Journal of Public Affairs

J. Publ. Aff. 6: 269–282 (2006)

Published online in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.218

Segmenting voters online:

the youth vote
Lorna Chicksand* and Marylyn Carrigan
The University of Birmingham, USA

* This paper will build on previous work that has examined the impact of the Internet on
political processes, such as the work of Gibson and Ward (1998, 2003) and Dermody and
Wring (2001). Most of this work has focused on developing frameworks with which to
analyse the ‘effectiveness’ of these websites. Our approach complements this earlier work
by utilizing an interpretive methodology (Thompson, 1996) to gain a deeper insight into
end-users perceptions of political parties’ websites. This paper will discuss the activities of
young people on the Net and outline some of the reasons why political parties’ websites are
failing to attract a younger audience. A consideration of the technical factors that make a
‘good’ website will be followed by in-depth interviews with young people to elicit their views
and experiences of political parties’ websites. At a time when voter apathy is at an all time
low, this study is especially relevant.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction themselves heard in ways that would pre-

The growth in the importance of the Internet as
both an information source and a tool for
interactive communication, among other
things, has been phenomenal. In the US alone,
there are over 100 million Internet users (Aarp
National Survey, 2003). One in five Europeans
were using the Internet in 2000, whilst in
Britain there are more than 18 million people
with Internet access (Szmigin et al., 2001).
The importance of the Internet in terms of its
impact on democracy and political processes is
a contested subject, but the potential of the
Internet cannot be underestimated. We now
live in a world where social protests can take
place online and ‘virtual activists’ are making
—————
*Correspondence to: Lorna Chicksand, The Birmingham
Business School, University House, Edgbaston Park Rd,
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2RT, USA.
E-mail: L.M.Chicksand@bham.ac.uk
viously have seemed impossible. If we look to
the US and the use of the Internet for political
purposes, we can further see how this potential
is coming to fruition. Between 2000 and
2002,the number of people who visited a
government website grew from 40 to
68 million (Larsen and Rainie, 2002). Of those
visiting a government website, 62% were
seeking out information regarding an issue
that concerned them. Furthermore, 34% had
e-mailed a government official and 19%
had used the Internet as part of an organized
lobbying campaign. More recently, a study
conducted by Pace University of new regis-
tered voters found that 44% relied on the
Internet as a major source of campaign
information (clickz.com, 2004).
A study by Darr et al. (2004) found that
online activists involved in the presidential
election tended to be politically engaged else-
where. They were seven times more likely than

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DOI 10.1002/pa
270
the general public to have attended political
rally, speech or protest; nearly five times more
likely to have contacted a politician; over four
times more likely to have donated money to a
political candidate; and three times more likely
to belong to groups trying to influence public
policy.
Young people and the internet
Young people are ‘switching off ’ from elec-
toral politics in their droves with only 40% of
18–24 year olds voting in the 2001 general
election (ESRC, 2000). Conversely, young
people are spending more and more of their
time surfing the Net. As of 2000, 73% of 18 to
24 year olds and 62% of 25 to 34 year olds in
the UK were using the Internet (Bristol
Group, 2000). Young people are now using
the Internet for a myriad of online activities
including communication-related activities,
entertainment, media consumption, informa-
tion gathering and transactions (Strauss et al.,
2003). Indeed, Gibson et al. (2003, p. 663)
suggest that there is an intrinsic relationship
between young people and the Internet.
As such, it is no surprise to find that more and
more young people are choosing to express
themselves politically on the Internet. Accord-
ing to an ESRC study, the 15–24 year-old age-
group are three times more likely to be
politically active through the Internet than
through traditional political activities (ESRC,
2002). In addition, a poll conducted by ICM for
HEDRA found that 51% of people aged between
18 and 34 said that they would be more likely to
vote if they could do so online (Dhanendran,
2003). Figures from the US back up this finding.
According to the Pew Internet and American
Life Project (2004), about one-in-five young
people, aged 18–29, have got their campaign
information from the Internet. However, as
Ward (ESRC Public Release, 2002) points out:
‘[w]hile most political organisations are online,
they are failing to tap its growing potential to
get their message across. Yet with over half the
population now online, there is surprisingly
strong appetite for political information.
The Internet may not revolutionise political
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lorna Chicksand and Marylyn Carrigan
participation, but it can make a difference
especially with young people.’
Therefore, a study that seeks to elicit the
views of young people on political parties’
websites is highly appropriate. As Ward has
noted above, the Internet might not have
revolutionized political participation, but there
are a myriad of uses that a savvy political party
could have at their disposal. In terms of a
political resource for parties, as part of their
overall political strategy, the Internet can be
used as a tool to reach and engage targeted
segments of the online public. Information can
be customized for these online users and
marketing communications can be targeted to
specific groups. As Challen (2001, p. 254)
argues: ‘[t]he Internet will eventually enable
politicians and parties to address a mass
audience in qualitative new ways, tailoring
their message and information dissemination to
individual and local concerns’. In the US,
political websites are seen as one of the core
strategic assets of the campaign, being used to
raise money, organise grassroots supporters,
targeting core communities of voters, boosting
support and communicating the core message
(Hillwatch, 2004, p. 1).
The importance of ‘good’
website design
Effective user interface design has been
recognised as a critical success factor for
Websites
(Kumar et al. 2004).
In order to determine whether political
parties’ websites were ‘fit for use’ for young
people, a set of evaluation criteria were
needed. Although there is a burgeoning
literature on website design and website
usability for commercial websites and a more
specific literature on the usability of political
websites, Kim et al. (2003, p. 1) note that there
is, ‘no comprehensive and coherent set of
evaluation criteria exists that corporations and
researchers can use to examine Websites’.
However, Carrigan et al. (2004) have demon-
strated the usefulness of Katerattanakul’s
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The youth vote
(2001) framework for analysing effective
Website design. The four elements of the
framework are: ability, motivation, benefit
and cost. We can apply these elements to
design on the Web in the following way:
Ability
The ability to search is based on the users’
capability to locate particular information
included in the Website. Knowledge about
the organization of the site will assist users to
navigate the information. This is often referred
to in the literature as ‘usability’. Nah and Davis
(2002, p.99) define usability as: ‘the ability to
find one’s way around the Web, to locate
desired information, to know what to do next,
and, very importantly, to do so with minimal
effort. Central to this idea of usability is the
important concepts of ease of navigation and
search’.
In fact several commentators have stressed
the importance of navigation as one of the
prime factors determining a website’s success
(Congress Online Project, 2003; Lin and Hu,
2000; Zhang and von Dran, 2001–2; Jackson,
2003; Esterling et al., 2004). Kim et al. (2003)
argue that: ‘[n]avigation is the essence of the
Website because moving around using links is
what the Web is all about’. Similarly, Zeithaml
et al. (2001) argue that ease of navigation with a
good search engine and the ability to man-
oeuvre through the site easily are the corner-
stones of good website design, a point also
made by Waite and Harrison (2002) who point
out that search efficiency through the use of
specific tools such as search engines and site
maps will aid users in their ability to retrieve the
information they require.
Factors such as ease of navigation and search
might seem straightforward but the impor-
tance of them cannot be overstated in terms of
branding the political website. According to
the ICS (2000):
The site a candidate constructs for his/her
campaign may be the only means available
for many voters to learn about the candidate
and participate in the campaign. Therefore,
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
271
it is crucial that visitors are drawn into the
site and enjoy looking through the informa-
tion. The overall quality of appearance and
ease of navigation with largely determine the
success of the site (ICS Report Cards Criteria,
2000).
This importance of the ‘quality of appear-
ance’ of the website has been noted by other
commentators. According to Constantinides
(2004), the aesthetics of the site and the
homepage in particular are important indica-
tors of website credibility.
Motivation
The motivation to search for information is
influenced by the desire to expend effort in
the collection and processing of information.
Katerattanakul (2001) suggests increased cus-
tomization of the information provided to
match consumer interests to the products and
information. Turban et al. (1999) argue that
customization gives the visitor a value-added
experience and encourages revisiting and
building of brand loyalty. A suggestion might
be the adjusting of page content to match
individual customers demographic and prefer-
ences, or personalisation. This approach is
supported by Zeithaml et al. (2001) and
Huizingh (2002), who argue that customization
is an essential element of website design.
Benefit and costs of information search
Katerattanakul (2001) emphasizes the impor-
tance of information and its quality obtained
during the consumer’s information search
process, as do Liu and Arnett (2000). Issues
such as current figures and up to date material;
appropriate grammar and non-technical lan-
guage will add to the benefits for the user.
Waite and Harrison (2002) also argue that the
provision of speciality information can provide
a decision-making environment that reduces
the temporal and mental search costs asso-
ciated with using Websites. Other commenta-
tors who stress the importance of information
quality and reliability include: Lin and Hu,
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272
2000; Zhang and von Dran, 2001–2; Aladwani
and Palvia, 2002; Barnes and Vigden, 2002;
Kim et al., 2003; and, Conway and Dorner,
2004.
Political websites carry a great deal of
information. According to research by Challen
(2001, p. 258), MPs’ websites are primarily
used as an information source. He found that as
of 2001, only 12.4% of MPs even had websites
(p.258). Information included on political
websites includes: biographical details (89%);
speeches and press releases (86.5%); e-mail
within website (80.4%); links to other sites
(68.2%); and surgery details (52.4%). Similarly,
work by Gibson and Ward (2004, pp. 154–155)
has outlined the type of information which
should be found on a political website, includ-
ing: organizational history; structure; values/
ideology; policies; documents; newsletters;
media releases; people/Who’s Who; leader
focus; candidate profiles; electoral information;
event calendar; conference information; FAQs;
privacy policy; article archive/library; and
group pages.
Katerattanakul (2001) maintains that the
quality of presentation and usefulness of the
content determines whether or not customers
will be drawn to, or driven away from a Website
(Gehrke and Turban, 1999). A framework was
developed conceptualizing the underlying
aspects of information quality that are impor-
tant to consumers. Reliability is one factor;
both in terms of typographical accuracy, and
the accuracy of the information given. Rele-
vance is another issue; information can be
irrelevant due to incompleteness, or because
the information seeker perceives it not to be
pertinent to their search. Information format
relates to the conciseness, consistency and
design (i.e.images, icons, colour, font) of the
Web page (see D’Angelo and Little, 1998), and
the interaction of these factors in their effect
upon the user to interpret and use the site.
Finally, Accessibility, in terms of technical
accessibility of the system is a key issue.
Websites need to provide enough navigational
mechanisms to enable users to reach their
destination in the fewest possible steps, that
stylistically they are similar on each page, and
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lorna Chicksand and Marylyn Carrigan
that linkages are consistent (Rayport and
Jaworski, 2001). In addition the ability to
download or analyse that data is important, as
is the amount of data disclosed (Ashbaugh and
Johnstone, 1999); the issue of information
overload may be as relevant in electronic
format as it is in traditional paper documents.
Whilst Katerattanakul’s framework is quite
comprehensive, two other factors can be
identified from the literature as being impor-
tant components in the design of political
parties’ websites: interactivity; and, innova-
tive/entertaining website design features.
As Constantinides (2004, p. 113) notes, the
‘web experience’ is as important for sites as
providing informational content. He argues
that, ‘[t]he virtual customer’s total impression
and actions are influenced by design, events,
emotions, atmosphere and other elements
experienced during interaction with a given
Website, elements meant to induce customer
goodwill and affect the final outcome of the
online interaction’. Supporters of this view
include: Dermody and Wring, 2001; Congress
Online Project, 2003; Gibson et al., 2003;
Villalba, 2003; Ellinger, 2004; and, Hillwatch,
2004.
The importance of interactivity can be
illustrated by a survey of 1000 15- to 25-year
old Americans, conducted by The Council for
Excellence in Government. This study found
that respondents would be more supportive of
a candidate campaign employing opt-in com-
munication methods, such as online chat, issue
e-mails, blogs, and Meetup events. Other,
less personalized, less interactive tactics such
as e-mails urging a vote, banner ads, weekly
e-mail updates and weekly text messages were
not favoured overall (MediaPost, 2004). Addi-
tional research examining interactivity on
political websites has found that it contributes
to a corresponding increase in ‘liking’ the
candidate (Ahern and Stromer-Galley, 2000)
and increases the level of psychological affinity
felt by a voter toward the candidate featured on
the site (Sundar et al., 1998).
However, in the UK, evidence of interactive
features on political websites are very limited.
According to Challen (2001, p.258), only 6% of
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The youth vote
MPs’ websites featured chatroom facilities and
only 3.6% had online polling.
In terms of the usefulness of employing
entertaining and innovative features on a
website, several authors have flagged this up
as an issue to be considered in website design.
Challen (2001), Chen et al. (1999) and Loicano
et al. (2002) discuss entertainment content;
Esterling et al. (2004) note that a website
should introduce innovative features to attract
end-users; Zhang and Dran (2001–2002) stress
that a website should be enjoyable, whilst Liu
and Arnett argue that a website should convey a
sense of playfulness.
From what has been discussed in the
literature, it would seem reasonable to assume
that an effectively designed and developed
website, could prove to be a powerful commu-
nications tool for MPs/political parties to target
younger people. However, the key question
that this research seeks to address is not so
much whether the parties’ websites have these
features, which most of the literature has
focused on, but whether young people want
to see these features on a political website. This
paper will seek to address this shortfall by
eliciting the views and experiences of younger
people in relation to the three major political
parties’ websites in the UK:
The Labour Party (http://www.labour.org.uk)
The Liberal Democratic Party (http://www.
libdems.org.uk)
The Conservative Party (http://www.
conservatives. com).
The study
In order to explore the views of young people
and their experiences with political parties’
websites, a series of qualitative interviews and
email surveys were conducted. For this study
we chose to focus on the 16 to 34 age-group.
Purposive sampling criteria were that each
participant be between the ages of 16 and 34
and allowing for a range of male and female
respondents. A considerable level of expertise
in using the Internet was not essential, but
some previous Internet experience was neces-
sary. We made contact with younger people
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
273
through a number of routes: a notice was put
on WebCT, a web-enabled system to support
the learning and teaching programmes of the
Birmingham Business School, and distributed
to both undergraduates and postgraduates,
asking for participants; further education col-
leges were contacted asking for volunteers;
and, e-mails were sent to the ‘youth’ wings of
the three political parties. Individuals who
agreed to participate, and who met the criteria
laid down were contacted by e-mail and asked
if they would be willing to participate in a
university-based research project to gain a
better understanding of young peoples’ experi-
ences with political parties’ websites. Those
who were willing to participate were either
interviewed while accessing the Internet from
a computer located in the researchers’ offices,
or, were e-mailed the task and survey. In
pursuing these questions a series of audio-
taped, semi-structured, in-depth interviews
were conducted with six young people. A
further twenty-one respondents completed the
task and survey questions remotely and emailed
their responses to the researchers. The choice
of six respondents for in-depth analysis was set
in the light of guidelines and precedent for
this form of research study that emphasises
developing a more in-depth analysis of the life
stories expressed by a relatively small number
of participants (Levy, 1981; McCracken, 1986;
Thompson et al. 1989; Mick and Buhl, 1992;
Thompson, 1996; Fournier and Yao, 1997;
Holt, 2002).
Verbatim transcripts from the audiotaped
interviews and the e-mailed survey responses
served as the primary texts on which the
following interpretive account is based
(Thompson, 1996). The conversations devel-
oped from loosely structured questions that
introduced the themes that have arisen from
previous literature on political parties and
Internet usage. Initially the respondents
were asked for their views about the Internet
in general, and to narrate any benefits or
difficulties they had experienced while using
the Net. Following this, each respondent was
invited to access the Internet on the compu-
ter, and then requested to seek out one of the
Journal of Public Affairs, August–November 2006
DOI 10.1002/pa
274 Lorna Chicksand and Marylyn Carrigan

political parties’ websites. An exploratory Table 1. Interviewee profiles

pilot study had revealed that the interview
respondents found the research an intensive Name Age Sex Education Party
and tiring exercise; this underpinned our
decision to contain each respondent’s web- Jean 22 F U/G Conservative
Sam 20 F U/G Conservative
site examination to just one of the three Amelia 20 F U/G Labour
political parties. Limiting the research to the Monica 20 F U/G Liberal Democrats
three main political parties was important Leonardo 28 M Masters Conservative
Vivienne 24 F PhD Conservative
so that the websites could be compared, Patricia 22 F U/G Liberal Democrats
enabling us to elicit similarities and differ- Susan 25 F PhD Labour
ences in their responses. Respondents were Emily 21 F U/G Conservative
Pritesh 18 M A’ Levels Liberal Democrats
asked to comment upon the websites and Neil 33 M Masters Labour
their design, and to carry out an identical Janet 27 F Masters Labour
information seeking task on each website. Jade 18 F A’ Levels Liberal Democrats
Sophie 18 F A’ Levels Conservative
The task involved locating information about Sarah 18 F A’ Levels Labour
university tuition fees; finding out whether Martin 21 M U/G Liberal Democrats
the site could be used to feedback their views Jack 29 M Masters Conservative
on this issue; and, seeing if they could use the Simon 21 M U/G Conservative
Kim 19 F U/G Labour
site to receive information that was tailored Linda 17 F A’ Levels Liberal Democrat
specifically to young people. Their com- Anna 19 F U/G Liberal Democrat
ments and conversation during this exercise Ian 29 M Masters Liberal Democrat
Kirsty 18 F A’ Levels Liberal Democrat
were tape-recorded, and after completion Ivan 25 M Masters Conservative
they were asked to comment upon how they Matthew 29 M Masters Labour
felt about the websites they had been Sarah 17 F A’ Levels Conservative
Janet 29 F Masters Conservative
searching.
The authors conducted the interviews or
were emailed the completed survey responses,
and the interpretation process followed the
same hermeneutic process prescribed by pre-
Findings and discussion
vious research (McCracken 1986; Thompson
1996; Dobscha 1998). This entailed reading, As a general overview the study revealed that
documenting and systematizing the interview younger people are by no means a homogenous
and survey transcripts. For each interview and group. Yet there are similarities that emerged
survey the transcript was closely read by two of in relation to their Internet experiences that
the authors to gain a sense of a whole. During closely echo the cited literature in the field.
the reading, each author begins the process of Accessing the Internet on a daily basis is very
noting key phrases and patterns of meaning; much the norm with the young people that we
through each iteration the interpretation is interviewed, with some spending up to six
developed and an effort made to grasp thematic hours a day online. It was also apparent that
similarities and linkages in the experiences younger people used the Internet to support
described. Once each author had indepen- the interests and activities pursued in their
dently studied interviewees’ transcripts and lives. The most common usage of the Internet
survey responses, described and developed for the students we interviewed and surveyed
insights and noted these in memo form, they was as an aid to their studies and research.
then compared their individual interpretations Other uses included: communication; paying
(Szmigin and Carrigan, 2001). This led to a bills; booking accommodation and travel;
shared understanding of key central themes. ‘surfing’ the Net; playing games; music; and
Information characteristics are presented in searching for jobs. Although the Internet
Table 1. offered these students access to a vast array of

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DOI 10.1002/pa
The youth vote
information, many of them cited the problem of
information overload and often had difficulties
with managing the available information:
Kim: ‘Search engines give too many possi-
ble sources and it takes considerable time to
sift through the masses of information. It is
frustrating when looking for research for
my studies’.
In terms of first impressions of the design and
layout of the homepages many of the students
found them far too cluttered and several had
considerable difficulties in locating the ‘youth’
sections of the websites. The literature has
identified the importance of the visual appeal of
the homepage in respect to branding strategy
and stresses the need to keep the website and
brand messages aligned. However, the majority
of respondents felt that this had not been given
sufficient attention and clarity and simplicity
had been overlooked:
Susan: ‘I had just seen the Conservative site
and my first reaction was ‘‘uck’’ upon
seeing the Labour one. The Conservative
site was a lot better laid out with all the
content almost one browser page. The
Labour site front page has huge fonts, is
very chaotically laid out without having
links elsewhere on the sidebar and runs
over several browser pages. It was lurid,
contained a large number of different
clashing colours, the ticker strip at the top
didn’t really contain any interesting infor-
mation and would have been better turned
over to news’.
Neil: ‘It wasn’t really a website I would
expect from a party of government; it was
THAT badly designed. I was very surprised
by how awful their website was given I
expected the party to be more slick and
professional’.
The use of colour and the style of the
homepage is a very important aspect of
political parties’ brands, but again this has not
always been carefully considered. The students
gave quite negative responses to the use of
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
275
colours on all three of the websites and several
referred to the websites as ‘old-fashioned’ and
‘serious’. They felt that the websites did not
offer much to appeal to younger voters:
Leonardo: It looks very old . . . even the
colours are not very attractive.
Anna: ‘I found the use of yellow a little over
powering. I appreciate that yellow is the Lib
Dem’s official colour, but I think more
subtle shades of yellow should have been
used!’
Sarah: ‘It’s quite dark, the blue. I think it’s
quite serious. It’s not colourful and light-
hearted. It’s very factual, focused on policy.
I think it could do with being a bit
simpler . . . it’s a bit fussy for me . . . there’s
no pictures of any politicians and I think
that’s quite interesting . . . well, there’s
one . . . I think it would give me more of
an impression of the party . . . there’s no
‘‘real’’ Conservatives on there’.
Respondents highlighted the usage problems
cited in the literature, particularly frustration at
sites that were less than obvious to navigate. The
importance of good site design is that less time is
wasted on futile searching that offers more cost
than benefit to the user. Katerattanakul (2001)
highlights ‘ability’ as a key factor in supporting
information search, and it was evident from our
respondents that site designers did not always
chart out an obvious route for them to follow
to the information that they seek. Common
refrains from the students included: ‘cluttered’,
‘disorienting’, ‘confusing’, ‘complicated’ and
‘disorganised’. Many of the students stated that
it was not clear what information was to be
found under the various headings: ‘policy
paper’; ‘policy briefings’; ‘motions’; ‘newshea-
dlines’; and, ‘newsrooms’ etc. Furthermore,
they were unsure whether to begin their search
with information displayed at the top of the
page, in the middle section or the columns
either side:
Linda: ‘There were two main menu sec-
tions which meant it was difficult to know
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276
which one to use. In addition, the page
looked as if they had tried to cram too
much onto it. There was election results as
well as recent news and too many links
which made the site look cluttered and
meant that I didn’t really know how to
start’.
Martin: ‘The site is disorganised. The home-
page is slightly confusing as there are links
on the sidebar, at the top and on the right of
the page. There were often various similar
headings and it wasn’t clear which one was
the right one. There were also a lot of links
and it seemed like you often had to go
through loads of other pages before getting
to the one you want’.
Simon: ‘There were quite a lot of pages
which made is slightly confusing—it was
hard to know where to start! Every link
seemed to open a new window which just
left my desktop in a mess and wasn’t
helpful’.
Monica: ‘there were two main menu
sections which meant it was difficult to
know which one to use. In addition, the
page looked as if they had tried to cram too
much onto it . . . there was election results
as well as recent news and too many links
which made the site look cluttered and
meant that I didn’t really know how to
start . . . extra advert style links around the
borders gave an unorganised impression
since it appeared that they had not been
simply organised into the relevant menu
option’.
Kirsty: ‘It was a bit confusing as there is no
way of knowing what comes under policy
papers, policy briefings, motions, etc until
you download the files’.
In terms of finding information specific to
young people, just finding the youth sections of
the websites was problematic for some of the
respondents:
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lorna Chicksand and Marylyn Carrigan
Anna: ‘The original homepage does not
encourage or ‘‘publicise’’ the youth site very
well. If I had not been specifically asked to
find the youth site I probably wouldn’t have
found it’.
In terms of their ‘look’, the youth sections of
the websites were branded quite differently
from the main parties’ websites. The respon-
dents generally preferred the simplicity and
cleaner lines of these sections. However, some
students still did not feel that the sites were
engaging them as younger voters and were not
capturing their attention:
Ian: ‘I thought that the ‘‘youth’’ website was
pretty boring and I would not visit it again
out of choice. I would like to see a more
lively page, something which when I visit it,
makes me feel as though it has been
specially created for me (well, my target
age group). Currently the website appears
to be very standard and aimed at anyone
who is willing to look’.
Valerie: ‘The LDYS website only covered
one browser page. It looked very sparse
and there were no pictures which made it
look a bit ‘‘dehumanised’’. The youth pages
were just functional and had limited
graphics . . . I think if the LDYS site had
games I would visit the site itself and not
just the forums more than I do and I think
it needs more graphics on the front
page . . . The LDYS website comes across as
being ‘‘text heavy’’ and lacking in ‘‘people’’
somehow, although this isn’t my perception
of LDYS at all’.
Amelia: ‘[Pointing to graphics at the top of
the webpage] . . . waste of space. It doesn’t
say much to me. They don’t tell me much
about what they are about. They don’t seem
to convey a clear and appealing messa-
ge . . . [Scrolling to the bottom of the
page] . . . you shouldn’t have to go all
the way to the bottom to find their
‘‘brand’’ . . . the logo doesn’t catch your
eye’.
Journal of Public Affairs, August–November 2006
DOI 10.1002/pa
The youth vote
As has been mentioned, although some
respondents were negative about the style of
the youth sections, several preferred how the
information was displayed:
Matthew: ‘Compared to the homepage, this
is a much better design. The information is
presented better. It is less cluttered . . . less
information and good use of links. They
haven’t tried to put everything of relevance
on the one page . . . if you want anything
more, you just click’.
Vivienne: ‘The Conservative Future site was
much less ‘‘stuffy’’ in appearance than the
main site. It was neatly coloured and
visually appealing and much easier to
navigate through than the main site. There
didn’t appear to be as much content as the
main site although there was an interesting
article about whether the Conservatives
should support Kerry or Bush. I think the
main party should change their colour
scheme and the appearance of the site to
look more like the CF one. However, in terms
of getting a ‘‘feel’’ of CF it wasn’t ideal’.
Pritesh: ‘The Young Labour page was miles
better than the main party site. Everything
was clearly laid out, lots of white space, not
cluttered or chaotic and the main body of
information was on one browser page’.
Jade: ‘I preferred the design. The policy and
information was much easier to find as it
was divided into categories’.
Katerattanakul (2001) cites the importance
of motivation in relation to how much effort is
involved in searching information; matching
user expectations is essential to making sites
accessible for users. The respondents in the
study noted that it was not unusual to seek
information on a site and find that it did not
reveal what they were expecting from it. This
results in dissatisfaction, and the likelihood
that a site will not be revisited. Capturing and
retaining supporters online is as important as it
is offline, and site design can be a key factor in
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
277
achieving site loyalty. On one of the parties’
websites a search under ‘policy’ and ‘policy
summaries’, which would have seemed logical
places to search for information about univer-
sity tuition fees, did not elicit any relevant
information. Another respondent began his
search under ‘policy’ and then ‘education’, but
could not find any information. He tried
searching for ‘fees’ but no matches were found.
Furthermore, when information was found, it
tended to be attacks on the other parties rather
than detailed reviews of their own policy.
Simon: ‘It was very hard to locate the
information on tuition fees. I looked in
‘‘policy’’ and then ‘‘education’’ but couldn’t
find a mention. Then I tried searching for
‘‘fees’’ and no matches were found. I
presume the fees policy was being glossed
over since it is unpopular. I eventually
found a page attacking the Tories on the
subject without really explaining Labour’s
policy’.
Anna: ‘Originally I clicked on the tab
labelled ‘‘policy’’ and scrolled through the
available options. However, despite look-
ing at the party’s 2004 Manifesto, I couldn’t
find any information on tuition fees. I then
entered ‘‘tuition fees’’ in the search engine
but this just brought up a list of press
releases . . . no actual information on policy
regarding tuition fees. I then went back to
the homepage and clicked on ‘‘policy
summaries’’. I scrolled down to find ‘‘higher
education’’ and found out that the Lib
Dems would like to abolish tuition fees. All
that searching took about 25 minutes,
which was frustrating and I did not find
enough relevant material’.
Matthew: ‘I found it hard to get the
information . . . I can’t even remember
how I got there. Having got there I was still
doubtful whether I had got the right
information . . . there’s just one para-
graph . . . [Looking under ‘‘policy’’ and then
‘‘education’’] . . . this is where I would logi-
cally look . . . that drew a blank . . . it’s such
Journal of Public Affairs, August–November 2006
DOI 10.1002/pa
278
a topical thing that I’m surprised that it’s so
difficult to find . . . The information was
presented poorly . . . sketchy . . . I didn’t feel
that they gave it the attention it deserves. If I
was a new member of the Labour party and
I wanted to find out this position on this
matter I would leave the website completely
uninformed’.
Susan: ‘I went to policy issues and looked up
education but this was primary and sec-
ondary only. I also tried ‘‘our policies’’ and
it wasn’t there. I looked up campaigns but it
wasn’t there either. I looked up news and
then a piece of education news on Tory
policy but there was no links. I went to
policy forum and Partnership in Power and
found a consultation document on educa-
tion. This contained HE somewhere near
the bottom but it seemed reasonably old
because it was talking about the stuff to do
with top-up fees as if it was a new proposal.
Eventually I gave up with the site’.
Kim: ‘I had to sort through the top links to
attempt to find information on tuition fees.
I assumed it would be under ‘‘our policies’’
and from there went on to ‘‘policy issues’’
and ‘‘education’’. There was no actual
information on tuition fees, just a sum-
mary about further education. I had to
continue searching which I found frustrat-
ing. I then used the search engine on the
website. It gave me three results but there is
nothing particular on tuition fees, which I
am very shocked about’.
In view of a recent survey (clickz.com,
2004), which found that 87% of 18 to 24 year
olds and 82% of 25 to 34 year olds favoured
personalised content and were willing to
provide personal information to get it, more
effort needs to be put into website design if the
parties are serious about targeting the younger
voter. The parties are not utilising the segmen-
tation possibilities of the Internet.
As previously mentioned, many of the
respondents were unable to find a link from
the homepage to the ‘youth’ sections. Sarah,
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lorna Chicksand and Marylyn Carrigan
one of the most politically active of the
respondents stated that: ‘[t]he only reason I
knew about Conservative Future is because
I’m interested in politics. I would have had to
try and find it . . . it wouldn’t have been
obvious to me . . . I would have had to search
for it’. Similarly:
Simon: ‘I’m aware that there is a Young
Labour group but I couldn’t find a link to
them. I even tried searching for it on the site
search engine but I couldn’t find it. In the
end I had to just google ‘‘young labour’’, but
I can’t see how anyone who didn’t know it
exists would find it’.
The ability to establish two-way, deeper
relationships with potential voters is being
missed by the political parties. Several respon-
dents did not feel that the websites were trying
to engage and interact with them to gauge
their views and establish a relationship with
them:
Sarah: ‘[Asked whether the website makes
the respondent feel that they are interested
in their views] eq . . . no, I’d say they want
you to have their opinions . . . they want to
give you their message. They want to give
you their opinion. It doesn’t really say ‘‘what
do you think?’’, ‘‘how shall we draw up our
policies for you?’’ . . . they could ask ‘‘what
do you think?’’ under each policy section’.
Matthew: ‘[Asked about information tai-
lored to young people] . . . you had to go to
the information. The impression I got was
that after signing up you would most
probably get a password to access the
information . . . because there’s nothing to
suggest that after signing up the informa-
tion will be sent to you’.
Vivienne: ‘The main Conservative site
seemed primarily to be a repository of
information i.e. it was made to tell people
about the Conservative party. The CF site
was more interactive but this came across
more as a site aimed at actictivism and
recruitment than getting feedback’.
Journal of Public Affairs, August–November 2006
DOI 10.1002/pa
The youth vote
Jean: ‘The online poll on the CF site seemed
a bit pointless since it was about what
newspaper you read, so I probably
wouldn’t use it because I didn’t really feel
I was contributing to anything. It seemed to
be about interacting with the site for the
sake of interacting’.
Although respondents have noted that the
biggest problem with the websites has been
their lack of clarity and simplicity, there
needs to be a balance between making sites
too complex or too simplistic, and thus, dull.
Having said this, our respondents tended to
favour content over innovative features:
Emily: ‘The page itself seemed quite appeal-
ing, although there didn’t seem to be any
sort of flashing icons or games. However, I
feel that the lack of flashing icons and
things such as pop-ups was a very good
think, as these things sometimes deter me
from visiting some websites’.
Simon: ‘The site was fairly simplistic but I’m
not overly interested in flashy websites—I
think substance is more important’.
Martin: ‘It might be good if there were
more flashy graphics, but content is more
important’.
Leonardo: ‘[Conservative Future site] . . .
requires more features to attract the atten-
tion and keep the attention of young people,
because they can easily switch to another
site’.
A few respondents did, however, favour
features designed for a younger audience:
Matthew: ‘It’s very information packed . . .
when thinking about young people, they
should keep in mind all age groups . . . if I
were 15 I wouldn’t be attracted to this
website. There is nothing that’s tailor-made
for me . . . for my interests . . . it’s a very
serious looking website . . . one or two
games . . . a competition . . . something light-
hearted . . . just to attract them . . . to develop
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
279
that affinity with the website and by exten-
sion with the party’.
Vivienne: ‘There were lots of graphics but
no sound, video, etc. It was just a well-
presented and functional site. I’d like there
to be games, video, etc. If there was a
bulletin board I’d probably visit it and I’d
probably be more likely to visit the site if it
had games’.
Conclusions
‘If the website is a reflection of the party,
then I would say the party could be labelled
confusing, useless and something that
would frustrate me immensely’ (Anna).
This paper has sought to focus on young
people as the end-users of political parties’
websites. Although there is a considerable body
of work that evaluates frameworks with which
to analyse websites in general, and political
websites in particular, there has been insuffi-
cient focus on the end-users’ perceptions of
these websites. As with any study, our research
has limitations, and the thoughts expressed by
the young people must be considered in the
light of the bounded and exploratory nature of
the study (Fournier and Yao, 1997). This is a
limited pool of respondents, and the role of
the researchers as interpreters needs to be
taken into account (Fournier, 1998; Holt,
1998).
As the above quote reflects, many of our
respondents were quite negative about the
political parties’ websites. Unfortunately, we
found that the three main political parties in the
UK are not using the Internet effectively to
provide rich informational content and two-
way interactivity. As an information source,
many of the respondents found the sites too
cluttered with insufficient attention paid to
navigational mechanisms. As a tool for inter-
active communications, again the websites
were lacking and offered only basic commu-
nication tools. The findings of this research
support earlier work ( Jackson, 2003), which
Journal of Public Affairs, August–November 2006
DOI 10.1002/pa
280
showed that MPs are primarily using their
websites as ‘shovelware’.
If it is content that is paramount for the
young end-users we surveyed, users need to be
able to locate it, otherwise searching for
information becomes a frustrating and time-
consuming activity. The students were asked to
locate some information that would be of high
interest to them, that is to say university tuition
fees. However, this information was not readily
accessible. The majority of respondents either
could not find the information that they were
seeking or it took too long (outside of the
research situation they would have abandoned
their searches). Also, in terms of information
provision, the customization potential of the
Internet is being overlooked. Although the sites
had e-News or e-Zines, these tended to treat
young people as a homogenous group and did
not attempt to segment young people, to
provide content in relation to specific interests.
The Internet offers enormous potential as a
powerful communications tool for parties to
target younger voters. However, our research
supports Challen’s (2001) findings that parties’
websites have very few interactive features. As
mentioned above, all three parties had ‘youth’
sections on their websites, but these were
failing to truly engage with younger voters. Nor
did the websites provide much opportunity for
interaction. Most of the respondents wanted to
see the parties’ policies clearly laid out with
obvious ways to express their views back to the
parties about the issues of concern to them.
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