A Tech Savvy UK Politician

These days, politicians are starting to be very clever. Armed with their smart phones, they update their facebook statuses, they communicate with their fans and supporters via twitter and is constantly using the free media to get the message out. Back in those days, rewind some decades back, we were completely reliant on what we see in the newspaper. At the end of the day, we are not in control of what the journalists and editors decide to put out there for the people to see.

Now that we have the internet it has, suffice to say, changed everything.

The blogging platform has changed the way these politicians tell the world about things. Then came Web 2.0. It brought normal folks like us worlds closer to being in contact with the people we support. The next step would naturally be for these tech-savvy politicians to get directly into the pockets of their supporters….with QR Codes.

UK politician Martin Tod, a well-known Liberal Democrat is the first UK politician to start using QR Codes for the forthcoming GE. He has his eyes on the Winchester seat and like any other political campaigns, he’s got the poster campaigns to remind people about his chances of changing Winchester for them.

Admittedly, it is nothing new. He is not the first politician to ever make use of QR Codes to promote himself. The credit for being the first to ever do so for a political campaign goes to a German local council member. In that campaign, the German politician took the extended time to create a mobile web page whereby users who scanned the QR Code could interact directly with the politician, airing their views, sharing their feedback and offering support.

Martin Tod didn’t come up with the same type of mobile website which offered interactivity but instead, he come up with a mobile website and created a QR Code for free. I think some of his readers got to have credit for the campaign. Apparently, his active supporters were calling for a more tech-savvy political campaign and the politician heeded the feedback of his supporter.

However so, good move for politician Tod.