Social media has played an increasingly important roll in attracting the youth vote in the 2008 presidential elections—from fundraising campaigns on MySpace to viral videos revealing candidates funny bones. The latest and most poignant example was the heavily-touted CNN/YouTube Democratic debate, which aired on last month.
Widely recognized as a resounding success, it was based on video questions submitted by the public. CNN received nearly 3,000 videos, and its editors selected 39 for use during the two-hour debate. The debate marked a distinct shift in the media equation, with technology giving average citizens a direct link to potential candidates.
Now, leading Republicans that snubbed the CNN/YouTube debate are getting a lot of flack. Even very conservative bloggers believe that their anti-Internet attitude “reinforces a stereotype of Republicans as stuck in a time warp, writing off younger voters and afraid to face an unpredictable public” (New York Times).
Indeed, “unpredictable” is the very nature of social media. It’s an uncontrolled environment, and politicians, who thrive on manipulating image and perception, may find themselves out of their element. John Edwards experienced this when his campaign HQ in Second Life was vandalized with scatological graffiti.
Edwards has been a leading adopter of technology in the campaign (followed closely by Barack Obama and his social network). Thus far Edwards has engaged with audiences on a couple dozen social networks, most notably Twitter. His promise to reduce carbon emissions via tweet didn’t just float out into Twittervision. Robert Scoble, a prominent blogger, actually goaded another missive out of Edwards on the topic. It was close to real-time interaction with a candidate on a very grassroots level.
Edwards later jumped into the online video racket, where many candidates are showing a kinder, gentler, funnier side of themselves. Hillary’s Soprano knock-off is a prime example. But Edwards’ “Hair” video was a funny toupee covering a bald attack on foreign policy. We agree with Colin Nagy from Source Communications who foresees a social media as a medium rife for attack. From FT.com:
A similar group taking advantage of MySpace or Facebook users to attack a 2008 campaign target could have a bigger impact, Mr. Nagy says. “The Swift Boaters was version 1.0. The 2.0 version of that is going to be ugly, and it’s going to be more technologically sophisticated, viral and destructive than ever before.”
Still, all parties need to get involved in social media; it truly democratizes democracy. And just as companies are grappling with their corporate personae online—from flame-outs to ad placements next to “off-message” UGC—politicians will have to face the same. Next up? The Republicans. Youtube is currently soliciting questions for their upcoming debates. Fire away.
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