Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Day 4 blog

For today's blog, please research and analyze different U.S. presidential candidates' uses of the internet to promote themselves. Which candidates do you think best utilized or are best utilizing this technology? Why do you think this? Your blog should be about a page long, double-spaced. Be sure and note research sources you use, although you don't have to formally cite them.

11 comments:

rayzblogs said...

U.S. presidential candidates' uses of the internet to promote themselves was a pretty easy subject to find. I guess because the internet is the one of the most effective ways of communication, it is easier to send and receive information this way.Most of the candidates have websites and blogs,that are usually written by staffers who talk about the campaign in general terms, which i think is a lot more about a personal connection than addressing the issues.According to the Internet Marketing Report on Presidential Campaign Websites Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are utilizing the internt the most according to our Website Grader.

Angelina said...

With today’s technology many people in many different aspects of business are using the internet as a way to advertise, exploit there cause, or sell themselves. The 2008 presidential candidates are taking advantage of the technology as well. Both Democratic and Republican candidates have their own websites. Some take it a step further and branch off into popular websites. For example Hillary Rodham Clinton has a myspace and facebook page and can be found on youtube, flickr, and eons. Not only can you vote for a president but now you can add them as a friend on myspace. Borrack Obama’s website was on the other end of the spectrum. His page did not have links to his other websites; there was just an advertisement with him speaking. It does not appear that he is using the internet as a way to sell himself or his campaign. Rudolph Giulini’s website homepage had a contribution section that took up half the page. Then there were other links like issues and how one can get involved. His website is making use of money contributions over the internet. Mike Huckabee has a well rounded homepage. The main portion of his page is a sign-up sheet for his news letters. You can check your main concerns and have an e-mail sent to you based on them. He has a 3 step way of becoming a member of his team. First you sign up to receive e-mails. Next, you can sign up to become a member or “ranger” of his team. Last, but not least you can give donations for his campaign. At the bottom of the page are links to popular websites that he is a member of. In my opinion Hillary is the winner of using the internet as a campaign tool. Go Hil-Dog!! WHOOWHOOP

Jason O. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason O. said...

During this Presidential race, it appears that all of the candidates are using internet media in one form of another to attrack the younger, tech-savvy voter. The following are just a few examples of the creativity used during this campaign season.

Mitt Romney decided to take parts of other blogs and add them to his site, rather than have his own blog. I feel maybe he should have went ahead and started his own blog, to give the site a more personal feel.

Chris Dodd’s site will tell you what he is listening to on his Ipod. While this has absolutely nothing to do with his political views, I believe he will attrack the young voter who just wants to see what old people do with their Ipods. A vistitor to his site is also able to recommend music and post you tube videos. I believe this to be a clever method to get his site on a few favorites lists.

According to www.bivingsreport.com, John Edwards is the master web designer, offering a very sophisticated web site as well as blog.

All in all it appears the new politician of today has realized the benefit of the cyber world, as well as embraced the idea of winning votes via blogging and adding silly widgets to their sites.

J. Hanrahan said...

To be absolutely honest, I do not follow the Presidential campaigns. I have no party preference and I have never voted. I would however, like to become involved in the election process but I just don’t know where to start. Sitting at home complaining is not helping any cause, foreign or domestic. Regardless what anyone tells me I know my vote isn’t going to change anything, but it’s my vote and I should use it.
That being said I obviously don’t have much knowledge of the history of presidential candidates’ use of the internet for campaigning purposes. I do remember the Vote or Die campaign of the last election but that is probably the most prominent memory I have of any presidential election I’ve been alive for. I do have a good knowledge of the websites Youtube.com and Digg.com, both of which Ron Paul has been all over for the past month and a half. I know there are quite a few candidates campaigning this year, a few more than usual, but Ron Paul’s name has become an everyday site for my eyes. I was not so surprised to find that Ron Paul has raised the most money of any Presidential candidate on the internet. A simple Google search will show that Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama both have a personal website dedicated to their campaign. However, neither of them has been as predominant across the internet as Ron Paul has, at least not on the websites that I frequent.

cynedw8608 said...

After researching different candidates for the 2008 presidential election I have found Barack Obama utilize technology the best. The first time I heard his name was on youtube.com with the music video called “I Have a Crush on Obama”. Even though he was not involved in producing the video it made his name stand out to me and I am sure to other young people. Myspace.com is also a very popular place to find presidential candidates. It allows people of Myspace to interact with the candidates and leave comments on their Myspace page; I think that is pretty cool. Sometimes I see that Hilary Clinton is a featured page on Myspace’s home page which helps her to stand out more. When I was researching the candidates I came across a really cool website, washingtonpost.com, where is has all the candidates both democrat and republican, and it basically has a slide show of each person along with a short biography. Technology has defiantly influenced this year’s election in a great way and I believe that it will get more young people involved in politics.

CREAMFROMDABX said...

Mark Fails
ENG 210
Dr. Kerry Hofiemer
29 January 2008

I believe that Senator Hillary Clinton is best seasoned for the job as the new president. I don’t really have the spare time to do extensive research on the topic. I do have some knowledge of the candidates. I mean even though Bill Clinton was president I truly believe that Hillary was behind the scenes pulling the strings. So she has first hand experience in the job up for grabs. And Mrs. Clinton has been involved in politics for a much longer time then Mr. Obama. I think because of the success of the Clinton family they will have all the best tools to help win this election. Plus I think that when your involved in politics for so long and have a proven track record it gives you a better advantage in the race. That scenario goes for any kind of race. Experience is the key to winning hands down.

Johanna said...

I feel that Barack Obama best utilizes the internet the best to promote himself. After viewing his website that was very easy to find and navigate through I came to this conclusion. His website speaks for itself. Anything a potential voter would want to know about Obama can be found on his website. The site appeals to what seems to be the real person that Obama is, not just the candidate for president Obama. Also almost any search engine that I typed Barak or Obama into, pages of links to his website popped up. The website had very informative info that maybe a would be supporter might have questions about.

Barak has a myspace page that anyone can access which is another way he is utilizing the internet to promote his run for the white house. Obama often says in many speeches that he wants to gain the support of the young voters, what better way to attract their attention then having a myspace page. Barak has the right idea because every young voter with a computer will probably view his page.

You tube is a site that is accessed by millions. What better way for a presidential candidate to gain voter’s support. The youtube site contains tons of speeches that Barak Obama spoke during his campaign. This is another way the Obama is utilizing the internet to promote his campaign to Americans.

bribin0603@students.ecpi.edu said...

I took a look at the website of the main players in the 2008 election, Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudy Gulianni, and Mike Huckabee to see who presented themselves the best on the web. All of the candidates pretty much had the same information to offer. The each had biographies, the stance on the issues, the latest news or their campaign, blogs, and of course a link to make contributions, what would a politician be without looking for handouts.
I don’t know why it is but it seems like the main Democrats, Obama and Clinton, have the sharpest looking websites. Very sharp looking colors and maintained very well. Gulianni and McCain have nice looking websites not quite as sharp as the democrats but still professionally done. Mike Huckabee’s looks like it was made by college web design class. Not saying I could do any better but it is just very plain looking and does not have the qualities that make the other candidates so good. But then again it is about the issues and not a website design contest.
If I was a real shallow person who just woke up out a coma and had no idea who any of these people were and I based it on appearance I would have to pick for Obama. Not that anyone in this country would ever base anything or anyone strictly on appearance.

Anonymous said...

The Republicans and the Democrats both use the internet to promote themselves. With all of the new technology we have today it is no wonder that their use of the internet has skyrocketed and one of the major forms of their campaigns. One site that you can find these candidates is youtube.com, another is myspace.com. Everyone today probably has a myspace page and utilizes it probably more than once a day. I think that this cool that you can leave notes on the candidates page. You can here speeches by both of these candidates, Clinton and Obama on the youtube page. Who has utilized the internet the most I don’t know, but I think it is safe to say that the two of them have utilized it well.

Lawrence said...

All of the presidential candidates use the internet in one form or another. The Net attracts younger, tech-savvy voters. Bellow are a few examples of the different campaigns techniques.

John Edwards is the master web designer, according to www.bivingsreport.com, offering a very sophisticated web site as well as a blog.

Chris Dodd’s site lists the contents of his Ipod. He hopes to attract younger voters who might be interested in what old people put on their Ipods. Vistitors to his site can recommend music and post you tube videos.

Mitt Romney’s team takes excerpts from other blogs and adds them to his site, rather than creating his own blog.

Ron Paul though has used the Net to greater effect than all the others combined. Nearly all of his campaign contributions are from the internet.

Politicians today realize that the benefits of embracing the cyber world include winning votes with blogs and raising cash from the masses.