Twitter has been alive with outrage today at the BNP’s success in winning two seats in the European elections. There have been calls to block the BNP’s Twitter accounts and a Not In My Name Meme has kicked off. The election results are shocking not because a minority party with far right views won two seats, but that two-thirds of the UK didn’t vote.

Social networks are truly democratic. Authority in a network is developed by building reputation. We’re quick to celebrate examples of crowdsourcing when a motivated group of individuals is able to turn around opinion and create positive change, but we’re upset that this is precisely what the BNP has done in this instance.

The BNP’s new European Parliament members have been elected via a democratic process. Whatever your views please don’t turn the party into a martyr that will promote its cause. Instead use your networks to promote discussion via free speech. Only then will the BNP’s views become truly known and more people will be motivated to vote in future elections.