Conversationblog

Last week I was asked to screen the websites of the 3 major Flemish contenders for a new government (we vote this Sunday) by De Morgen, one of our national dailies.

It was a fun exercise to do and I was happy when I saw the article in this Friday's edition. Even better, I was interviewed together with 2 other professionals in the on-line communications sector and although we were interviewed separately, we all came to the same conclusion; "close but no cigar".

All three candidates are using their websites to appeal to potential voters and state that they want to set up "conversations" with them. Although they have bloglike sites, and update the content regularly and in chronological order, they are not pushing the envelope all the way; no public commenting allowed, badly designed RSS feeds, community features and completely focused toward one way communication.

I would have thought that our Belgian politicians would have done a better job. I mean, they have the case studies, the examples of how it should be done and they have proof that on-line communications and blogging do play a role in political elections.

"Blogs influenced voting decisions in France, according to Echo's weekly elections tracking within the blogosphere in France, the UK and USA. Despite intense personal criticisms, Sarkozy was perceived in all three blogging countries as the most likely to change France and put forward the necessary reforms." From ECHO Research.

Yesterday for instance I received a very interesting report from ECHO Research (opens a PDF) who screened and analyzed blogging activity and coverage during the French elections. Very detailed and full of strong insights.

Let's see what the next elections bring.

Technorati : belgium, de morgen, elections, france, propaganda, us