At Otleypeople we are pretty keen on the Internet. It's a great way of getting a message out to lots of people, a democratic medium that anyone can use to be heard.

There's 15,000 people who live in Otley and go online - that's about three quarters of the population of the town. So you'd think the three main candidates for this year's General Election - which now looks almost certain to be on 6th May - would be getting online too and telling us about their policies, their plans and what they'll do if they are voted in.

A quick reminder of who is expected to stand in Otley's constituency, Leeds North West. For Labour (and currently with the longest odds at Ladbrookes with 6/1 against) is Judith Blake. You'll remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that neither her twitter feed nor her blog been updated since February and I'm sorry to report no improvement there - perhaps with such long odds Labour have already given up winning over Otley's considerable online population?

Better news from the Conservatives - by no means the front runner but in with a chance at 7/4 is Julia Mulligan. A couple of weeks ago I reported that her Twitter feed had lain dormant since October 2009 but I'm pleased to say that the Conservatives are taking online campaigning seriously and as of today her last tweet was only a few hours ago. Previously we claimed that her website was under construction, but Julia has since contacted us to correct this - her website is up and running here.

And finally Otley's current MP, Lib Dem Greg Mulholand (the favourite at 4/6 on) had a couple of new stories on his website as recently as Friday and like his opponent in the Conservatives last tweeted a handful of hours ago.

So...with six weeks to go to the hustings things are getting better for Otley voters who want to keep up with their candidates online - up from one out of three to two out of three since last we looked. I'll check again in a couple more weeks when the election is a month away and see whether Julia's website has been constructed; whether Judith's blog or Twitter page is finally up to date; and whether Greg is still out in front with both Twitter and his own site freshly updated.

In the meantime, let us know if you think your candidates should be getting their messages online; let us know if you see them do anything new and innovative to reach Otley's very extensive online population; and most of all let us know if you think they're doing all they can to keep us up to date with their campaigns.