CCHQ hires internet guru

The Financial Times reports today that:

"Sam Roake, who worked as a Google “maximiser” writing copy for online adverts, exchanged last week the free smoothie drinks and cool T-shirts of Google’s London office for the Conservatives."

Roake, a recent Oxford graduate, will report to Steve Hilton and his role will be to look at harnessing community websites and the blogosphere.

Commenting on the new internet role, Tim Montgomerie said that it should be "about getting the internet out of the ghetto". It is vital that the party adapts to this ever-changing medium, particularly with the rise in micro-campaigns which are facilitated by it.

As the Editor of this website discovered on his fact-finding trip for the Party, there are both good and bad lessons to learn from the highly developed use of the internet in American politics. The New York Times recently made eight interesting observations on it, such as its ability to engage with young people. Conservative Future has made some effort to do this with a website updated regularly by volunteer copy-writers, and fledgling attempts at online CF TV and Radio.

Happily, there are other signs that the Party is taking the internet seriously :

• Bloggers have been exclusively briefed by the Party Chairman
• The Party leader and other senior figures have written for this site
• The internet will be "used extensively" in the London mayoral selection
• Bloggers will be catered for at the next Party conference
• The Party website is gradually becoming more interactive

The Democrats in America have shown that opposition can breed innovation, and the Conservative Party must take this opportunity to continue to develop its use of the new media and narrowcasting. Perhaps its political philosophy also gives it an advantage over Labour, as Francis Maude told the FT today:

"You’ve got to be very open and very confident and take risks and not think that you can control everything... We’re pretty cool with that."

Let's hope that we not only stay ahead of the game, but that we dominate it.

Deputy Editor

Comments

[Richard North]

Looks like we've got a fight on our hands. The "colleagues" are waking up to the potential of blogs as well.

[Serf]

Sam Roake

If you're reading, we are looking forward to working with you.

[Old Hack]

Tim - is Sam Roake your colleague or your competition? I hope the former but fear the latter.

Conservative Home has shaken CCHQ of late. Is this a control freaky response or a genuine embrace of the blogosphere?

I'm sceptical.

Finally, how much is Mr Roake being paid?

How about hiring some more trainee agents to get the spade work started in target seats!

[Deputy Editor]

Old Hack, I don't think its necessarily a competetion - the more the better!

As for agent hiring, "hundreds of trainees" are being churned out in recent months. One criticism is that we perhaps need more professional campaigners too.

[Paul Kennedy]

I hope Sam Roake might be able to provide assistance to many of the smaller associations with their websites, or even standardise the format of all associations websites so that we have a common "brand" image that is kept up to date.

[John Walker]

Do you have to be associated with Rachel Whetstone's new employer to get a look-in at internet-related work for the Conservatives? I know of a company that is eager to establish a relationship with the party, but cannot access decision makers at CCHQ. Are they missing something?

[Izzy]

Sam if you are reading this. Get someone to get in touch we already have a system designed and ready to build that unifies everything, simply need a customer for it.

[EEPEL Enviroment Standard of Software On Line]

¿Wath is the new Internet?

EEPEL = Enviroment Standard of Software On Line

NEW INTERNET

This web site is a personalizable, nimbled and practical system which runs software On Line, Web's pages, FTP's, and everything related to the Internet.
This environment offers system files, which are available for software that runs in EEPEL.

http://www.eepel.com.ar

[Philip Dumville]

Deputy Editor correction

.. hundreds of trainee agents??

I think the actual figure is nine.

[Henry Edward-Bancroft]

...And high quality they are too!

[Deputy Editor]

Fair play - I was exaggerating, but the Party has been aiming to train at least a couple of hundred for the past six months now. I don't know the capacity of training, but I've heard not as many have applied as hoped.

[John Moss]

The one thing Conservatives.com lacks is a genuine, open, comments section.

Of course, a link to CH would do the trick just fine, but a threaded debate like the Today Programme comments section would be a great addition.