Social Media and the 2008 Presidency: Part I

As I prepare for the fall semester and teaching several marketing courses including one on Online Visibility and one on Social Networking, it's time to begin my series on Social Media and Presidency.

What seems like ages ago, Howard Dean of Vermont-fame (no...not scream fame) set out to do the impossible -- become a presidential contender. He had no money and no one knew who he was except for Vermonters, and well, that's not a lot of people! What he did have, however was a great staff and an innovative group of people who began to use the internet in ways no other candidate had ever thought of. I certainly won't give Howard Dean the credit...if you had paid attention to the state of the Vermont State websites while he was Gov....well...you'd know why! Regardless...he and his staff used the web and started a firestorm.

Fast forward to the 2008 presidential elections, and as social media and Web 2.0 buzz abound, and experts try to figure out how to track it all we have a full field of wannabes on many sides who are using the web to reach and engage with donors and voters. But how are they doing? That's the subject of my blog series on social media and the presidency.

In a time when we have full fields of both Democratic and Republican persuasion, plus quite a few "other", and at a time when even the media is jumping in on the Web 2.0 frenzy -- did you watch the Democratic YouTube/CNN debates last week? -- well someone's got to track it all, and it might as well be yours truly. Besides it will work wonders for my classroom!

We begin the series with a listing of the candidates I will review. Now as I mentioned, there are scads and scads of them. Just check out the lists at Project Vote Smart if you want a good idea! Sorry folks, but I'm not going to review them all. I will be analyzing the main candidates as posted at the Washington Post. I know, they are only showing the main two parties which is a draw-back, so if you are interested and would like me to put in a review of a third party candidate, let me know who it is and I'll take a look!

I won't play an favorites and will just run through them alphabetically with no regard to party affiliation. Again, if you recommend one to me that is not on the list, I'll take a look at them too.

My analysis will consist of a candidate website review, a social networking site review (MySpace and Facebook), with an emphasis on Facebook Applications, and various other social media sites such as YouTube. I will also look to see if the candidates are using newer options such as Twitter. I'll also be poking around Second Life to see if we have any virtual campaigning going on. Of course, blogging will be a part of it as well! I'll also see how they rank in the search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN Live) and if they are buying sponsored ads. Yeah, I know that's not really social media, it's paid placement, but running ads on the web is a far cry from what was going on a few short years ago!

Oh...and as a P.S. to the series I'll review the DNC and the RNC and their online visibility! That'll be fun.

So here is the list of the candidates I will be reviewing (subject to change based on drop outs and drop ins and only those who have filed. Not messing with the speculations at this time so no review of Al, Newt or Chuck -- Sorry!)

Joe Biden (D)
Sam Brownback (R)
Hillary Clinton (D)
Chris Dodd (D)
John Edwards (D)
Rudy Giuliani(R)
Mike Gravel (D)
Mike Huckabee (R)
Duncan Hunter (R)
Dennis Kucinich (D)
John McCain (R)
Barack Obama (D)
Ron Paul (R)
Bill Richardson (D)
Mitt Romney (R)
Tommy Thompson (R)

Stay tuned!!