Internet and Politics

The Internet is an amazingly powerful tool when it comes to information sharing.

Politicians worldwide (such as United States President Barack Obama, United States Presidential Republican Candidate Mitt Romney, and even local politicians Lee Hsien Loong) have decided to reach out to their supporters across the country/globe via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is a really good way for politicians to reach out to the masses as their supporters worldwide will be able to receive real-time updates about their thoughts and feelings about major events. Their supporters will also be able to ‘share’ updates by these politicians, which can help to bolster other peoples’ respect in them.

Online campaigns help you reach anyone with Internet access. You don't need people's addresses or phone numbers to reach them. The Internet also exposes your campaign to more demographics, particularly young people who have traditionally been difficult to reach. There are many ways to reach people electronically, including through campaign websites, email newsletters, social networking websites and blogs. Online campaigns make it easier to reach out to people, for instance, below is a screen shot of Obama's Tumblr, which was constantly updated before and during his campaign, and he not only updated people he also interacted with users on Tumblr, and personally, I thought that was pretty awesome. 

One of the many ways that the election of Barack Obama as president is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet. Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground, “The tools changed between 2004 and 2008. Barack Obama won every single caucus state that matters, and he did it because of those tools, because he was able to move thousands of people to organize.”

Mr. Obama’s campaign also took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Videos that were put on to his channel were much more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted. “The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours, and to buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million."

Honestly, I really am impressed with Obama's style of campaigning. It has foresight and vision to recognize the usefulness of the internet as a platform to reach out to a much wider audience.