Week 10 - Internet & Politics

The Power & Limitation of Internet for Political Campaigning

The Internet’s impact on politics in the 21^st century seems to be unquestionable. Political campaigns, social movements and web revolutions indicate that the Internet not only bolstered popular reaction and mobilization, but also degraded state sovereignty. The Internet’s impact on politics can be seen through the lances of political campaigns and rallies for various social issues. Media has always been used by politicians to educate, inform, persuade, frame and manipulate public opinion.

Let's take a look at the down side and good side of using Internet for political campaigns:

The Down Side

In the process of luring voters to vote one way or another, political groups and campaigns have shown a willingness to do whatever it takes, regardless of cost. Campaigns air thousands of TV ads they admit are poorly-crafted, blunt instruments aimed at small factions of viewers. To get around this problem, campaigns are using Internet "micro-targeting" to better customize who sees what. But on this frontier of political advertising, campaigns are often failing to connect.

A reason for this could be that the Internet simply isn't that effective of a persuasion tool. A study at Berkeley found that Facebook was ineffective for persuading voters or increasing name recognition of candidates. The researchers purchased the maximum number of Facebook banner ads for a week — advertising a local political candidate — and found little to no change in his name recognition afterwards.

The Good Side

Whatever shortcomings the Internet has in persuasion, it makes up for in people taking action for a specific candidate. That action can be a donation, a trip to the polls, or even just a Facebook post.

The Internet’s rise has helped social movements to become more suitable for a globalized world. It has become easier to organize, to expand, get public attention and send messages. These days, mass movements are spreading ideas and expanding globally in a fraction of the time previously required — thanks to Internet.

In 2008, Barack Obama's campaign successfully unleashed the potential of Internet tools. He created a "hybrid campaign" by using technology to supplement a strong traditional campaign strategy — proving his capabilities as a leader and a force for change in politics.