OMMA, the magazine of online media, marketing and advertising, takes a look at the "Wild West" of the online campaign world.
This is the new terrain of the men and women who hope their next business address will contain the words "West Wing": MySpace and Twitter, YouTube and Second Life. None of these sites played a role in the last campaign, even as small-state governor Howard Dean commandeered the Internet to turn himself into a serious candidate. Now, in the still early days of the first presidential campaign in the Web 2.0 world, the candidates are lurching uncertainly through cyberspace. "What's going on for the 2008 presidential campaign is light years different than what's occurred online in prior campaigns," says Howard Mortman, the public affairs practice director of New Media Strategies, an online marketing company. " You're going to have candidates who are going to stumble. That's part of the excitement of this Wild West of the Web - when they go for broke and go after these new tools and toys."
... the candidates are finding that the Web can be a treacherous place to tread. Consultants once warned their candidates to beware open microphones - now they must remember that any cell-phone camera can be a conduit to a YouTube video that reaches more people than your Web site on a good month. Just ask Edwards.
"I think the Internet and the blogs are a very hard media to control and it's sort of like playing with fire," says Democratic strategist Jenny Backus. "You can [ignite] your campaign in a month or you can get singed very fast."
A single damning online video isn't likely to end a campaign, but dozens might, a threat that Republican Internet strategist David All calls "death by 1,000 YouTube videos." All believes Mitt Romney, for example, has been battered by a series of videos on YouTube contrasting his change in position on issues, including abortion and gay rights. The permanence, popularity and easy access of YouTube makes it especially frightening to candidates caught in a bad place.
Sasys OMMA: "Add the attention of the mainstream media, which has been reporting vociferously on online activity, and the danger is magnified."
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