I wandered down to Westminster yesterday for an event hosted by the Hansard Society. Blogging as campiagn tool.
Guest speakers were Lib Dem MP Sandra Gidley, a.k.a Romsey Redhead and Jamie McCoy, the big voice behind Jamie's Big Voice. Two people who want to get a message out. I can't imagine they had a lot more in common, but they clearly had parallel experiences online. Dealing with comments, finding a voice, finding friends, losing patience, learning the value of candour and the vagaries of traffic. All of the things that any blogger would recognise.
It was one of those moments when you think there might actually be something to the more utopian view of the blogosphere. The one where the new mass medium turns us all into hyper-responsive little units of democracy, passing around happy memes like cream cakes at a tea party. Hopelessly optimitsic perhaps, since there are still a lot of people who don't even look to the internet.
But you can see how politicians and campaigners see this new technology as a once-in-a generation opportunity to get a lot of excluded people to engage. Around 56 per cent of Britons have access to the internet at home, up from 33 per cent in 2001. (Numbers are from Spinning The Web, a Hansard Society pamphlet on digital publishing in the 2005 election campaign, well worth a read.)
Things may change, but at the moment the way blogs interact with each other is levelling enough that the MP and the homeless bloke end up sharing a platform, in software and in a committee room in Westminster. And they share a common experience. It is the cycle of the blogger's relationship with the blog, expertly described by Suw Charman in a post earlier this year that I have been looking for an opportunity to quote for ages:
First, it all seems like a wonderful idea. You fall into a state of limerance where everything about your partner (i.e. your blog) is perfect. Then that feeling lifts and you realise that your blog leaves dirty socks in the bed and never does the washing up. You might fall out of love a bit, and blog less frequently. You might even take a break. But then you realise that blogging really is your one true love and you settle into a comfortable, companionable relationship which you are confident will last forever.
Says it all. Except, unlike in a relationship, it's ok to leave the blog behind when you go on holiday. Which is what I'm going to do right now. Back next week.
