While social networking can be a benefit to today's politicians, such as the example of voters using it to organize grassroots level support for Barack Obama, for most established politicians it is more of a minefield.
It is a minefield because politicians used to be able to control their message and image through the media and individual voters really did not have a forum to voice conflicting opinions. Now with social networking, the individual voter has a forum and while social networking can be used to support candidates or share positive information about them, it is negative information and criticism that will spread faster through the Internet. One piece of bad information spread through social networking can blow up and ruin a candidate's campaign, therefore it's a minefield.
An example of negative imagery spreading through social networking is a YouTube video of John Edwards getting ready for a debate. While this is not something that will ruin his campaign, it is certainly negative imagery that he would prefer not be spread through social networking. Edwards' communications manager comments that once a negative message is out there a politician and his advisors need to decide whether to try to counteract it or simply ignore it, which is often a difficult decision.
How much of an impact will social networking have on the 2008 Presidential Race?
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2 comments:
yeah your right. once bad impression is there, nothing can be done about it. It's human nature....people even sometimes make negative assumptions about others regardless of their intentions. So I believe that the Internet is playing a major role for the 2008 presidential campgain....in terms of "spresding the message" and reaching more people.
This is true. While it may help politicians spread their image it may also harm them and this will happen faster.
People love to critisize and see something bad happen to a person. So if they find something negative or embarrasing they will spread the word faster. Also people forget the good things faster than the bad things. These things will be in people's mind for a long time and will help shape the decission they make.
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