Getting on teh Interwebs - part 2.

(A lot of links in this post - much better viewed online at http://darrylbeckford.blogspot.com)

A lot of Politicians like to talk big about engaging with the public and using new media, but in reality it's just lip-service to make themselves sound like they're "down with the kids".

The sad fact is that only two CE Councillors twitter, and only this one has a blog and regularly emails constituents. Some are very good at leafleting, but many only leaflet when the election comes around, which I think is shameful.

In Parliamentary terms, you think things would be better. Perhaps it is a tiny bit: there are two and a half websites for the five MP's in the CE area (GO's isn't really a website so it's counting half, it just links back to Conservatives.com). Considering how many PPC's we now know about, I would be expecting them all to be fighting for space in the Interwebs tubes.

When they do finally get online, it sometimes seems to be a bit half baked. For example, the Congleton Labour Party have decided to follow my lead by using Google maps to highlight what they've been working on.

You can see my map at the side of the blog, or view it full screen by clicking here.

Unfortunately, the Labour party's version is a little more sparce. In fact, it seems that their PPC has been working on absolutely nothing, as the map below the heading "Working hard for you" has nothing on it.

At least he's honest.

Hopefully the new candidate in Macclesfield will be making a better effort than that although I note that someone, who is trying to poke fun on religious grounds, has already beat him to it on Twitter.

I'm worried that Cheshire East Council is becoming an example of this phenomenon, as we seem reluctant to engage online. I asked for a Freedom of Information disclosure log, and was told that there wasn't resource to do it. The council seems to be one of the only ones in the country now that doesn't use Twitter (although I'm about to stop following Cheshire West's feed because it never tells me anything of significance). And now we won't video Council meetings and put them online.

Following my post last week it seems that many people would like to be able to watch council meetings, or at least part of them, online. Most people seem to agree that this is far more valuable than arguing about when or where to hold the meetings themselves.

In fact, two people have volunteered to help free the information, and so I'm currently trying to find a way to make this work.