Australia goes to the polls Nov 24th

Prime Minister John Howard has called the election. Australia will vote Nov 24.

googl-election

Great article today in The Age about how political parties are using social media in this election.

Plus also explore Google’s Australian Election site.

Howard07

Anything Kevin can do… yes, it had to happen . . . HOWARD07.

While not fully endorsed (the idea comes from (Mathew Donovan, self-proclaimed as the “James Kotecki of Australian politics”), great for a laugh and with more merchandise options too. Anyone for a T-Shirt made in the USA?

You can be my second-best friend

Kim is not alone.

Everyone in My Space, particularly politicians in My Space rank their friends. This week’s gold star for the best friend on a My Space site goes to Bob Brown, Leader of The Greens for listing His Holiness The Dalai Lama as one of his friends.

Actually Bob Brown does well for a 62 year old politician – he hangs with the cool kids – listing Wolfmother, Xavier Rudd, The John Butler Trio and every politicians favourite – The Chaser Team as his friends.

Mr. Popularity, Kevin Rudd has the most friends with 15,798, yet the first 30 or so are ALP reps. So, isn’t that like saying you are friends with your mum?

Then there is the one we all know about, the one with only nine friends – including everyone’s friend Tom. Not worth even mentioning. Does anyone want to be second best friends with John?

Anyone for a good old-fashioned political stouch?

Even though most of us wouldn’t probably admit it publicly, it remains true that nearly all of us love a bit of political biffo. A laconic spracy here, a deft manouvere there and who could deny admiring a genius return that leaves a gormless oponent lost for words. The question is, can social media facilitate political arm wrestles? Are political parties using social media to score points against each other and if so, how effectively?

 

Are the big issues missing?

A disappointing effort from the KEVIN07 team this time. Instead of Peter Garrett outlining Labor’s policies for the environment, we have him giving us ONE sentence on Labor’s position on the proposed pulp mill in Tasmania before his “Top 10 Tips for Gardening”.

I’ve read it, but I can’t see it

Today the ALP launched a national TV commercial that focuses on John Howard’s plan to build 25 nuclear reactors around the country. But, while the ALP site shows a still picture from the TVC and discusses it at length, I can’t find the ad online.

How effective is it to publish long policy documents online?

With an invitation to “read the policy and join the blog”, the ALP announced its $2 billion health and hospitals plan online. But 914 words and 30 paragraphs later, I wondered how many people were still reading. Also, when I got to the end the blog was stuck elsewhere on the KEVIN07 site.

PM’s staff caught editing Wikipedia

Today The Age reports that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinent have made 126 edits to Wikipedia regarding a range of issues. This issue harks back to how political parties handle the lack of control over message in the online environment. Certainly will be more to come on this… 

Old talks about new

One of the most interesting things about following new media is looking at what the “old” media are saying about it.

Today’s opinion piece by Catherine Deveney in The Age gives some excellent insight into how many people (not just young Gen Ys) are interested in the development of this exciting new space. Enjoy.