Development Seed Blog

Television was it in 1960, talk radio was it in 1992, and the internet was it in 2004. But what will be the breakout technology in this year’s election and in the 2008 presidential election? The internet will likely play an even bigger role but new technology will replace the communication and outreach tools that were deemed so revolutionary just a few years ago. A lot of people are betting that this new technology will be online social communities led by MySpace and YouTube.

Yesterday George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet hosted a discussion on politics, online social networks, and their connection. Everyone agreed that politicians – and nonprofits and advocacy groups – should be on these websites.

MySpace is the largest online community and one of the most visited websites in the world. YouTube is not far behind. Eighty million people are on MySpace and almost 20 million people visit YouTube every month – and stay on average for 28 minutes. Just based on the sheer popularity of these sites, all politicians should be on them. And counter to the popular belief that these users are all teens, Jeff Berman from MySpace says that 80 percent of its users are over 18 years old.

Reaching out to people where the people are is a long tenant to successful campaigning. But how can politicians use these websites? It’s a lot easier than you may think. MySpace is highly customizable. You can change the background of the page – national candidates could have a flag, strong environmentalists could have a forest, and so on. You can create a profile describing who you (or the candidate) are and what you stand for. You can upload photos, podcasts, and videos, and you can even blog. You can even create a banner promoting your cause that supporters can then put it on their MySpace page. These are all tools that many politicians already use on their own site, but by putting them on MySpace and other online communities you’re reaching out to a different audience.

The most influential tool on MySpace, and where the actual community comes into play, is your friends. You can invite people to be your friend and accept invitations from others. Then your photo appears in the friends’ section on your MySpace page and vice versa. Some people have hundreds and even thousands of friends. Celebrities and musicians have even more. Jeff gave a great example of how friends can make a difference in your campaign. Say the band the Black Eyed Peas, which has more than half a million MySpace friends, decides to support a candidate. They could make the candidate their friend, or better one of their top friends, who are posted on their main MySpace page through a photo that then links to the candidate’s MySpace page. This could obviously increase a candidate’s name recognition and spread her messages fast. Better yet, the connection was made through a trusted source – a friend – which makes it a lot more valuable.

It’s also easy to use YouTube. Just upload your commercials, short speeches, and news coverage to the site and tag (categorize) them. Michelle Malkin, founder and lead persona of the new, conservative videoblogging site Hot Air, said that Hot Airs posts its videos on YouTube and on its own site. Why the double posting? To attract a larger audience, of course. Instead of making people come to your website to watch your videos, you’re making your videos available where they already watch videos. And on YouTube people can comment on your videos, rate them, and send them to their friends.

YouTube, MySpace, and most other Web 2.0 tools tend to worry a lot of politicians and established organizations. The big fear is that they open a door to more public criticism, which can spread very fast online. They can also open the door to public support you may not want. It’s quite possible that one of your friends turns our to be one of the bad guys the media is always finding on MySpace, or that your most avid commenter on your YouTube videos is a crackpot. But to use these technologies well, you need to let go of some of the control you’re used to having. Joe Green, founder of Essembly, equates online social communities to the offline social connections politicians and grassroots organizations have been using for years when they shake hands, kiss babies, and hand out bumper stickers. But online it is easy to track these connections and find out who the people really are.

But what’s the alternative? These tools may be new to your campaign, but they’re not new to the millions of people who use them every day. If you stick to tried and tested outreach methods, at best you’ll look outdated and miss a large outreach opportunity. Worst case, you’ll lose to a candidate that joined and participated in these online communities. The same could be said for any organization.