http://www.ralphbecker.com/
Hey everyone I hope that you can all read this, I have been having a hard time getting the text of my blog to show when I attach a picture or video. Is this happening to anyone else?
Anyway...
When Joy Pierce, Professor in the Communication department at the University of Utah came in to speak to our class she ended her presentation with comments on the way politicians have started to utilize new media in their campaigning seasons, and throughout their terms in office. This is a very interesting topic because now if I decided to run for a state, local or national office, one of the first things I expect the campaigning manager would ask is... "If you don't already have a website, we need to set one up immediately".
I posted the link to the Ralph Becker (Mayor of Salt Lake) homepage. I hope you all get a chance to look at it, he has a space to make donations, visions and issues, and a live blog, where Ralph and PR representatives I'm sure, post upcoming events, new news, and responses to news articles, such as the most recent post on state immigration legislation.
Ralph Becker is a great state example, but even the candidates running for the presidency used teams of bloggers and web design teams to create a web 2.0 creation for what they were about and how individuals could become involved and help with the campaign. The DNC (Democratic National Convention) and GOP (Republican National Committee are constantly updating and continuing to improve user ability and up to date websites.
Now, looking at a very specialized case in which many of us are very familiar with, is the ASUU student elections that happened last month, even the parties created facebook groups and websites. www.voterevolution09.com, www.thegoparty.com are a few examples of the most recent election. Every aspect of the campaigning process is effected by the new media yoke.
If I decided to run for a major city office and advertise and campaign with fliers, billboards, and news paper ads, and no website, and ran against an opponent who had the Web on their side, I do not think it would even be a competition. If you wanted to find out more about a candidate, watch their latest debate, view their platform, make a donation, or become more active within the campaign, where is the first place you would look?
We got a true sense of how an election or political campaign could be won through a social and highly-communicative online or technological advertising campaign.
ReplyDeleteObama won.
Aside from the obvious reasons why he is now the president, it's quite evident that the new media's engaged his overall message to such a wide and broad audience that people heard the guy--loud and clear.
Sure, John McCain had a Facebook and all that jazz (which was probably being run by some schmuck) but the fact of the matter is, these new technologies and avenues lead to higher quality of interest and overall response. Things will continue to progress more and more, I believe, to a point where one day, we may be staring at a completely different political spectrum.
I think it is amazing how much technology can impact a person's campaign. You bring up several good points and I agree with your post. If you're running for a political position--whether it be on a University Campus or for a State position--the first thought one should have would be to get a website. It is easy, fast, and one of the best ways of advertising yourself. During the Presidential campaign, new media was so involved. My brother and cousin started a political blog that was updated almost twice a day with news about the campaign. When it got even closer to the election my cousin was one of 5 students from the U to go to DC and do journalism for the campaign. He was in charge of a blog for everyone at the U, and others, to read. That blog I'm sure was used to inform many people on campus that don't have the time to watch the news all day.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you mentioned the ASUU campaigns. I know it sounds dumb to say this, but when my friends and I first went to each of the sites we immediatley liked the GO! Party. Their site was fun, high-tech, interactive, etc. They for sure knew what they were doing. I'm sure many people were impressed with their website. However, it also goes to show that just because you do have this amazing technology that allows you to spread the word and have people view things about you wherever they are, you need to do more than just that...which may be a reason why the Revolution party ended up winning.
It is so interesting to me that new media can have such a huge impact on our lives, country, and world. Because of President Obama's use of new media it helped him throughout the campaign and he is now the President of the United States. New media technology is becoming increasinly important and I'm sure in the next election will be even more involved.
Not only has technology impacted campaigns, but the internet has affected our means of getting our voices out there. I find it interesting that even with all the television, newspaper ads, etc. and all the things we come across on a daily basis, the internet seems to be the determining factor in swinging votes for or against someone. I'm not sure if I am the only one to think along these lines, but do you believe that if a candidate who decided to run for office cut off just strictly radio advertisements and focused more on his website and such, would he be more effective in reaching the crowds? I mean it seems as though everyone has a radio, or at least comes in contact with one, but the same cannot be said about the internet. I'm not quite sure how something as frequent as a radio can be completely overturned by a relatively new technology in the internet. It's quite the conundrum, and I would like to see more politicians try to voice their thoughts/opinions across the internet more than anything else. Would internet campaigning alone, be effective than doing newspapers/television/radio combined?
ReplyDelete