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Home / Washington Business - September/October 2006 / Expect a technology-filled 2006 election |
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Expect a technology-filled 2006 election |
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Written On: September/October 2006 |
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Written By: by Alexis Nepomuceno |
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The 2006 political campaign is shaping up to be the most high-tech election to date. A handful of emerging technologies — online video, social networking Web sites, podcasts and blogs — could have a significant effect at the polls.
Smile, you’re on YouTube!
It’s like amateur night for the entire world. Starting out as a video sharing service, YouTube.com has morphed into an entertainment hub where anyone can share, view and comment on millions of videos. The site can be a politician’s best friend or worst nightmare. Chances are, if a candidate is caught on video saying anything embarrassing or questionable, it will soon appear on YouTube for everyone to see.
Since its launch, YouTube has quickly become one of the most popular destinations on the Internet with more than 13 million monthly users. Benefiting from the growing number of broadband Internet users, YouTube.com has already surpassed Google as the number one site for Web videos with a 43 percent market share.
The most obvious effect YouTube could have is that politicians will have to assume they’re on camera all the time. If a candidate knows that some embarrassing material is already in circulation, he should have an appropriate response prepared.
In the 2006 campaign, expect both the McGavick and Cantwell campaigns to air each other’s dirty laundry via YouTube. We may also see a flurry of video salvos directed against incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert. At the very least, most campaigns will likely make their commercials available online.
If you can’t beat MySpace, join MySpace
Much has been made about the effects of social networking sites like MySpace.com, but the popular online community is evolving into a breeding ground for young political enthusiasts. MySpace allows anyone to post a personal profile online, which can include photos, videos, articles and other information. These postings often contain detailed personal information.
According to MySpace, 80 percent of its users are of voting age, so campaigns are able to harvest information for contacting potential voters and campaign volunteers. The numbers are impressive: MySpace has over 61 million registered users and attracts 220,000 new members daily. The primary age demographic is 16-34, with 50.2 percent being males. More than 21 million unique individuals visit the site daily.
The popularity of MySpace among voting-age Internet users may dictate that a portion of every campaign staff be allocated to monitor and update social networking sites, which will cost time and resources. Hiring an outside agency to monitor the Web could be costly, so most campaigns will likely have to rely on volunteers to do the job.
In 2006, expect all of the candidates for federal office to have their own "unofficial" profile Web site that is maintained by a volunteer. Because of the nature of MySpace, expect all of the campaigns to play it safe. Mudslinging likely won’t work on the MySpace crowd, but campaigns may be able to pick up a number of volunteers from these sites.
Blogs and podcasts gain steam
Blogging has already had a significant impact on politics. In 2004, Dino Rossi supporters frequented sites like SoundPolitics.com for the latest analysis of the activities of the King County Elections Department. More recently, many credit a fringe leftist blog with generating the grassroots movement that ousted Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the Democrat Primary.
Blogs also play a prominent role in holding the media’s feet to the fire. These sites often point out inaccuracies and false statements in mainstream media reports, thus serving as a form of checks and balances with the news establishment. Such accountability coming from so many diverse sources highlight media biases or hidden agendas, which affects how the public views and trusts modern journalism.
Podcasts are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with, as well. These downloadable Web-based audio shows, created by niche professionals and radio hobbyists, give almost anyone with a viewpoint and a computer the ability to be heard. Imagine thousands of Rush Limbaughs and Howard Sterns and everything in between — this is essentially what podcasts have become.
The audience for podcasting is steadily growing. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, 6.6 percent of the U.S. adult online population (9.2 million users) have downloaded a podcast recently, and 4.0 percent (5.6 million Web users) have recently downloaded a video podcast. These statistics put the podcasting community on the same level as those who publish blogs (4.8 percent).
Looking ahead, expect canvassing for votes and volunteers to move from neighborhood streets to the digital superhighway. Podcasts will enhance the effectiveness of online efforts by providing another way for people to gather information. Why read through pages of material when the same thing can be accomplished listening to a podcast while sitting in traffic? A free subscription to any number of podcast feeds will provide whatever information voters desire, automatically downloaded to their iPods throughout the day. It has never been easier for campaigns and political parties to get their messages out so cost-effectively.
Rest assured that blogs can and will get ugly in 2006. These online journals are not covered by campaign finance laws and regulations, so the sky’s the limit for groups wishing to spread information (or misinformation) about a person or cause. On the other hand, podcasts should be much tamer as they require a little more expertise to implement properly.
2006 will be viewed as the testing ground for the right tools to use in 2008. However, the effects will be felt immediately as the campaigns and organizations that harness the power of blogs, podcasts, YouTube and MySpace most effectively will have the upper hand. When it comes to the Internet and politics, just maintaining a campaign Web site won’t be enough any more.
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