Campaigning in Web 2.0

After reading this article in the New York Times, I was surprised to find out how much new media outlets, such as Facebook, YouTube, and the web completely covered the 2008 campaigns of Barrack Obama and John McCain and that they occasionlly dominated the political information scene over older media providers, such as newspapers and cable news. These newer providers redefined the way political news was being transmitted to American citizens. Obama’s Facebook group totalled over 2.3 million members,  and the popularity of his campaign videos on YouTube in addition to full debate coverage on YouTube shifted American viewers from receiving online information rather than information from TV and newspapers. As an example of this profound change, Videos mentioning either Barrack Obama or John McCain seen on YouTube have been viewed over 2.3 billion times, according to the measurement firm TubeMogul. One huge plus of this online boom of information is that with such a large amount of file-sharing going on in Web 2.0, campaigns realized the information they send out on the Web can be easily, redistributed, remixed, and resent to tons of others web users.  An interesting example of the popularity of media outlets online is the fact that more peole watched Sarah Palin’s comedy sketch online than people did on the actual live SNL broadcast. Not only did her apperarance on SNL get a lot of views, but also it defined her as a candidate. The Web 2.0 revolution was really at play in the campaigning season, and it showed just how influential the web really is.

-DD

Campaigns in a Web 2.0 World

2.6 million people voted early in the ever-scrutinized swing state of Florida, pushing the total for early/absentee voting in that state beyond 30% of the electorate. On the eve of one of the most participatory presidential elections in US history, a question on the minds of many political junkies is this: Why do we suddenly care enough to participate in our electoral process?

Is this November’s record-breaking turnout the result of a perfect storm, one which includes an economic crisis, a stunningly unpopular incumbent, the appearance of unlikely candidate with star qualities? Tomorrow, when (hopefully) the winner of this contest is announced, will we quietly ease back into our routines of apathy and passivity? Or has a larger force forever changed the way we think and act politically? In other words, are we now somehow hard-wired for greater political participation?

An article in yesterday’s New York Times suggests that increased political participation may be here to stay and attributes it at least in part to media convergence. Surely it comes as no surprise that our increasingly networked world affords us much richer and more powerful opportunities to swap messages and collaborate, but this feels somehow bigger than mere adoption of technology. This election season model came swiftly, and developed organically, rather than by deliberate design.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, thinks that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to online collaboration. There’s no doubt–we live in exciting times.

Where is Web 2.0 Going?

I recently perused through the Los Angeles Times article Mrs. Nodler handed out about Tim O’Reilly challenging the next generation of Web 2.0 users to stop making facebook applications and help solve the world’s problems like the steps the more productive Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have taken. O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, recently held a conference, titled “Web Meets World,” in which he encouraged technology producers to move their focus away from social networking sites to more pressing measures such as helping fund research for global warming and disease prevention, which would have a lasting impact on the world. I though I would go out and find some of these meaningless facebook applications O’Reilly is talking about.

SuperPoke! – the description says it all:   “Use SuperPoke to… um… do stuff… to your friends. If you get lucky, they might just do it back to you.” You can throw sheep at your friends, and dropkick them. Maybe they will roundhouse kick you back???  There are currently 5,611,144 facebook members using SuperPoke.

Likeness, Crush, Hot or Not, You’re a Hottie – These applications are all basically the same thing. You can rate random pictures of people on a scale of 1 to 10 depending oh how hot you think they are. Then, you can “meet them” by becoming their friends if they are hot enough for you. Sounds like stalking to me…

Hug Me – Specially designed for the users who have become tired of SuperPoke! and want more options, like throwing rabbits and handing out beers. Seems like some people out there really need attention.

Superlatives – This application allows the user to answer pre-designed questions about their friends on Facebook. For example, who is most likely to “get caught streaking,” or “be a trophy wife.”

I can definitely see why Tim O’Reilly is complaining about the uselessness of the applications. They are just pointless.

-DD