If you build a political website, will they come? the internet and political activisim in Britain

This paper is on the social and political consequences of the rise of knowledge society, in particular the capacity of the Internet for strengthening civic engagement. To consider this issue, the author first summarises the debate about the impact of the Internet on civic engagement. The second part uses the data from British Social Attitude Survey of 2003 to study the relationship between the Internet and civic engagement in the British context. The main conclusions of the study include:

• any analysis of the impact of using the Internet needs to take into account the distinct dimensions by which people channel their activism into public affairs
• most popular forms of online activism are likely to reflect the preponderance of younger and well educated people using the Internet until such time as online population eventually normalises to reflect a cross-section of the general electorate
• the potential impact of the Internet on democratic participation depends heavily upon the types of activism under comparison
• the pattern of voting participation suggests that without any controls, the Internet users are less likely to turnout than non-users

The implications of the findings of this study are not just about whether the use of the Internet will mobilise citizens at individual level but also for the type of political practices that the rise of the Internet might encourage in the political system. What these findings suggest is that the use of the Internet by political parties is unlikely to stem any erosion in traditional campaign-oriented activities.