Last Thursday and Friday, I was interviewed twice by the CBC—once for English television and radio, and once by French television.
They set up a fancy HD camera in our office, and asked me what someone at Hop Studios thought of the three websites of the political parties: the B.C. Liberals, the B.C. NDP, and the Green Party of B.C. Since we build a lot of community-enabled sites, we had some good analysis to share.
Since you don’t own a time machine and can’t go back to listen to what I said, here’s a brief summary:
- The Liberals site looks like they used the Obama campaign as a template—and why not; it’s always better to copy a winner… They also seem to have a better sense of the ways to interact on the various social sites, like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
- The NDP has an excellent site that lacks ... something. Call it focus, flair, a clear message; it’s a great technical site but doesn’t succeed from a design point of view. (That said, if you agree with the NDP already, you’ll probably like their site a lot more than this quick analysis indicates, and that’s probably true for the other parties, too.)
- The Green site is very, very green—and by that I mean in color, and in organization. It could use a UI overhaul, and an IA renovation, and some tips for the way they shoot YouTube videos, too. They have the most to gain from having a good web presence (a website can reach people 24/7, anywhere, and can help energize your supporters), but they are doing the least with it.
I was told I sounded very cogent at 6:50 a.m. on Friday on the radio; if only I could pre-record even more of my life. 😊
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