A first look at Telegraph's Debate2010

The Telegraph has launched a dedicated website for readers to debate issues they believe should be at the heart of the forthcoming General Election: Debate2010.

Think of it as crowdsourcing a manifesto; readers will submit concerns, ideas, issues and suggestions and other site visitors will be able to vote on which should be priorities for debate and discussion in the run up to the election. The site is powered by salesforce.com.

Of course, the greatest problems with crowdsourcing - if it is to be taken seriously as a credible barometer of nationwide feeling - relate to the quality and size of sample and the insurmountable issue of self-selection (most notably, will this really tell us anything other than what a fairly particular set of demographic groups feel about only those issues they choose to discuss or vote on).

But that is not to say it isn't a noble venture - fostering some debate is certainly better than no debate in the run up to an election where apathy and low turnout could still hold sway. It is also the latest interesting foray into new forms of online content creation and a more 'social' approach to community engagement from the Telegraph. Social media has shown us people want to have their say and the media can no longer run an indefinite lecture. It must be a conversation and the Telegraph is embracing that fact.

Perhaps most importantly though, the site if successful will provide not only increased traffic to the Telegraph website but will also provide editors with a very clear idea of the issues and debates it should be covering in the run up to the election - the kind of reader intelligence no media outlet can ever have too much of.