You could be friends with the next president of the United States with one click of your mouse. That is if you don't mind being friends with someone who refers to him or herself in the third-person.
Presidential hopefuls are turning to online sites such as Facebook and MySpace in an attempt to reach the traditionally elusive younger demographic.
MySpace is going political with the new Impact Channel launched in March 2007, a section of the site dedicated to politics, emphasizing the 2008 presidential election. The site contains links to political pages, including those of presidential candidates, as well as voter-registration tools and public-service job listings.
Upon first hearing about the trend, one is torn between deeming it appealing that politicians are making an effort to connect in a new way, and insulted they think they can pander to our generation with highly calculated and strategic profiles.
The younger generation is not as naA_ve as these sites apparently deem.
Is anyone to believe for a moment that candidates such as Hillary Clinton or John McCain are waking up in the morning, checking their ""friend requests"" and updating their profiles?
If they did in fact play a role in crafting their profiles, which is exceedingly doubtful, I am disturbed by their habit of referring to themselves in the third-person. Though this could prove entertaining during debate season.
This crushes the illusion that candidates are actually personally involved in their sites. Why bother having a profile if there is no attempt at even an appearance of personal involvement?
The reality is these sites are carefully crafted by savvy campaign advisers. Let's give them credit for one thing. While most of the sites can appear contrived and generic, at least the public was spared cringe-inducing and patronizing attempts at making the candidates appear hip.
So the sites are highly tactical? Big deal. So is everything else pitched at the public from political campaign headquarters, and they are no different than every other user on the sites.
Most users on sites such as MySpace and Facebook have a motive for their own profiles, from carefully choosing photos at just the right angle as to appear offbeat but not eccentric, or spending hours choosing the perfect photo that makes them look just nonchalant enough, to users carefully choosing a music list to appear eclectic, debating whether to ironically include Kelly Clarkson.
If Republican candidate Duncan Hunter wants to post ""God Bless the U.S.A."" as his theme song, more power to him.
At least candidates are reaching individuals who might not typically receive their messages. And some candidates such as John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Sam Brownback do make concerted attempts for a site that feels personal (while Rudy Giuliani's site remains head-scratchingly private from public view).
With Americans spending more time online than ever before, it makes sense to choose a medium that will effectively reach them.
MySpace is the country's most trafficked website. Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, believes it will play a powerful role in the upcoming election with easy-to-find information offered in a way users can relate to it.
