Guido thinks it significant that Hague and Maude were careful to brief Tim Montgomerie in an effort to keep him on side over the EPP climb down. He holds no position in the party, yet his influence over the membership and the reach of his website is phenomenal. Guido asked online monitoring consultants Hitwise to compare the relative readership numbers for ConservativeHome.com and the official Conservatives.com websites. It would seem that Tim’s prophecy has come true. No wonder CCHQ are rushing to hire online experts.
As can be seen from the above data on market share, as of the beginning of this month the unofficial ConservativeHome is more popular than the official party website. Surprisingly the LabourHome website, after only three weeks of operation, is gaining on the official party website as well, registering a readership about a third the size of the offical site. What does this mean? It means party members want honesty and openess, something that they don’t trust the official channels to provide. Guido is almost embarrassed to point out that his readership is greater than the official Labour and Conservative party websites combined.
As can be seen from the above data on market share, as of the beginning of this month the unofficial ConservativeHome is more popular than the official party website. Surprisingly the LabourHome website, after only three weeks of operation, is gaining on the official party website as well, registering a readership about a third the size of the offical site. What does this mean? It means party members want honesty and openess, something that they don’t trust the official channels to provide. Guido is almost embarrassed to point out that his readership is greater than the official Labour and Conservative party websites combined.
See also Blogalypse Now.
