OBAMA GIRL!

                                                               

There is no denying that the campaign video by John Edwards was a great indicator for what is to come in terms of the bond between Internet and Politics. However, he underestimated the importance of using Social Media such as you tube. Obama or McCain did not make the same mistake! They took internet more seriously and utilized it effectively for their campaign for fund-raising, persuasion and get out the vote mobilization. It was McCain campaign in late 2008 that captured the attention of observers by adding a entertaining twist to the Campaign and making fun of Obama. These certainly proved to be very successful for grabbing the attention of media and and hence the general public. McCain campaigner got even more creative when they launched the game called 'Pork Invaders' on Facebook! ( Dennis 2009, p.154) However, this was not all about grabbing attention. It was more about creating a large platform to raise money. Does it surprise you if I told you that Obama campaign raised 650 million and McCain campaign raised a comfortable 360 million. ( Dennis 2009, p.156)

The internet was not only used to collect votes and fund-raising by politicians. Also everyday people took it upon themselves to expose the weakness of politicians on sites like Accountability Project. This is one of my favorite concepts actually. It is not all pink for politicians any more, if they slip they get caught and they are responsible for it! I can not imagine how hard that would have made the job of politicians. There is no escaping this sort of public scrutiny. When I checked out the website first, I was astonished to find out how easy the process was to upload videos from public.

The study conducted by the Pew Research Centre gave interesting insights to the use of the internet in US midterm elections. Here are the summary of the some of the findings:

• 54% of adults used the internet for political purposes in the last cycle. They hold mixed views about the impact of the internet: It enables extremism, while helping the like-minded find each other. It provides diverse sources, but makes it harder to find truthful sources.
• 22% of online American adults used social network sites or Twitter for politics in the 2010 campaign, and that 22% of online American adults used their cell phones to learn about or participate in the campaign.
• One in five online adults (22%) used Twitter or a social networking site for political purposes in 2010.
• One quarter of all US adults (24%) got most of their news about the 2010 elections from the internet, and the proportion of Americans who get most of their midterm election campaign news from the internet has grown more than three-fold since the 2002 campaign.

So let me recap, Nowadays a political campaign can not ignore the use of internet. There are so many little tricks to success. Politicians can tidy up their image as much as they want but may still end up being scrutinized by the same Internet that helps them. The voters probably get the best of the deal. Politics  is not a boring subject anymore (according to me and some). Politics can be entertaining and cameras are out there to catch every single slip a politician may make. As a result. Politician's PR's jobs got million times more stressful!

REFERENCES

Johnson, D. W. 2009, Campaigning for president 2008, viewed 13 january, 2013, http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au

Smith, A 2011, The Internet and Campaign 2010, viewed 13 January 2013,http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/The-Internet-and-Campaign-2010/Summary.aspx