Election '08
RSSKathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 04/01/2007
Sure, we're new to the 2.0 game (check out the blogs and podcasts on our new site, slj.com), but we're not the only ones, it seems, who are struggling to come to terms with online social media in order to connect and communicate with others. Over at techPresident, bloggers from both sides of the political aisle are tracking how presidential candidates are using the Web.
“The 2008 election will be the first where the Internet will play a central role,” states the site, sponsored by the Personal Democracy Forum. In real time, you can track the stats, including who's got the most friends in MySpace. At last count, Barack Obama logged 60,000, his closest social networking rival, Hillary Clinton, 27,000. Ron Paul leads the Republicans with 3,618 “friends.” While both sides have been criticized for overproduced videos that won't pass the sniff test for BS on YouTube (see www.prezvid.com), 21st- century politicking is having an impact. Numerous young people are “talking” to the candidates via blogs, vowing to take part in the political process. “And I've never even voted before,” added one such poster on Obama's blog.
