Thin Democracy? Parliamentarians, Citizens and the Influence of Blogging on Political Engagement

IN 2003, Tom Watson became the first member of Parliament (MP) to use a weblog. This online application (which may best be described as a website with a standardised yet flexible structure and content management system) is viewed by some to have the potential to boost and, perhaps, transform political engagement. In an effort to explore this potential, in July 2004, the Hansard Society eDemocracy Programme undertook a study of the UK’s first handful of political blogs—citizen, civic and parliamentary—using a citizen jury to assess their content and nature.