Complicated World

I just wanted to mention something else that came up in the political communications lecture yesterday. One of the student presentations looked at the campaign of Barack Obama and his MySpace campaign. The student giving the presentation talked about the fact that all those who are interested or supportive of Obama are busy adding him to their friends list. Of course, only those who are committed will take the step of adding him to their friends list. But, just like the Hillary Clinton Second Life campaign, it is something that will get coverage in other media and very possibly raise the candidate’s profile among both online publics and those using traditional media. The problem for politicians and the internet is that if you want to avoid politics altogether you can. Using MySpace and Second Life could be a way round this problem.

Other issues we discussed yesterday are the fact that the internet is swamped with information making it an impractical tool with which to reach people. The internet is not like TV. It is like a library with a few books that are read frequently and many others that are just stuck on the shelf. Also new taboos have grown up around the internet. Sending direct mail by post is not a problem but sending unsolicited emails is. These are just a few really but the upshot of it all is that although the jury’s still out it seems the internet and new media will just help political activists to better co-ordinate rather than to engage voters.

Moving on to other matters, I’m trying to get hold of some more detailed information on how behavioural targeting works. This will help me to assess how effective it can be for political communications. Hopefully, we’ll hear something soon.