(Published in the Business World under the "View from Taft" column, March 8, 2007)
When Sen. Hillary Clinton announced her presidential campaign in January, her website immediately drew 150,000 new sign-ups – people registering their e-mail addresses with the site, the New York Post reported.
Also, during the campaign launch, a web forum, which is like a cyber town hall meeting hosted by Hillary on Yahoo!, drew a near-record of 35,000 people.
Interestingly, a large part of these Internet traffic forms related to the Clinton campaign has been from the 18-to-24-year-old group, and Hillary’s campaign office issued a statement that "could be good news, as the 2008 election will almost certainly be strongly influenced by the Web.”
The role of the Internet as a vehicle for political campaign has been growing in importance over the past years, as Internet connectivity becomes affordable and more pervasive.
In fact, a 2004 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Report shows that 13% of the 1,506 adults surveyed regularly find election information via the Internet. This is up 4% from the 2000 election. In addition, 20% say they occasionally receive campaign news from the Web.
Another 2006 survey of e-Voter Institute, a US trade association of Web publishers and political solution providers, revealed that an overwhelming percentage of the 250,000 American respondents said they believe the 2008 US election will hinge on the internet.
Those surveyed also expressed a number of expectations they had for candidates. More than 85% expect candidates to have a website. More than 70% expect that they will leverage email. More than two-thirds expect that candidates will use the internet for fund-raising, posting video commercials and running online campaign ads. More than half expect candidates to blog. And the web is seen as second only to TV as the "most effective medium" for campaign advertising, and as a source for researching candidates.
These positive findings augur well for the forthcoming May 2007 Senatorial and Congressional elections, where the Commission on Elections (Comelec) already approved the use of electronic campaigning (e-campaigning), pending the drawing up of guidelines as of this writing. With around 12 million internet users in the country, composed principally of the youth segment, the web presents an opportunity for candidates to reach and convince an internet-savvy audience.
Candidates can use the various approaches to market themselves through the Web or through peer-to-peer SMS in inexpensive and easy-to-deploy ways.
Personal Websites
A personal website is the most basic approach for a candidate to have a web presence – a sort of personal brand in the web. It can present an extensive description of a candidate’s background, experience, accomplishments, and political platform. Apart from the content, website design and ease-of-use are important considerations to sustain the interest of the reader.
Most of the political figures in the US have their own websites. It is surprising that among our senatorial aspirants, only 5 out of 24 candidates – Angara, Escudero, Lacson, Pangilinan, and Villar – in the administration and opposition tickets have personal websites. Although 12 out of the 24 candidates have Wikipedia entries that describe their background and accomplishments, these entries do not substitute for a personal website that potentially can launch the political platform of a candidate.
Web Forums
A forum is a form of a web dialog or bulletin board, a method of communicating directly with participants. It can either be restricted to those registered to a site or open to the public. Essentially, since forums are postings on a web page, those involved create back and forth dialog, just not in real time.
Senator John Kerry, winner of the Iowa Democratic presidential caucus, has a web forum on his website that is well visited. Topics of interest include Campaign News and Discussion and Homeland Security. Visitors can read forum postings, make personal comments, or start a new discussion themselves.
Blogs
A blog (short for weblog) is simply an online journal or newsletter that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption – one's online diary. Many of the political websites in the US contain their own community blogs, but of the five local “Senatoriables” with personal websites, only two have blogs.
Blogs are effective because they allow users to not only read current and breaking news but also to join in and post their own comments or information. This engenders a sense of involvement for the visitor.
Social Networking Sites
A social networking site such as Friendster and MySpace focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for any purpose. Users can upload their pictures and can be "friends" with other users. Some major social networks, such as MySpace, have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload videos, and hold discussions in forums.
Of the 24 Senatorial candidates, only four have Friendster sites. These are used for posting news and interest discussions. These sites would be more effective if, together with traditional campaign materials, they are promoted to the youth segment.
One may argue that despite the 12 million internet users in the country, probably a handful only will visit the e-Campaign sites of the Senatorial candidates. What the politicians and campaign managers are discounting is the potential of these tools to make or break a senatorial winner, especially for those that will hover in the 10th to 15th spots. Moreover, the absentee voters in many parts of the globe, composed of OFW’s and residents, are more and more becoming internet-savvy and keen to use the various web communication tools.
--------------------------------------
Reynaldo C. Lugtu Jr. teaches management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle Professional Schools Ramon V. del Rosario Graduate School of Business. Interested readers may e-mail him at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
When Sen. Hillary Clinton announced her presidential campaign in January, her website immediately drew 150,000 new sign-ups – people registering their e-mail addresses with the site, the New York Post reported.
Also, during the campaign launch, a web forum, which is like a cyber town hall meeting hosted by Hillary on Yahoo!, drew a near-record of 35,000 people.
Interestingly, a large part of these Internet traffic forms related to the Clinton campaign has been from the 18-to-24-year-old group, and Hillary’s campaign office issued a statement that "could be good news, as the 2008 election will almost certainly be strongly influenced by the Web.”
The role of the Internet as a vehicle for political campaign has been growing in importance over the past years, as Internet connectivity becomes affordable and more pervasive.
In fact, a 2004 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Report shows that 13% of the 1,506 adults surveyed regularly find election information via the Internet. This is up 4% from the 2000 election. In addition, 20% say they occasionally receive campaign news from the Web.
Another 2006 survey of e-Voter Institute, a US trade association of Web publishers and political solution providers, revealed that an overwhelming percentage of the 250,000 American respondents said they believe the 2008 US election will hinge on the internet.
Those surveyed also expressed a number of expectations they had for candidates. More than 85% expect candidates to have a website. More than 70% expect that they will leverage email. More than two-thirds expect that candidates will use the internet for fund-raising, posting video commercials and running online campaign ads. More than half expect candidates to blog. And the web is seen as second only to TV as the "most effective medium" for campaign advertising, and as a source for researching candidates.
These positive findings augur well for the forthcoming May 2007 Senatorial and Congressional elections, where the Commission on Elections (Comelec) already approved the use of electronic campaigning (e-campaigning), pending the drawing up of guidelines as of this writing. With around 12 million internet users in the country, composed principally of the youth segment, the web presents an opportunity for candidates to reach and convince an internet-savvy audience.
Candidates can use the various approaches to market themselves through the Web or through peer-to-peer SMS in inexpensive and easy-to-deploy ways.
Personal Websites
A personal website is the most basic approach for a candidate to have a web presence – a sort of personal brand in the web. It can present an extensive description of a candidate’s background, experience, accomplishments, and political platform. Apart from the content, website design and ease-of-use are important considerations to sustain the interest of the reader.
Most of the political figures in the US have their own websites. It is surprising that among our senatorial aspirants, only 5 out of 24 candidates – Angara, Escudero, Lacson, Pangilinan, and Villar – in the administration and opposition tickets have personal websites. Although 12 out of the 24 candidates have Wikipedia entries that describe their background and accomplishments, these entries do not substitute for a personal website that potentially can launch the political platform of a candidate.
Web Forums
A forum is a form of a web dialog or bulletin board, a method of communicating directly with participants. It can either be restricted to those registered to a site or open to the public. Essentially, since forums are postings on a web page, those involved create back and forth dialog, just not in real time.
Senator John Kerry, winner of the Iowa Democratic presidential caucus, has a web forum on his website that is well visited. Topics of interest include Campaign News and Discussion and Homeland Security. Visitors can read forum postings, make personal comments, or start a new discussion themselves.
Blogs
A blog (short for weblog) is simply an online journal or newsletter that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption – one's online diary. Many of the political websites in the US contain their own community blogs, but of the five local “Senatoriables” with personal websites, only two have blogs.
Blogs are effective because they allow users to not only read current and breaking news but also to join in and post their own comments or information. This engenders a sense of involvement for the visitor.
Social Networking Sites
A social networking site such as Friendster and MySpace focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for any purpose. Users can upload their pictures and can be "friends" with other users. Some major social networks, such as MySpace, have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload videos, and hold discussions in forums.
Of the 24 Senatorial candidates, only four have Friendster sites. These are used for posting news and interest discussions. These sites would be more effective if, together with traditional campaign materials, they are promoted to the youth segment.
One may argue that despite the 12 million internet users in the country, probably a handful only will visit the e-Campaign sites of the Senatorial candidates. What the politicians and campaign managers are discounting is the potential of these tools to make or break a senatorial winner, especially for those that will hover in the 10th to 15th spots. Moreover, the absentee voters in many parts of the globe, composed of OFW’s and residents, are more and more becoming internet-savvy and keen to use the various web communication tools.
--------------------------------------
Reynaldo C. Lugtu Jr. teaches management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle Professional Schools Ramon V. del Rosario Graduate School of Business. Interested readers may e-mail him at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
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