The tension between journalists and bloggers has raged ever since “web 2.0” emerged in the new millennium. The journalist is educated and trained, and considered the voice of the nation. Surely they are above other wannabe hacks? But the internet came along and broke this business model, allowing “citizen journalists” to share what they wanted with the world.

Yes, that leads to a lot of dross. But there are some people who can write well, deliver a balanced opinion, and actually share real facts. So what’s the difference between these writers and ‘journalists’? The difference is that journalists get paid by newspaper brands that add credibility and scale with which they can broadcast their views. Read More »

As UK voters head to the polls, Facebook has proven itself as an apt political barometer for the online generation, as well as an indispensable campaigning tool for all parties, but specifically Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats, who found a pocket of support on the social networking site.

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If you’re having trouble deciding which way to vote in this election Ikea is hear to help with some handy online kitchen politics.  Created by Cake this is a pretty cool little site to get everyone’s favourite Swedish retail maze a slice of election action. Read More »

Last night’s debate saw the reputation of Gordon Brown rise significantly, while David Cameron remained static, according to analysis by social media specialist Yomego.

Yomego has been analysing the reputations of each leader through the first two leaders debates, and the reputational shifts are charted in the graph below, as are the social media reputation scores of each leader. Read More »

More than 184,396 tweets were sent last night during the UK’s first televised leader debates as tens of thousands more logged onto Facebook’s groaning servers, blogs and ITV’s website.

The number of tweets sent blew the 11,000 who tweeted during the #AsktheChancellors earlier debate away, but although the chatter was fast and furious with the average frequency of tweets standing at 29.06 per second in all the total numbers of tweeters was 36,483. Read More »

Gordon Brown is having a bit of fun and he is having it at Rupert Murdoch’s expense. In an interview with the BBC’s Radio Times magazine the PM has expressed his doubts over the future of paywalls ahead of the Murdoch owned Times charging readers.

Murdoch’s empire as we all know famously ditched the Labour Party ahead of Brown’s keynote conference speech in October. And Brown has now taken this opportunity to hit back at Murdoch where it hurts the media baron most – in his pocket. Read More »

Smart move by Asda. It has taken its line about “Asda mums” and hopped onto the election bandwagon. And why not? We’re told it is going to be the Mumsnet election so what better place for the supermarket to be.

PR Week has the story this morning that Asda is launching an initiative to enlist its customers to blog about politics in the run-up to the general election. Read More »