In the 2008 election, campaigns are shifting from using the Internet as a mass medium to a way for candidates to connect individually with voters, says Dr. Jennifer Greer, associate professor of journalism at The University of Alabama.
"They're trying to make personal connections to the voters through the new medium," says Greer, chair of the journalism department. "We often debate whether the Internet is a mass medium or an interpersonal communication tool. So, we see the candidates were using it much more as a mass medium in the early days, the first five or six years of candidate Web sites. We've turned the corner where they're using both the mass media aspects of the Internet and the interpersonal aspects.
For example, Greer cites the Web sites of U.S. Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama. The campaigns are using the Web sites to gather information on visitors to forge closer connections with potential supporters. For example, the Obama campaign promised to send text messages and e-mails to supporters announcing who Obama's running mate would be. The campaigns also solicit e-mail addresses.
"The campaign organizers are using e-mail as a tool unlike they have in any other election," Greer says. "If you go into the Obama site and the McCain site, unless you know what buttons to push, you can't get into the site unless you put in your e-mail and your ZIP code. They want to know, first of all, are you in a battleground state? And second of all, how can we reach you? How can we get information to you?"
Greer traces the development of campaign Web sites back to 1996, in the earliest days of the Web, to the present. Scholars see the shift from posting Web brochures with positions and biographies of the candidates to now, when the Obama campaign allowed supporters to create "My Obama" pages to help with organizing in battleground states and to raise funds. The candidates also are using social media sites like Facebook and MySpace to give their campaigns a more personal feel.
"What we saw in previous elections was that people used the Web in very traditional ways with Web sites," Greer says. "They were trying to get candidate information and links to news sites. But now we see them breaking that barrier – they're changing it from a mass medium to an interpersonal connection with that candidate. To be a friend of Barack Obama or of John McCain on Facebook is a little different from going to their sites, which are very formal. You're almost getting to know that candidate in an informal way."
MULTIMEDIA
By using Facebook, MySpace and other social media Web sites, politicians are finding new ways to connect with voters. Both U.S. presidential candidates are utilizing the Internet to make personal connections with voters, Dr. Jennifer Greer says.
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