Politics and the Internet

As with cybercrime, the Internet has given politcs a new medium from which to propogate from. A tech-savvy politician is almost garunteed a larger viewership if he or she makes use of the medium.

I guess most of us now by know how Barack Obama and his campaign’s use of  Internet to drive him towards the Democrat candicacy and ultimately, the Presidency of the United States of America.

Throughout the campaign, Obama has made use of social media to make himself known to the American people and the world. A Youtube channel for his campaign was specifcally set up to stream videos of his many speeches and TV advertisements, allowing those who were unable to catch them on broadcast television, at any time of the day and any part of the world. An elaborate website has setup to let him communicate with his many supporters as well. Views and opinions were garnered from peoples of all walks of life and blogs could be set up on his website to advocate support of Obama. He made use of Twitter to allow people to keep track of his campaign on the move, as well as setting up a Facebook account. Perhaps on one of his biggest coups in my opinion would be the announcement of his Vice President incumbent, Joe Bidan, over an SMS message and the usage of his first name to do so.

But what does all this mean for Obama? It sets him apart from his opponents in that by usage of the Internet, he is shown to be a President who is up date with the latest technology. He also gives the impression that he does make use of the Internet to keep up to date with what is happening all around the world. Obama also perhaps make use of the Internet to keep track of public opinion not just in America but all around the world as well. This gives him a rough idea of what exactly is it like out there and not something that is handed to him after being whitewashed.