Hannah Therese | 4/10/2007
The massive growth of Web 2.0 has transformed the internet into a 2 way user generated phenomenon - and is now host to new wave of interactive election coverage.
Politicians recognise the power of the internet and their ability to now connect with and engage the voting public by using blogs, personalised social networking profiles and videos to broadcast news and opinions.
Social media and the development of social media based applications are set to revolutionise election coverage as we know it. Still second to television, the internet has become increasingly more popular than radio within election campaigns.
Prime Minister John Howard and Labor Leader Kevin Rudd have utilised websites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook to distribute content because it is free, accessible anytime, active and enables them to obtain feedback on election issues directly from those that matter most – the voters.
Google
Google Australia has developed a website specifically for the 2007 Australian Federal Election. Users now have a range of applications that personalise their homepage featuring information regarding the Federal Election.
The website also enables voters to search the most up-to-date news from any House of Representatives seat, peruse election-related videos on YouTube and view MPs comments on a range of subjects.
They have also integrated features to provide users with access to electoral information on Google Maps, including current members, margins, rival candidates and the location of polling booths.
Yahoo!7
Yahoo!7 approached Wiliam to create a website for the 2007 Federal Government Election that allows voters to retrieve video footage, user-generated content and customised information while encompassing Web 2.0 technologies.
Featuring a diverse range of user generated content, the website also integrates multi-media with opinion polls, blogs, photos incorporating online photo management and sharing application, Flickr and even a custom built application titled ‘Political Deathmatch’ which enables users to create the fight of their lives - Howard vs Rudd - and other rival Labor and Liberal Candidates.
With the focus on extending Yahoo’s rich multi-media presence online, Wiliam utilised Yahoo’s valuable Web 2.0 resource, Yahoo!7 Answers, to enabling users to ask any election related questions and seek answers from other users.
Wiliam also integrated numerous Yahoo!7 features into the innovative design and content to instill further brand recognition. Various political and media figures, including Channel 7 television identity David O’Keefe, offer insight through regular blogs.
MySpace's Impact political channel
With statistics declaring MySpace has over 3.6 million Australian members, 22% under the age of 18, it’s no wonder politicians are embracing it as an alternate support medium – Just think of all of those 17 year olds that are able to vote in 2008 and beyond.
MySpace has introduced a new Impact channel that arms rival candidates with the tools to stay competitive and dominate amongst the Web 2.0 landscape for the election.
Impact allows politicians to create personal profile pages containing their bios, pictures, video clips and blogs outlining policies. Essentially, this information has the potential to influence young voters like never before and provides candidates with an instant snapshot of their popularity. It may also be an alternate method of reaching those who do not remain up to date with current affairs via television and newspapers - encouraging voters to get to know politicians in the same way they get to know the people in their social network.
Politicians understand that to secure their future political prospects, they must embrace new mediums and embrace new tools that engage users, and are aware that their future votes are now in the hands of a younger, tech-savvy demographic.
Fundamentally, voter generated content online has the potential to steer and impact election results like never seen before.
tags:
Web 2.0
,
Web Development
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