Social Networking Sites

Rachel Hays

Social Networking Sites

• Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace have revolutionized the way people, especially teens and college students, communicate.

• Social Networking sites work as a forum for people to express themselves.

• Politicians have their own Facebook and Myspace pages where people can be “supporters” or “friends.”

Register to Vote

- In September, Facebook added a new application, “Be There, Be Counted” which allows people to register online to vote, depending on the state in which they live.

- They also offered information about voter registration, poll locations and acquiring absentee ballots.

Links

• http://www.facebook.com/barackobama

• http://www.facebook.com/johnmccain

• http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin

• http://www.facebook.com/joebiden

• http://www.myspace.com/barackobama

• http://www.myspace.com/johnmccain

Appeal to the Youth Demographic

• Both the Republican and Democratic candidates websites are calling upon the youth vote on their Facebook accounts.

• Obama has video’s encouraging underage voters to talk to their parents about voting for Obama

• McCain takes a different approach by trying to appear “hip” and hosts an MTV Cribs style tour of the campaign busses.

• “The rise of MySpace, Facebook, and other social-networking sites are making the controlled, broadcast-style way of distributing political information obsolete. The people we're dealing with today are no longer 'consumers,' they're participants," ~ Henry Copeland

• http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/09/15/HNsocialnetworkpolitics_1.html