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MPs Online: Connecting with Constituents

Report by the Hansard Society on how MPs are utilising the internet to communicate with constituents

Date Published: 25 Feb 2009

Categories: Energy | Media | Policy Makers | Politics | Technology & Telecoms | UK

Description

A new Hansard Society report, sponsored by Microsoft, MPs Online: Connecting with Constituents, reveals that MPs are using the internet primarily to inform their constituents rather than engage with them. The most widely used digital media are those which are mainly passive in nature, such as websites. Interactive forms of media which could be used by MPs to develop a two-way dialogue with their constituents, such as blogs and social networking, are used less commonly. Where these tools are used, it is often in passive 'send' mode with few MPs exploiting their full interactive potential.

 
ComRes conducted the fieldwork for this study.
 
Key findings from the research are:
- 92% of MPs use email
- 83% of MPs have a personal website
- 23% of MPs use social networking
- 11% of MPs blog.

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