One thing I’ve noticed about this U.S. presidential election is how much more the candidates are using the web to spread their campaign not only through the U.S.A., but right around the world.
And why wouldn’t they? – The internet’s probably one of the cheapest, wide ranging, most used forms of communication. And now, it’s the world’s biggest soap box.
So, why on earth am I blogging about this? Afterall, I’m a 22 year-old web developer living in London with no rights to vote in the U.S. elections.
Well, that’s because I think that politicians from all over the world will start to follow this new trend. And that’s exciting.
Let’s start by looking at the websites…
Barack Obama – The Website
First impressions can mean a great deal, and this website doesn’t fail to make a solid statement. The bold blue theme with eye-catching apple-like design elements such as titles and icons really stand out from other dull, dreary websites.
The first thing I decided to do was look at some of the code that powers it. And, I was pleasantly suprised, it looked pretty good too. Standards based development and clean formatting. Obama’s looking pretty geek-chic right now.
Obama’s website is packed with information. Google has a whopping 2,730 pages indexed for barackobama.com… and they all look to be pretty unique and ‘worthy’ of a page… they’re not just trivial, they’re packed with relevant content from ‘where you are’, to ‘who you are’, able to target pretty much any demographic, there’s something for everyone.
Although the design isn’t entirely web 2.0, using more traditional image-based layouts, the spirit of the site is. For example, on the every page there’s links to Obama’s accounts on 16 web 2.0 services. From twitter to faithbase. That’s pretty amazing. Page real estate on a running presidential candidate’s website is worth a great deal. Placing 16 links to other services on every page is… well it certainly shows how important the Obama team think it is.
There’s a video section with good quality, well-made videos on a beautiful canvas that screams ‘America’ from every corner.
Overall, it’s a sterling job, and the whole experience is strong.
John Mccain – The Website
If Obama’s website could be described as ‘polished’, this… couldn’t.
Mccain’s website is about as bling as slashdot used to look 10 years ago… it really is quite dull. The only way I can describe this site is… Well, imagine giving a 13-year old a copy of drupal, a crap load of stock photos and his only brief was: ‘font-size: 28px’ for everything baby!
I mean, I don’t want to be harsh for the sake of being harsh. But this really is awful.
And, it’s not much better under the hood either. It’s the worst of the worst, a completely table-based layout with ugly javascript slapped about like inline-javascript is the next big thing (again).
And if that wasn’t enough there’s a lovely javascript menu that cuts off anything less than top-line navigation items if javascript has been turned off. Then you feel like you’re trying to find your way around a coal-mine in the dark with a sawn-off shotgun.
The whole site feels like it’s been thrown together as an after-thought to traditional media outlets. A huge contrast to Obama’s website, which kind of feels as if they built it, then everyone else came and built the rest of internet around it.
Web 2.0 – Obama’s Offer
It looks like Obama has a lot to say on the rest of the internet, too… He has over 100,000 followers on twitter… although, he is following over 100,000 people. It’s not myspace fella… I really doubt you’re gonna read 100,000 people’s updates!
Obama’s flickr account is pretty good too, with plenty of photos from the campaign for you to print off and stick on your kid’s clothes and stuff.
Youtube is pretty much the same too with over 1,600 videos to sink your teeth into.
Web 2.0 – McCain’s Offer
With a mere 3,600 followers on twitter, McCain looks like he’s the playground outcast here, and with just 20 updates, I think he could do with getting online a bit more.
At least his youtube and flickr efforts are a little better… Maybe McCain’s just to ‘into’ all this web stuff, but maybe he should be.
Conclusion, Nearly
In terms of which candidate is doing the best on the web? – That has to be Obama. Right now he’s making McCain look like a 70-year old listening to a walkman on a park bench, while Obama jogs past with AC/DC blasting out from his iPhone.
The contrast really is that great. It’s quite embarrassing really.
So, politicians, particularly Barack Obama are really starting to grasp at the power that campaigning online can have in this age where everyone seems to be connected. Whether it’s a great site, pretty pictures on flickr, or your own TV channel on youtube… It looks like this is a look at the future of politics.
Somewhere you can hit access millions of people with a small bit of text in a matter of moments. Where your video can be viewed anytime, anywhere, by anyone.
And, we’re definitely listening. Trends have show that the web is becoming one of the most popular places to get all political. But what I really want to know, is are THEY listening?
It’s one thing to be able to post things to thousands of your supporters, but surely listening to them quickly, efficiently, and ‘live’ is even more exciting!
With blog comments, tweets, wallposts, superpokes, and zombie-application requests, there’s no limit to the amount of high-quality feedback politicians can get from the people all around the world on their computers. But will any of the candidates listen?
If here, in the UK, there was a politician that utilized the web, like honestly, actually them doing it… Then that would excite me. But, if I replied to one of their tweets with something like:
@davidcameron it’s all well and good introducing academy schools, but what do we do with the grammar schools
And then got a response from the man himself, or even just an aide producing responses based on his policy… now THAT would be very very exciting.
Politicians should now start to use the web as a 2-way tool. It’s not just for campaiging and showing off by pimping all your myface profiles and bemo pages. It’s about real communication with the people. An open platform to hear the thoughts, worries, questions, and concerns from voters all around the country. And I for one, am quite excited about the future of politicians and the internet.
I can’t believe I just wrote that last sentence.
