Social Media politics

Once Parliament is Prorogued Members of Parliament still receive their salaries but may not campaign during the election period as 'Joanna Blogs MP', indeed they have to drop the 'MP' for the duration. In the last General Election it was noted that many a was-MP-now-candidate had to stop using their 'normal' website — because it included 'MP' in the domain — and create a separate election website. They could retain the old one, just not update it.

Well next year we'll be seeing a similar problem arising with all those MPs who Twitter or use FaceBook. People such as JimMurphyMP, patmcfaddenmp, AdamPriceMP, MikeOBrienMP, willierenniemp, TomHarrisMP, DewsburyMP will all need to change their names on Twitter and in some cases can't just drop the 'MP' as other people already have the handle (eg. MikeOBrien) and on other services it isn't possible to change your handle.

Could make 'name recognition' a whole new issue next year...