Business - Written by Derek Pokora on Friday, August 24, 2007 17:55 - 1 Comment
The Influence of Web 2.0 on American Politics
John Edwards uses Twitter. Obama’s the most widely viewed candidate on YouTube. Both the Yearly KOS, and the CNN/You Tube debates have happened, and now MySpace and MTV have announced a series of one-on-one candidate forums. The internet, and especially Web 2.0, has given candidates an extremely cost-effective way to reach millions of potential voters.
In an article by Josh Catone, he questions whether predicting the next US election based on Internet popularity might be a big mistake. Refer to the chart below.
According the data compiled here, it appears that the battle is between Barack Obama and Ron Paul for the Presidency. However, according to practically every poll conducted this past month, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani have commanding leads. Catone’s reasoning for the disconnect? Age (younger people are more active online, but participate less in active voting), the ‘coolness’ factor (people socially connecting to politicians online but failing to follow through), and the possibility of errors in polling.
However, these descrepancies do not mean that the active engagement in politics online is without repercussion. In fact, inexpensive marketing as a result of the second wave of the web can actually aid a politician in fundraising, as well as building awareness. On the other hand, fundraising may not be as large of an issue as it has been in the past, given that the playing field is levelling out. How much did it cost Barack Obama to communicate to eleven million viewers? Nothing.
I think that Catone brings up some valuable insights. If age is a factor, then I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the youth of America to vote. If you claim to support someone online, then vote for them! The time invested to write a few messages on a candidates profile would be far better spent by going down to a booth and actually voting for the candidate you claim to support. Be consistent. If you are going to harness the democratic power of Web 2.0, then apply that belief to your own political system. It was implemented there first, was it not?
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