Week 11: Internet and Politics

Ever since the first politician saw the power of the internet in changing the face of political campaigning, there has been a mass exodus of presidential candidates and government figures flocking to social media as a way of getting more supporters or to get in touch with their constituents.

Singapore is no exception. With the realisation that a political campaign was not limited to long hours of driving through estates with a loudhailer shouting out empty promises, Singapore's ministers have set up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, or at least their public relation's liaisons have. With an easier access to their target audience, Singapore's ministers have a much easier reach to the fellow man on the street, and everyday Singaporeans are able to keep in sync with what their GRC minister's are up to.

Mrs Obama is not impressed. 

Capitulating on the success of American President Barack Obama and his effective use of social media to win a presidential campaign, Our very own prime minister has been busy too. 

Lol

The Power of Internet on political campaigns

The internet is now a core element of modern political campaigns. Communication technologies such as e-mail, web sites, and podcasts enable faster communications by citizen movements and deliver a message to a large audience. These Internet technologies are used for cause-related fundraising, lobbying, volunteering, community building, and organizing. Individual political candidates are also using the internet to promote their election campaign. Campaigns are now studying popular Internet social networks, like Facebook, as ways to reaching groups of potential supporters with similar political views or cultural interests. Below is a video of how politicians utilise the internet for their campaigns.

Such revolution has allowed a low cost, yet an efficient method of mobilizing voters and increasing participationamong various voter populations. This new media was incredibly successful at reaching the younger population while helping all populations organize and promote action. Analysts say the campaign television advertisement, already diminishing in influence with the proliferation of cable stations, faces new challenges as campaigns experiment with technology that allows direct messaging to more specific audiences, and through unconventional means. Those include Podcasts featuring a daily downloaded message from a candidate and so-called viral attack videos, designed to trigger peer-to-peer distribution by e-mail chains, without being associated with any candidate or campaign.

Obama’s Presidential Campaign(2008)

Signifying the importance of internet political campaigning, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign relied heavily on social media (including Facebook, YouTube and a custom generated social engine), and new media channels to engage voters, recruit campaign volunteers, raise campaign funds and to reach new target segments. The Internet also let people repeatedly listen to the candidates’ own words in the face of attacks, Mr. Huffington said. As Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary words kept surfacing, people could re-watch Mr. Obama’s speech on race. To date, 6.7 million people have watched the 37-minute speech on YouTube.

Limitations to use of Internet in Politics 

However, as modern technology continues to adapt to changes in society, Internet campaigning will never be able to serve as a complete replacement for traditional political campaigning without reducing the significant barriers to entry. Internet political campaigning leaves out entire portions of each population because it only is accessible to a certain portion of the population, leaving those without this access disconnected. For example, during Obama’s recent presidential campaign, Internet political campaigning was effective at reaching the younger population, as they remain  engaged with social websites and new media. Because of the limits of technology, Obama’s Internet campaign failed to reach older generations (Americans over 65) who tend to be the nation’s most reliable voters and didn’t use this new media, as well as significant amounts of the population who didn’t have access.

Moreover while the Internet is efficient at reaching supporters, who tend to visit and linger at political sites, it has proved to be much less effective at swaying voters who are not interested in politics. In this age of multitasking, voters are not as captive to a Web site as they might be to a 30-second television advertisement, or a campaign mailing. That was a critical lesson of the collapse of Mr. Dean’s presidential campaign, after he initially enjoyed great Internet success in raising money and drawing crowds. Therefore the internet is a “double edged sword”, with speed, efficiency and success in penetrating the various target segments, a party must also be very careful and pay close attention to details it includes in the campaign, and to make sure there is no mistakes in the campaigns, because once the word is out in the public there is no turning back, and the party’s reputation will be smeared.