It feels rather strange to be welcomed to the new Labour Party YouTube channel by a man who – by all accounts – has barely a few weeks left at its head. A late, possibly desperate effort ahead of the local elections next month? (And I wonder how Peter Hain and Hazel Blears managed to find time in their busy schedules – deputy leadership, anyone?)
[youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=gul2U43solE]
But perhaps even more strange is Tony’s justification for it: ‘The purpose of coming into the YouTube channel is to enable you to hear, unmediated, fresh, first-hand, what it is we’re about.’ That’s quite a startling turnaround from the media manipulation of Mr Campbell’s days, no?
They’ve hit the ground running, with a healthy spread of ministerial faces pitching to the YouTube audience. By and large they aren’t bad at it, but although it isn’t obviously scripted, they’re sticking mainly to a ‘talking head’ approach, which feels just a bit patronising. One or two of them seem to realise this too. I’m afraid it just isn’t anything like as engaging and natural as most Webcameron content.
Responses
Couldn’t agree more. Labour’s social media offering is rubbish compared to the Tories. There’s always the “it’s easier in opposition” debate… but can you still buy that? Getting juicy content is easier (probably) but not understanding the tools and jsing them correctly, surely? There’s a social networking site for Labour Party members called something like MyLabourURL or something equally naff. Ever heard of it? Ever used it?
[…] Labour can’t match WebCameron « I’m Simon Dickson. Simon Dickson points out why Tony Blair’s Youtube video doesn’t work, and talks about Labour’s new channel. […]
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