If you were to choose two words that people today use almost daily that they never used or had even heard of five years ago, the words would probably be ‘iPod’ and ‘blog’. Just a few years ago, blogs were relatively rare. Now there are millions. They’re devoted to every topic imaginable: from football to flower arranging, Big Brother to big bands. There are some 37 million blogs in the world, with a new blog created every second. The ‘blogosphere’ doubles in size every six months. It is now 60-times bigger than it was three years ago, with 1.2 million new postings each day – about 50,000 per hour.

So, like the iPod, having your own blog is fast becoming a status symbol. It is therefore no surprise that politicians are getting wise to the potential of the blog as a means of engaging with the electorate in a fast and efficient manner. Modern politics and government are changing in a fundamental way. Politicians need to become more transparent and open in their dealings with the electorate. The internet, and interactive tools like blogs, are ways of achieving the greater transparency and openness that the public not only wants but demands. People all over the world are embracing new technology, and unless politicians do the same they risk losing a vital link with the people they are trying to reach.

Though it is no surprise that political blogging has become immensely popular in the UK during the past couple of years, only a few months ago I was posting on my own blog that the Labour party was in danger of becoming the analogue party in the digital age. Things have changed rapidly. Progress itself has created its own blog, The Progressive. Bloggers4Labour now has hundreds of affiliated bloggers – with more blogs and bloggers joining every week. LabourHome is well established and is beginning to provide a much-needed platform for vibrant and passionate debate about the future direction of the party.

What is more, all of the declared candidates in Labour’s deputy leadership election have set up their own blogs; indeed, Jon Cruddas’ increasing popularity at grassroots level has been put down, partly, to his foresight in courting the ever-increasing community of Labour bloggers. There’s no question in my mind that political bloggers are a major new development in British politics. Blogs take the media out of the hands of the corporate world and put it into the hands of anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Their audiences tend to be political junkies who have almost non-stop access to a computer and large amounts of time to surf the internet for breaking news.
Yet, in part, this is what makes some political bloggers so powerful – their ability to influence the influencers. But almost all of the most popular and populist political blogs in the UK tend to be anti-Labour. Right-of-centre political ‘gossip blogs’ like Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale’s Diary receive hundreds of thousands of hits each month, and are proving to be influential in setting the news agenda ahead of the printed and broadcast media. Left-of-centre, pro-government blogs are nowhere near as popular and, as yet, not particularly influential – few, if any, are read by the likes of Nick Robinson and Adam Boulton.

It could just be, however, that things are about to change. Respected and influential commentators like Tim Montgomery, who runs ConservativeHome, are predicting that 2007 will be the year when Labour blogging (and bloggers) comes of age.

If Montgomery is proved right, if left-wing blogging is to have an impact in 2007, then it is likely to be as a direct result of the contest for the deputy leadership of the Labour party.

Cruddas, Hilary Benn and Peter Hain are candidates who have already grasped the idea that blogs offer a simple, efficient and effective means of engaging with their declared and potential supporters. They recognise and understand that the candidate who is able to get almost instant feedback on national, regional or even local issues will be much better placed to help shape the terms of the debate, in a way that will resonate with the wider constituency that will eventually choose a new deputy leader.

So yes, blogs do matter, and yes, blogs and bloggers could end up having an influence on the outcome of the deputy leadership election. The election of the deputy leader might well provide the catalyst for the first meaningful move by the Labour party to properly harness the power of the internet, and enable candidates to actively encourage instant and meaningful engagement with members and supporters.

Cyber-race

The candidates

Hilary Benn
www.hilarybenn.org

John Cruddas
www.joncruddas.org.uk

Peter Hain
www.peterhain.org

Harriet Harman
www.harrietharman.org

Alan Johnson
www.johnson4deputy.org

The blogs

The Progressive
www.theprogressive.typepad.com
Progress’ very own blog.

LabourHome
www.labourhome.org
An interactive forum for Labour party members and supporters.

Bloggers4Labour
www.bloggers4labour.org
Uniting Labour bloggers across
the UK.

Antonia Bance
www.antoniabance.org.uk
A blogging Labour councillor
in Oxford. Her partner, Jo
Salmon, runs her own blog at
www.josalmon.co.uk.

Freemania
www.viva-freemania.blogspot.com
Eclectic blog of cultural and political comment by Tom Freeman

Kerron Cross
www.kerroncross.blogspot.com
A blogging local district councillor in South Oxhey. The best Labour blog according to influential Tory blogger, Iain Dale.

Luke Akehurst
www.lukeakehurst.blogspot.com
A blogging Labour councillor in Hackney and contributor to The Progressive.

Mars Hill
www.paulburgin.blogspot.com
Blog of thoughts, musings and meanderings by Paul Burgin

Newer Labour
www.newerlabour.blogspot.com
Lively political blog by Manchester
law student, Tom Miller.

Normblog
www.normblog.typepad.com/normblog
Blog of Marxist academic and supporter of the Iraq war, Norman Geras. Founding signatory of The Euston Manifesto.

Recess Monkey
www.recessmonkey.com
Gossip from the Westminster Village by veteran Labour blogger, Alex Hilton.

Ridiculous Politics
www.ridiculouspolitics.blogspot.com
Good source of local opposition gossip.

The Labour Humanist
www.humanistsforlabour.typepad.com
Blogging from a centre-left, humanist perspective.

Tygerland
www.tygerland.net
Acerbic cultural and political comment.