I know, I know, you shouldn’t discuss religion or politics. Otherwise you run the risk of isolating your audience. Don’t worry I’m not here to discuss politics in terms of my opinion, but just how the Internet has changed the dynamic. I just finished watching the presidential debate and shortly after started my usual evening routine of reading RSS feeds. I was also looking at twitter, Digg and a few others, including Plurk. This really got me thinking about how the social aspect of the Internet seems to have changed the presidential race.
Internet Affect
One reason for this change, of course, is that the Internet is pervasive (everywhere). I recently read an article on SEOmoz.org where China and the United States were compared in terms of total Internet users and market penetration. This article sites 220 Million Internet users in the United States which represents approximately 70% of the total population.
Social Web and Politics
Plurk is particularly interesting because of the way that chance are organized in a timeline styled fashion. Additionally, they have created chat tabs for each of the political candidates .
Plurk has also added an election Widget Which allows you to create your own campaign and Poll. Below is my voting poll that I created using their Widget on my Plurk account.
P.S. - Plurk.com his holding a contest. If you vote using my widget I have a chance to win $5K. If I win I intend to share. SO leave a comment on this post if you actually vote.
Summary
Just imagine how tools like this will progress over time and affect things like football games or game shows . imagine a twitter or plurk style social tool laid over the top or scrolling across the bottom of your TV during something like a presidential debate. This could potentially provide the candidates and the general public with real-time information about your opinion. This could change everything, no, this will change everything. politics
Excerpt from Inspirational Article
Google released some information about what kinds of things viewers were searching for as that debate unfolded, minute by minute. It is amazing both that viewers were able to do such a thing, in real time, and that we’re able to watch what people are searching for.
Subject Line : Beat Long Poll Lines with Absentee Ballots from StateDemocracy.org
Many state and local election officials are encouraging voters to use Absentee Ballots to avoid the long lines and delays expected at the polls on November 4th due to the record-breaking surge in newly registered voters.
Voters in most states still have time to obtain an Absentee Ballot by simply downloading an official application form available through http://www.StateDemocracy.org, a completely FREE public service from the nonprofit StateDemocracy Foundation.
Read More: http://us-2008-election.blogspot.com/2008/10/beat-long-poll-lines-with-absentee.html