Study: How British MPs Really Feel About the Web
BY Nancy Scola | Friday, January 8 2010
Liberal Democrats, who make up a small minority of the British Parliament, are more likely to feel positive about social media's impact on politics than their counterparts in either the Labour or Conservative Parties are, a finding that echoes a sort of working assumption in our corner of the world that the Internet is more friendly to insurgents than incumbents.
That's one tidbit in a new report on digital political engagement by Members of Parliament in the UK, put out by the Hansard Society with support from Microsoft. The study generally focuses much more on quantity -- the raw numbers of MPs using email, blogs, IM, and the like -- than the quality of what they're doing online. But the Hansard researchers drew out some compelling evidence on the political use of tech from a pool of legislators that is about two and a half times the size of the U.S. Congress.
Other tidbits on how MPs breakdown in their affection for an use of online tools: Welsh MPs are more enamored with connective technologies than their peer group, while MPs from Northern Ireland see web-based campaigning as a net negative. Women MPs are more likely to use social networking, 35% to 20% of their male counterparts. Age is predictive of social media adoption -- just 18% of those MPs born between 1940 and 1960 do any kind of online social networking, compared to 38% of post-1960's babies -- but length of service is an indicator too. A full 40% of those MPs who took office in 2005 or more recently use social networking, while just 5% of those elected in or before 1986 do, a finding that, says the report, "is only partially explained by age."
You can check out the full report here.