During Election time, an election campaign’s end goal has always been to acquire more voters; originally this was done by phone calls, door to door knocks or basic public speeches in town halls. During the 2008 presidential election, then candidate Obama changed the way in which his campaign reached out to voters and the way they would get donations.
As more and more people, from a tech savvy generation, were becoming eligible to vote the traditional way of campaigning wasn't really the best approach to inform potential voters. Obama’s campaign was quite efficient at using the internet to reach out to these people. Social media sites such as twitter, Facebook, and YouTube played a big role and changed the way voters interact with candidates. Twitter was able to let people see the integrity and characteristics of a candidate without a campaign manager in the way. These sites could create influence among voters and discussions to persuade people without the participation of campaign supporters. Political apps also played a major role in Obama’s campaign, here voters who were on the fence could get real time information and data about the candidate and make a better decision on who to vote. It informed people on how to volunteer and get involved for the cause. People could register to vote which did gain 1.3 million new voters. This app made it easier to donate to the campaign which generated about 500 million dollars in the 2008 campaign and 690 million dollars for the 2012 campaign. Obviously from here on out, technology is going to play a major part on how the elections will run, it’s going to be a powerful tool in the which can affect the way the results will end, however technology isn't perfect and does have it’s disadvantages.
Pros/Cons of IT on elections
It is being used in Elections more than ever, especially social media and even texting.
“Obama announced he was going to reveal his nomination for the vice presidency via SMS. by doing so he turned how campaigns were built and constructed, for the better, toward the use of technology.”
Obama being the first to use SMS for political reasons set a new era of politicians using IT. Obama even has a twitter that is used to make announcements and his campaign uses other forms of social media to influence young and even old minds. However this is always a pro for the politician, but what about the voter? I believe this can be annoying, I for one do not want constant messaged on facebook, twitter, and on my phone about a certain party I may not be interested in.
However IT is also used to our advantage to know exactly what politicians are doing. A quote from the Huffington Post…
¡ “In a little over a week, congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has gone from a rising progressive star to a man clinging to hopes of a political future.”
Anthony Weiner is just one example of a politician whose campaign was shattered thanks to IT. This is great for the voter, I prefer to know as much as a can before I cast a vote. Using pictures on cell phones, texts sent, old pictures on social media, we now know politicians as best we can. This helps the voter to make the right choice and decide on many factors other than what each politician has to say to the voters. I believe we can all see the advantages of this.
Sources
McCormack, Simon. "Anthony Weiner Twitter Photo Scandal: A Timeline (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 June 2011. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
"Politics and Technology." Politics and Technology. http://election2012.tmcnet.com/, 2013. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.
O'dell, Jolie. "Mashable." Mashable. N.p., 23 June 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. <http://mashable.com/2010/06/23/obama-ipad-iphone-app/>.Kaur, Dr. Satwant. "How Technology Could Turn the Tides in the Election." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-satwant-kaur/how-technology-could-turn_b_1954174.html>.
