THE YOUTH VOTE

This blog entry by Monqiue Serrato
The story: "Young Voters Help Start Political Phenomenon"
The analysis:

This article discusses this year's upcoming election and the ability for today's younger generation to start a political phenomenon through the use of the internet. Today's campaigns are reaching the masses, especially young adults and giving them a chance to put the power in their hands. Most of this so-called phenomenon comes from the technological advances of the 21st century, especially the internet. With the introduction and popularity of Myspace and Facebook, campaigns become more accessible, and campaign spokesmen no longer have to rely on word of mouth marketing, and can get their messages across through the internet and these popular websites. In these cases, campaigns become collaborative, "It's not one press secretary, it's hundreds or tens of thousands if you look at all the comments out there on blogs. It's a much more collaborative way to run a campaign."

It's collaborative in a way that looks increasingly familiar in today's pop culture environment of accessible and attainable celebrity culture. Candidates for presidency are often "created" by the public. Young people have increasingly become accustomed to holding new media celebrity making power in their hands. Candidates such as Barack Obama have begun groups to support him to run campaigns on Facebook, and elsewhere. The article gave an example of reality television where there are flashy competitions, where voters decide and have the ability who stays or goes. In essence, the presidential nominees adopt the characteristics of these shows, which becomes a popularity contest, and becomes one of the most high profile competitions of all time.

"There is a growing participatory element to contemporary popular culture. More and more, people feel like they have a role in creating celebrities, stars and leads," said Bob Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University. "People feel they have more of a right to create candidates instead of just vote for them."
I found this article very interesting because I never realized the impact pop culture has on the upcoming presidential elections. Never before has an election included campaigns on the internet, and promote the running nominees on such popular websites visited by young adults. Today's generation has the ability to "create" such a high profile nominee/celebrity and vote them into office. I myself have seen numerous campaign ads for candidates such as Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton on Myspace and YouTube, and have seen just how easy and accessible the messages of the running candidates are circulated throughout the internet, which in turn is helping young voters start a political phenomenon .