Can web 2.0 win the US Election?

There is much to be said for and against the democratic potential of web 2.0. Now the masses own the means of productions what’s to stop them really taking over? The potential is clear but the situation is unprecedented, so it’s not possible to be sure how it’ll affect things.

There is however a very important political event on the horizon and its interesting to note how the world of web 2.0 is going to play it’s part. The US election seems to generate just as many blog posts as the impending recession (possibly because no-one really understands the latter). The two candidates seem to suffer quite a gap in their use of this medium. Obama has substantial list of web 2.0 applications on his FrontPage to engage supporters with. McCain’s site, by comparison, does link out to Facebook but seems to have little else, even though he does have a Twitter account (which I have found) and a MySpace page (which I haven’t). This is not to say they don’t exist but it does make it difficult to see them as part of a joined-up campaign. McCain even seems to be taking on these established names at their own game with McCainSpace. Here you can share opinions, post videos and watch his campaign adverts. It seems unlikely to me that this would attract a wider audience in the way the MyFace complex would, but it may galvanise his present supporter base.

The number of supporters that they attract online is also vastly different. The numbers of supporters on their respective face book profiles differ so radically I have to question their accuracy. Their Twitter accounts are less marked by Obama still has nearly 50 times more followers. Unfortunately membership numbers for McCainSpace don’t seem to be published.

So it looks like a landslide for Obama. Maybe he can just sit back with a G ’n’ T until November 4th. However some polls have them as close as four points apart. This serves to highlight how web 2.0 is not yet functioning as the engine of democracy which it has the potential to be. McCain has focused on traditional media and it arguably has done him little harm. Obama on the other hand has a strong web 2.0 presence which may be (at the risk of confusing correlation and cause) a decisive factor in his popularity amongst younger voters, who are more likely to be engaged in it’s applications.

There are other factors concerning the socio-political breakdown of web users; the suitability of the web as a forum for meaningful discussion and it’s increased compartmentalisation, than there is room for here. However the numbers do a lot of the talking for themselves. Web 2.0 will not decide this election, but it is still evolving and it’s importance may well grow to a point where no candidate will be able to ignore it.