In fact, after his comment at the first ever Virtual Presidential Town Hall regarding marijuana legalization and the “type” of people he was engaging online… he probably didn’t want too many of them showing up at the rallies after all!
In any case, in that review, I gave each candidate’s website a Web 2.0/Hipness rating, on a scale of 1 to 10… ranking the sites in terms of ability to engage youth, disenfranchised cynics, connectors and netizens based on my critical understanding of all of those things…
Here in Nova Scotia, things are a little different. The population of youth, disenfranchised cynics, connectors and netizens is substantially smaller than the population of status quo voters. We Nova Scotians have been accused of being fearful of progressive change… and Web 2.0 has not necessarily penetrated the whole population as well as in other provinces. Frig, not even our whole population has access to High-Speed Internet… with far too many rural communities being left in the dust.
However, in an election, sometimes it is the small populations of those who have never previously voted which can make big differences in the election outcomes… And politicians are recognizing more and more that the Internet, and the effective use of Web 2.0 platforms can make those small differences have mega impacts. So far the candidates have been slow to take full advantage of the platforms. Of the three mainstream leaders, only Stephen McNeil is twittering… and none have encouraged user-generated video and photo… But they are all trying to connect using their Party’s websites.
Yesterday I chirped “The Liberals are smoking the other parties in terms of an effective Social Networking infrastructure… #nselection” and after taking a thorough look at their site, now I know why. A company called KTUpload is powering the Liberals Website. I worked very closely with one of the folks at KTUpload for years at the Atlantic Centre for the Study of the Information Society… and while he had little to do with the site, I know that he “gets” it. So while the Liberals have a smokin’ website, it is more important to note that they had the foresight to hire a web development team which gets it.
First point… When you Google NS Liberals, the sponsored link at the very top of the page is Darrell Dexter’s NDP website (Brilliant Guerrilla Marketing technique from the NDP)
Second point… The site is clean and easy to navigate. It has clear menu titles and no drop-down boxes. The pages interlink with one another very well… so if you are interested in looking at the media, you can click through the home page… and you will find the Media link on other pages of the site.
Third point… Web 2.0 platform use. The Liberals are using all the big ones… Facebook, Flickr, Youtube and Twitter, and thier links to these pages are prominently displayed on the home page. You don’t have to search for the legitimate groups… you just have to click through.
Although the home page of the Liberal Website may have too many sets of Stephen McNeil’s eyes on it… there is a simple contact form which makes it easy for the voter looking to get a sign or volunteer or get on the mailing list without have to search for it.
The “Follow the Leader” feature on the home page links to a calendar of events for McNeil… but when you click on it… there are very few engagements, making it look like he’s not very active on the campaign trail… While it is a great feature, it may not be juicy enough to be a home page link, when the photo gallery (which is buried on the media page) is very juicy and may have been a better choice as being prominently displayed… either that, or display the calendar for the whole month + of the campaign to show all the places he’s been as well as where he is going on a single view (they could even integrate the photos into the calendar)
The Candidates page shows the current 29 candidates for the Liberals. You can click through to a little bio page with some of their info… the candidates pages are inconsistent in their format. Some of the photos are way too big for a quick load of the page, which is problematic for those who get impatient with page load time (especially for all those folks in rural Nova Scotia who only have dial-up). Also, the candidates who are on twitter, should have links to them on their individual bio pages.
All the multimedia is great on the Liberals page, but they should have the text of the videos audio as well (again for our good friends in rural Nova Scotia who are trying to access the site via dial-up)
Overall the Liberal website gets my Web 2.0/Hipness Rating of 7/10… they lost points because no matter how good their site is, it’s really hard to make Stephen McNeil hip and because of the issues listed above. But also because there is absolutely no where on the website which indicates their platform or positions on the issues… Aesthetics should never compromise information.
It is unclear who is behind the NDP website, which leads me to believe that someone from the party itself is maintaining it. There are pros and cons to this approach. On the one hand, the party will have more control of the content… on the other hand, sometimes you should just let the professionals do their thing.
I do not like the amount of blank space on the NDP’s website. The colour scheme seems weird to me… Too much blue, and not enough orange. The slide show is nice, but there are far too many images with text that is what I would consider ‘negative campaigning’… too much talking about the Conservatives… People are coming to the website to find out about the NDP, not what the Conservatives are doing wrong. And why oh why do the NDP have a widget with PC on it as one of the most prominent graphics on the home page. They are on the offensive, and the tactics leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I like the “your action centre” widget, but disagree with using the word “your” for the videos and pictures on the site… because they are very obviously campaign photos and videos… not “your” videos and photos. If they wanted to show ‘your’ videos and photos, they would have a site upload form and allow supporters to *really* share “their” photos and videos from the campaign trail. They are really “Your Candidates” videos and photos…
The NDP have one up on the Liberals in that they have links to “the issues.” Though again every single stance on every single issue is preambled with where the conservatives have failed, and there is very little substance, or indication how the NDP plan to address the issues. So while they have done their job in identifying their priorities in this campaign… they have not done much to tell the voter the strategy in addressing the issues.
Their Candidates page is nice. I like the electoral map and the list (though rather than alphabetizing by name, it may be better to alphabetize by riding). Their candidate table could also be bigger, with direct links to their websites, emails, etc right on that main candidate page, which would be easy to do if they widened their content page.
The NDP have their Web 2.0 links embedded in the footer of every page, which is very clever… but the blue font is hard to read and the logos are not prominent enough (and the Facebook one may actually violate the FB TOS for logo use).
Overall (and though it breaks my heart) the NDP get my web 2.0/Hipness rating of 6/10… Negative campaigning is NOT hip… and the Website is lacking in aesthetic appeal, without the content to help bump the rating up a bit.
So… when I Google NS PCs, the sponsored link (again) is a link to the NDP website. But, the first link is not the Tory site, it is the Nova Scotia Young Progressive Conservatives site… in fact, Rodney MacDonald’s site is no where on the first page of search results at all. A readjustment of the search to NS Conservatives (still the NDP sponsored link), but there it is (immediately followed by a CTV news story about the conservatives “failing”)
The Conservatives have a very slick website. It is extremely aesthetic and “Nova Scotian”… which is easy to do when you have access to the designers which have gotten some very nice contracts from the Tories (NSLC, and the Nova Scotian Gaming Authority to name two)… Revolve Branding 360 are big playas round these parts… and the Tories have always understood the importance of branding…
Aesthetically, the PCs score big points on the site… they do have the most visually pleasing home page for my eyes. That said, I can’t really find many too many design “problems” with the site, except in their Web 2.0 use.
While they allow the option to “share” their site on a multitude of platforms… they do not offer the voter the chance to *engage* the party and the candidates by linking to their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube presence… in fact the lack of these links indicates to me (a non-Tory supporter) that they do not even have a presence on these sites… ergo, it is not their priority to engage and interact with the electorate in this way.
So rather than critique the site, I’ll point out the subliminal marketing strategies behind some of the graphics and language on the site.
They are rotating three pictures which visually sum up their whole campaign beautifully.
The first is a photoshopped picture of Rodney and his team (the photoshop is in the sign on the podium Rodney is standing at) “Proven Record Economy First” This image wants to remind you that Rodney has a team of capable MLAs behind him… They are applauding him (some very vigorously – look at the two dudes on the exteme left in the front row). This photo, reinforces the other prominent language on the site… “our leader” “our team” “our track record”… they are presenting a united front. Reminding those who are uncertain of Rodney’s experience himself, that he has a solid team of experience behind him.
The second photo is a garbage can, with a white background simply stating that the Liberals (red font) and NDP (orange font) have thrown 20,000 jobs in the garbage. This must have to do with the infrastructure contract cancelling fiasco, but in the end it doesn’t matter… the graphic doesn’t link to the whole story like the other two images do… just a simple statement of interpreted truth with a simple graphic to accompany it.
The third photo is a beauty… perhaps the most compelling of all three. It is related to gambling, and risk… which the designer knows much about given they do design work for both ALC and the gaming corporation… It is an image of two sets of dice, one with letters (probably Boggle dice) spelling out the word “R-I-S-K-Y” and two standard orange one. Both of the visible sides of the dice show the smallest possible numbers they could be arranged with… notice the two ones…
The PC website gets a Web 2.0/Hipness score of 7/10 as well. If the issues around the Web 2.0 connections were resolved, along with a letting Rodney MacDonald have a Twitter account… then I would revise my earlier statement that the Liberals were smokin’ the other parties in their SNS infrastructure, to say that the Tories were.
The NDP don’t care much about the Green Party… not enough to pay for a sponsored link when someone Googles it… But, the NS Green Party is so unknown that Google wants to know if you really meant the “NZ Green Party”.
The Green Party of Nova Scotia uses the federal Green Website template. Which is a good thing, because it is important for people to remember that they are another Federal party… not simply a fringe party with little support… despite the fact that it is a fringe party with very little support.
The Green Party website has no external Web 2.0 integration, however does have a little SNS embedded in it’s site called “The Green Network”. It’s a pretty good idea, though I am beginning to question the effectiveness of trying to start up your own SNS when there is free access to popular ones like Facebook and Twitter… only the most diehard of supporters will actually take the extra step to become a member of yet another SNS… It could, however, be a VERY effective tool for coordinating their campaign provincially… for the candidates to connect and share ideas, and to create strategies which can unite the party itself. But it needs to be integrated with the large existing and successful SNS’s to be very effective.
The Green Party site does not appear to be in election mode at all. There is no candidate list, no campaign rhetoric. no upcoming events. But, the one thing that The Green Party Site does have is content and ideas… Their About the Party page outlines the Green Party’s core values as a party… something that none of the other parties care to offer up to the voter.
The other thing I really like about the site, is the opportunity to really get to know the leader of the Green Party, Ryan Watson… He has a blog, he has a twitter… and if you message him, he messages back! Ryan Watson is young, handsome, charismatic, and hip himself… which scores the Party more points in this election than it has in past elections the NS Greens have participated in.
Overall, the website is severely lacking though. No candidate list, an online form to request a sign which doesn’t inform you if your request has been completed and a graphics which lead the viewer to believe that the Green Party is a one issue, environmental, tree-huggin’ party. Which isn’t bad if you are into that sort of thing… but will not play very well in industrial Nova Scotia.
Unfortunately, the Nova Scotian Greens have a small operating budget, therefore they rely heavily on volunteers to carry out the campaign… so it is hard to do regular updates and high level interaction… Ryan Watson is doing well assuming the role of leader… it’s just too bad that he doesn’t have a political infrastructure to back him up… we may have heard much more buzz about him if he had.
So while I’m giving the Green Party the lowest Web 2.0/Hipness rating a 5/10… I’m giving Ryan Watson the prize for hippest leader with an 8/10.
Hope you found this deconstruction interesting…
