techPresident.com Dissects the Online Campaign Trail
Posted by Michael Stein, Senior Internet Strategist on February 28, 2007
If like me, you’re already bored by the formulaic media coverage of America’s quadrennial Presidential campaign. Then look no further than techPresident.com, an engrossing new blog on how the campaigns are using the Web, and how the Web is using them. Assembled by the editors and writers at Personal Democracy Forum, the blog covers how each contender is using the online medium to reach out to voters, media and the pundits.
You don’t have to be a policy wonk or a techie to enjoy this blog. You can simply bring your interest in how a medium (the Internet) can evolve so quickly to become central in the great American drama of the Presidential election. The Web has become a new campaign trail, and the Web developers hired by each candidate are continuously updating and expanding their sites as they seek to gain the upper hand over the other campaigns. I particularly like each candidate’s ranking of MySpace friends, and the daily review of each candidate’s online strategy.
Fred Stutzman declares that Barack Obama has stepped out as a Web frontrunner, explaining that his “strategic web initiatives, including the launch of the private-label social network My.BarackObama.com are paying off. […] more than 4,000 individuals have set up blogs, and an additional 3,000 individuals have set up private fundraising pages on Obama’s social network.”
A recent posting by Joshua Levy dissected Hillary Clinton’s series of webcasts called Hillcasts: “Clinton’s video is entirely scripted, and even included a cut to a close-up that’s a little too slick for online video. If this is a premonition of things to come, her blog will be pretty un-bloggy.”
Steve Garfield quotes expert Jeff Jarvis giving online video advice to John McCain: “McCain’s videos may be ready for prime time, but not for YouTube. He doesn’t speak directly to those of us who are clicking; he speaks off-camera, as if this were an interview, or he speaks through music and polished production, as if the video were intended for the giant screens at a nominating convention. He doesn’t yet understand that this is a conversation, one-on-one.”
This year’s presidential campaign will change the Web, as each candidate seeks to pioneer new online tools and techniques to engage with the electorate. This blog explores and exposes not just the craft of online marketing but also the changing habits of an America that is addicted to its screens.
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Michael Stein is a writer and Internet Strategist based in Berkeley, California.
