Information Overload and a PR nightmare

The 2008 campaign in definitely revolutionary due to the use of Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, Facebook pages and YouTube.

Let's take a look at a few of the contenders:

Hillary Clinton:




Barrack Obama


Rudy

John Edwards



YouTube alone is being utilized to help political campaigns, and also to of course mock the candidates because thats just fun!

In all seriousness, I think politicians are beginning to realize the strength of the Web 2.0. Social networking sites alone have the power to put numbers behind a cause. Whether it be to Save Darfur, http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/PersonOfWeek/Story?id=3260220&page=1, or run for President. Look at Steven Colbert! His "fake" campaign that lasted a hot second was able to unite 1,000,000 Facebook users!

The Web facilitates the transfer of knowledge, and unites people, often for good causes. Blogs allow you to post your opinions, let your voice be heard. BUT, are we in information overload? I think Gerry McGovern, web content expert, makes some excellent points about some of the downsides of technology. There is an abundance of easily accessible information out there. It seems that the PR heads of these campaigns have a harder than time than ever. Every time a YouTube video surfaces, there has to be some damage control. But many of the candidates are using YouTube and blogs to get their voice heard, and campaign.

However, candidates and politicians fail to really utilize Web 2.0 when in office. There seems to be a lack of a happy medium. On one hand, as the McGovern interview points out, you have "Daniel Rosen, a candidate for Nevada's Second Congressional district, who promises to make decisions based on a Web site where constituents tell him how to vote." If politicians expect democracy to do all the work for them, why do we even elect representatives? On the other hand, as representatives, don't these people have a responsibility to the US citizens they represent, and the choices they make that impact the population?

At least businesses are starting to pick up on the effectiveness and the importance of the blog, to address the needs and concerns of the stakeholders. Businesses are recognizing that with the growth of Web 2.0, its no longer a one way street. There's less control. Though politicians are utilizing 2.0 applications to by pass the media in their campaigns, in hopes of getting elected. Though this is written in 2004, Mark Glaser explains why Senators are so slow to blog. It doesn't seem like much has really changed. If you want to raise an issue to your Senator - you write a letter, you call in the media. You yourself can blog, and if you have a popular blog, your blog can reach the media. But otherwise, you local representative or Senator probably will not be responding.

Of course it would be great for politicians to personally blog, not just people from their campaign. IT would be great if they responded to comments, and maybe used the Web 2.0 much like many companies have done. And think of themselves as service providers aiming to please their customers - the tax payers.

But on the other side, McGovern raises another excellent point, It's easy to get carried away with this Wired magazine view of "All You Need is Web 2.0," but in some ways the very technology that is meant to solve problems merely makes people more emotional—not more reasonable. We ultimately do a disservice to society by creating this euphoria about what technology can really deliver." Which I think is so true. I think we live in an age where we are overloaded with information. Web 2.0 creates even more information with user generated content. Abundance of accessible information is not the panacea. We are humans, we can only intake so much. But I do believe Web 2.0 opens a lot of doors for communication and understanding, especially in the political arena.