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Political
campaigns are the latest phenomenon on the Web.
A couple of years ago,
anonymous videos on the Internet generated mild interest (mostly the amused kind)
from politicos. Last year, the first signs of change were visible. During the
2006 U.S. mid-term campaign, Republican Senator George Allen thoroughly destroyed
his chances for re-election by his now-famous "macaca" statement (see box). This
was captured on video & widely distributed/viewed online. And suddenly, videographers
who posted their clips online became potential "trouble-makers" for politicians.
| Case
Study of Politics & the Internet
U.S. Republican Senator George Allen
is a case study of how politicians better take the Internet seriously. Every statement
made by a politician can, in a few hours, be broadcast to millions of Netizens
via the Web!
The important point to note is that the mesage reaches the
whole world - not just a few hundred like-minded individuals or a closed group.
During
his 2006 campaign, the erstwhile Senator made the serious mistake of addressing
S.R. Sidarth U.S. born person of Indian-origin,
who was working for his opponent (Webb) as "macaca" (monkey).
This spread
like wildfire over the Web, aided not a little by onlne video sites like YouTube.
Result? The Senator did not get re-elected.
Moral: In the age of
viral information & online video, even the smallest distortion of records can
be quickly spread with harmful side-effects. Leave alone major gaffes! |
| But
if last year saw the negative side of online video, the current campaign for 2008
U.S. President is a watershed for proactive use of online video. In fact, the
Web has become central to the communications strategy of future presidential candidates.
Last
week, Senator Christopher J. Dodd "launched" his campaign for President
of the United States (2008) via a video clip hosted on YouTube.com. And Senator
Hillary Clinton has hired Internet strategist Peter Dao* for steering her online
campaign.
*famous
for putting Senator John Kerry on the Internet in 2004.
Meanwhile, @ Yahoo ...
Advertising on Yahoo is set to undergo major
changes a la Google's "Adsense". Certainly a confirmation of Google's
successful ad platform - if a confirmation was needed !
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