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THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON THE ELECTION
Howard Dean started it when he created Meetup.com in 2004 during his run against John Kerry. Who do you think hired Dean's website developer this go-around? Barack Obama. That's the focus for 2008: mobilize the apathetic contingency (i.e., catch young voters in their comfort zone). The goal is to personalize the election through social networking on the web. Democratic nominees seem to be taking to the networking waters faster than their Republican counterparts. With highly developed websites, approachable YouTube videos and facebook and myspace® profiles, the Hillary and Barack campaigns have forged ahead into uncharted territory. This sort of networking makes candidates meaningful to today's young adults.
Republican candidates are getting on board and bloggers seem to be everywhere the candidates are, even on the tour buses. This evolution in campaigning is bringing the power of the elections back to the people, as seen in the case of the YouTube debates. Anyone could send a video asking a question, which was then shown to candidates. Their responses were shown live on YouTube. It's personal and intimate, putting the candidates to the task in a live forum.
In some cases it's almost too intimate. For instance, Obama Girl, a video viewed more than seven million times, features an attractive singer whose crush on Obama is destabilizing. She goes as far as kissing his face on her computer screen and parading around in Obama lingerie. It's a bit much, but it got the point across and drew tremendous attention to the Obama campaign. It was followed by Hillary Boy, whose YouTube video was viewed just under a million times.
In this brave new world, the most creative and outspoken among us have the opportunity to be heard by the masses. But, more important, the rest of America has access to a dialogue that was unheard of in past elections. The message has gone beyond all of those endless TV commercials; it's more personal this time around.
Article by:
Jill Enriquez, HMH, Media Director
