Now that Obama has proven the power of the internet as a political tool, other politicians around the world are attempting to follow suit, and Irish politicians are no exception.
In recent years there has often been a little flurry of blogging and YouTubing around election time, but only a few hardy Irish politicians blog the rest of the time. For many, it’s something they only think about in the run up to an election, because that is the traditional way to do things. Irish politicians have used the internet as if it were a poster on a lamppost; important for a few weeks, and then left to twist in the wind until taken down. The best way to blog however, is to persevere, to post regularly and gradually gather a following. This kind of approach to blogs and social media by Irish politicians is only slowly becoming more main-stream. (more…)