MySpace to Kickoff Presidential Primaries
Tom Anderson, MySpace president, said the primary will rival official presidential primaries.
"Iowa and New Hampshire may be selecting delegates, but the MySpace vote will be the first test of where candidates stand in the election year," said Tom Anderson, president of MySpace.
Some pundants believe that the general demographic of MySpace is far to young to indicate presidential front runners are. However, comScore reports that 85 percent of MySpace members are actually of U.S voting age. MySpace does not have any official age verification process. MySpace users have multiple accounts that will allow them to vote numerous times in the primary.
The mock election could be an important litmus test for internet campaigning. Currently all major candidates have MySpace pages. Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Barack Obama are all featured on MySpace''s politically motivated Impact Channel.
Nielsen's Net Ratings reports that MySpacers are more likely to watch online political videos or audios and to research candidates online.
Cherie Simon, President of Declare Yourself, believes that the process will have a positive effect on young voters in general.
"MySpace is establishing itself as a powerful player in the political engagement arena by giving power to its users-giving them the tools to register, vote and actively participate in their democracy, When MySpace's massive reach is fueled by its strong commitment to empower its users, it will drive millions of young people to actively engage in their democracy by registering to vote."
Peter Leyden, director of New Politics Institute sees both sides of the debate. "Although I think it's going to energize a lot of young people, I don't think you can put it on the same scale with real-world primaries. One of the things that will happen in this 2008 presidential cycle is that the scale of numbers of people that campaigns will have to reach early on is huge. Any way the candidates can leverage tools to reach more people is a good thing."
If MySpace were a country it's population of 65 million would make the the 11th largest nation in the world. MySpace will also combine real world voter education and registrations efforts with it's first primary.
Sources
http://www.ecommercetimes.com
http://news.digitaltrends.com/
Published by K D Griffin
Born and raised in the South. View profile
- Maryland's Presidential Primary Marked by Weather WoesMaryland's 2008 Presidential Primary Election day has arrived and the polls have closed. The attendance appeared to be low at my local polling places for several reasons.
The Presidential Primary System is Broken and Needs to Be FixedThe presidential primary system is a mess with each state trying to move their primary votes earlier and earlier so they can get more money spent in their state. Unfortunately,...- Giving the GOP Another Shot in the D.C. Republican Presidential PrimaryOn February 12, I attended the Republican presidential primary as well as other rallies and events in the Washington D.C. area.
- Yet Another Solution Offered for the Presidential Primary SystemOk, I have seen and read about the "Delaware Plan", "Regional Primary System" and the "American Plan/California Plan", and I have to say that although each seeks to fix the current primary system, I believe my much si...
- Michigan Moves Ahead on Presidential Primary Schedule, but with Little Immediate I...Bipartisan leaders in Michigan last year asked why "prosperous, virtually lily-white" Iowa and New Hampshire should have so much influence in nominating presidential candidates. Their effort to join the early fray has...
- South Dakota, Other States Must Reconsider Dates of Presidential Primaries to Rema...
- NY Times Announces Its Endorsements for Presidential Primaries
- First-Person: Voting the Michigan Presidential Primaries
- Michigan and Florida Want First in Presidential Primaries
- Five Lessons from McCain's Run in the 2008 Republican Primaries
- Presidential Primaries Are Getting Earlier and Earlier?
- Presidential Primary Revote
- All MySpace users will be able to vote for their favorite candidate over a two day period.
- If MySpace were a country it's population of 65 million would make the the 11th largest nation in th
6 Comments
Post a CommentWhat a cool idea. I hope I remember to go there and vote.
If Myspace were a country we'd all have ads on the sides of our houses. I've begun work on a site that provides graphic comments. I'm trying to focus on making the site highly searchable so users can enter words relating to the comment they hope to find and view useful images and codes for posting.
I'll have to remember this come January 1st so that I can take part. Even though it won't be completely accurate (due to myspace users with more than one account, etc.) it will still be fun. Thanks for the info.
Sounds like a great way to get people interested in really voting.
It will be interesting to see how the voting turns out.
Nifty idea.