Internet brings new challenges/opportunities for political campaigns

Three weeks before an election, political campaigns are making a final attempt to win votes. While old tactics like television commercials, direct mail, yard signs, bumper stickers, paid print advertisements and even some of the newer ones like email remain used, new tactics involving YouTube, MySpace, and FaceBook are now being used.

In an attempt to engage younger voters, MySpace and FaceBook have recently launched a new effort to register voters. Even before that, candidates running for positions both at local and federal levels created pages on social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook.
These new tactics are this season’s hot tool for political campaigns. A USA Today story quoted Democratic strategist Chris Lehane as saying that the new online campaign phenomena "will ultimately revolutionize politics."

These websites can either harm and/or help politicians and candidates. To share key messages and opinions, politicians are uploading their own political commercials on YouTube so that it simultaneously hits the television airwaves as their paid television spots do. Their opponents and even average citizens (for all we know they could be public relations firms acting as an average citizen) can also take advantage of the new efforts to air dirty laundry (U.S. Senator Conrad Burns nodding off during a Senate hearing and U.S. Senator George Allen ‘macaca’ comment come to mind).

The new strategic communications method of placing digital videos on the internet brings up a host of topics like proper disclosure and defining self before opponents define you.
Political operatives jump at the chance of framing an issue or a candidate. These new efforts are a good opportunity to help define (whether negatively or positively) candidates/opponents before they are defined. Placing clips of sleeping Senators on the web for millions to see can damage credibility and insight negative debate. The individual who uploaded the clip on web has framed and defines the Senator.

With the new explosion of YouTube, MySpace, and FaceBook as a campaign tool, we may see more young people getting involved/interested in politics. One thing is for sure, the new technology will only become more widely used as people become more dependent on the internet.

J.L.