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

This article explores the use of W eb 2.0 tools in constituency‐level campaigns in the UK 2010 general election. Specifically it examines whether W eb 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 W eb 2.0 technology, they have largely eschewed the interactive potential of W eb 2.0, replicating previous UK web campaigns that have demonstrated limited interactivity.