One of the main reasons for Barack Obama’s victory in the US elections last year was his team’s ability to mobilise hitherto-disinterested voters, mainly young people, through on-line social networking.

The Obama campaign had a huge presence on established sites like Facebook, Myspace and Flickr. They also set up My.BarackObama.com, or MyBO for short, an intuitive and fun-to-use networking internet site that allowed supporters to create groups, plan events, raise funds, download tools, and connect with one another– not unlike a more focused, activist Facebook.

Obama’s website was the catalyst that helped turn the election tide in his favour. In addition to mobilising new voters, more than $500 million was raised through donations of under $100 on average.

This is a lesson that has not been lost on the political classes this side of the pond. If politicians want to connect with new voters and broaden their appeal, not to mention raise funds, they will need to connect with younger voters using new technologies.

One website that is helping Irish politicians connect with their electorate is www.micandidate.eu

The site was founded in 2007 by a group of college friends who were struck by how difficult it was to find out about all your candidates standing for election.

The site lists all the candidates standing in the upcoming local and European elections. It contains contact details, biographies, photos, and detailed policy information on most of the candidates.

Like Obama’s website, there is a facility for making donations. The site has proved so successful in Ireland that they are bringing this simple idea all across Europe.

We certainly recommend the site; it was very useful to us in setting up the ‘candidates at a glance’ feature on these pages.