Are Labour still in “send” mode?

Perhaps it was the barnstorming success of #welovethenhs, or the opportunity to create another Tsar, but Douglas Alexander has appointed Kerry McCarthy MP as ‘Labour’s Twitter Tsar’ ahead of the next election.

In an interview with Labour List, McCarthy says she wants to emphasise that, “Rather than being something completely new, campaigning using new media is simply doing what we’ve always done in a new setting.” I’m intrigued to see how the government distils its ‘raft of measures’ into a tweet of 140 characters.

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McCarthy’s interview also suggests that Labour may have confused “sending” with “receiving”. As Robert Colvile said in a paper to the CPS, the internet is all about receiving:

‘The web could also re-empower MPs, by linking them far more directly to the concerns of their constituents. Most have, so far, failed to grasp this opportunity.