Window Dressing 2.0: Constituency-Level Web Campaigns in the 2010 UK General Election

This article explores the use of Web 2.0 tools in constituency-level campaigns in the UK 2010 general election. Specifically it examines whether Web 2.0 use was undertaken with a goal of promoting interaction with voters or was simply a ‘window-dressing’ exercise. It does so using data from a nationwide survey of election agents, content analysis of a subset of campaign websites, and information collected through interviews with candidates. The results show that while campaigns are keen to adopt Web 2.0 technology, they have largely eschewed the interactive potential of Web 2.0, replicating previous UK web campaigns that have demonstrated limited interactivity.