By Clifford Singer

On 30 January I spoke at a packed session on "new media and the election" at the Progressive London conference, alongside Alex Smith, Helen Gardner, Sunny Hundal and Andy Newman. There were strong contributions from all my fellow speakers and from the audience. This, more or less, is what I said.

MyDavidCameron is the third of a trio of websites I've set up in the last 18 months which try to do politics a bit differently. The first, Bubblewrapped, was a response to the banking crash, and its entire audience comprised of two economists in Canada.

The second, the Other TaxPayers' Alliance, is still doing a pretty good job of annoying the TaxPayers' Alliance and other neoliberals hiding behind the banner of neutrality. It mixes more serious political commentary with an element of mockery, such as an online generator which supplies journalists with realistic TaxPayers Alliance quotes, because they always say the same thing anyway.

But MyDavidCameron has gone much bigger. In the three weeks since it launched, it's received 160,000 unique visits and, more significantly, its reach has extended beyond the usual politicos into countless discussion forums such as Mumnets, all sorts of football supporters networks, music and clubbing websites, and mainstream entertainment sites like Popbitch.

One way in which MyDavidCameron differs from most political sites (besides the fact that it's funny) is that it has a limited shelf-life. Drag it out too long and it will become the Oasis of viral campaigns. With this in mind I've distilled five lessons learned from creating the site, which may help others launching websites and campaigns.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Progressive London conference on Saturday and making it a massive success. The energy, enthusiasm and level of debate are reflected in the hundreds of comments on Twitter from dozens of you. 
 
 
AN INSPIRING DAY  
 
@pennyred Had a great day at #prolondon, feeling really energised and inspired for the first time in ages. Bonnie Greer blew me away.

@daf_adley really enjoyed @ProLondon Conference today - politically exhilarating and very inspiring :)

@politic_animal: A fun day at #prolondon with some very good speakers. Good to have Ken on barnstorming form for the grand finale.

@8minstosunrise ProLondon Conf a huge success700 people gather to discuss stopping the right in 2010. It can be done!

@laurenivory hello @noelito how did you find @ProLondon ? Some good tweet vibes coming through... :)

@amishaghadiali Had an inspiring day @ProLondon Especially impressed by @Bonnie_Greer @johannhari101 @Rowenna_Davis ,Cllr Serge Lourie ,Mehdi Hasan, and Ken.

@liannedemello On way to mate's birthday party, contemplating day at #proLondon. Was brill to put faces to names, and to feel galvanised about new media.

@pickledpolitics: #ProLondon conference is packed out. Lots of ppl interested in where the left is headed.

@kerrabel I am doing the cloakroom at #prolondon. People just don't want to leave.#
 
WHILST....
 
@AnnieGoss Had a great time volunteering @ProLondon on Saturday. I was especially impressed by @AdamBienkov and @EdMilibandMP, as always. 
 
SUPPORT FOR THE CONFERENCE EVEN EXTENDED TO THOSE WHO COULDN’T MAKE IT 
 
@garydunion Going out for lunch in Perth wearing my "Don't blame me, I voted for Ken" badge in solidarity with #prolondon.