I’m sure you’ve already voted or you wouldn’t be reading this, so I won’t nudge you about that. Onward, then, to all things digital and how it’s changed presidential campaigns. On Sunday, the New York Times has an interesting piece by Daniel Carr and Brian Stelter, called “Campaigns in a Web 2.0 World,” that explores how the 2008 presidential campaign has blurred the lines between old (broadcast) media and new (Internet) media. The authors remind us just how much has changed in four years:
“Many of the media outlets influencing the 2008 election simply were not around in 2004. YouTube did not exist, and Facebook barely reached beyond the Ivy League. There was no Huffington Post to encourage citizen reporters, so Mr. Obama’s comment about voters clinging to guns or religion may have passed unnoticed. These sites and countless others have redefined how many Americans get their political news.”
The article goes on to note how Obama’s campaign has made savvy use of social networking sites, such as Facebook. Yet, this has not meant usurping the importance of traditional networks in breaking election news, here they site the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin.
I’ll be part of this blending of old and new media today, as I take photos of various polling places, share them through Flickr and Twitter, and then attend a party hosted by NPR tonight in Harlem, where lots of other people will be blogging and sharing election-day photos. What about you? How is Web 2.0 changing the way you relate to this campaign?