Well last night's debate may have been exciting for some, a snoozer for others but for me, it was one busy night!

We here at cbc.ca/bc decided to try out something new. We wanted to LIVE blog during the leaders debate.
Going into this, we had no idea if this was going to work or even be successful.
But now that it's over, I can confidently say it was a success!

Along with myself, my Senior Producer, and the help of some awesome interns I was able to keep the conversation around the debate going. I asked you to keep it clean, short and avoid the partisan rants. Well hats off to you for following the rules!

Okay at the beginning of the election campaign, a poll showed the BC Liberals had a big lead over the BC NDP. A seventeen point lead to be exact.

But a more recent poll says ...the lead isn't as big. It's only 3 points.

So are people changing their minds or is something else at play?
Well it could be that people are having a change of heart....
But I'd put my money on the "something else".

Both these polls talked to British Columbians.
And asked them similar questions.

But the difference was "how" the polls were conducted.

Many of you have probably already seen the political ads on TV and even heard them on radio.
But have you checked out the ones on YouTube?
Right now there are dozens of videos posted on YouTube with some connection to the BC Election campaign.

Most of the videos have been posted by the usual suspects...unions and political parties but even the average Joe is getting in on the action.

Let's start with the union videos first.

So the political parties seem to have all the gizmos.

They've got Facebook pages....

And their twittering from their blackberries.

Sounds like they've got the whole social networking thing down.
That's until you actually check out their pages.

If you Twitter you might already know Gordon Campbell and Carole James are twittering their way along the election campaign.

Check out the party websites and you'll see they're both on Facebook and Flikr.
So they've entered the digital age. But is twittering and updating a Facebook page enough for the online world to take you seriously?

How important are the political parties websites in a campaign?
Pretty important if you ask me...

They're not an option...but a necessity in today's day and age. The point of a website is to engage visitors and get the party's message out. All the major parties in the BC Election definitely do that. But do they do it well, is the question. There's no point in putting up all the information on your site if you can't keep peoples attention long enough to check it out!

Now that's what I think...

The election kicked off...and it wasn't just the political parties that made the waves on the web. An online news magazine, the The Tyee did too!

Last week the editor of The Tyee, David Beers, asked readers to show him the money! Yep...he held out his hand asked readers to help the online mag pay for their B.C. election coverage. All he wanted was $5000 to pay for one reporter.

Well, boy did that campaign take off! Readers donated more than $13,000!

Well, whether you like it or not, the B.C. election campaign has started.

The election signs will be going up…the politicians will be out there vying for your precious vote. But I expect this campaign won’t only be fought out on the streets but online as well. And that’s where I come in!

Throughout this campaign I’ll be watching the “online campaign” and blogging about it right here at Anu Online! With the rise of Facebook, Twitter and blogs, a community of people who want to know and be heard has come to life! These online users are a very powerful group. They’re excellent at getting their message out but they’re even better at doing it fast... And that makes for an exciting campaign!