1. Introduction
Quite recently, new media have increasingly been used by presidential candidates within their campaigns in order to take advantage of the easy access and fast distribution of information. By doing so, they hope to attract new voters and keep the existing supporters' interests up by offering possibilities for interactive participation through social software. This gives the feeling of being actively involved and even being an important part of the campaign.
One of the leading candidates of this year's election, Barack Obama, also maintains his own MySpace site, which is to be analysed in the following Wiki entry. First of all, it will depict the characteristic features (ch. 2) of MySpace and then it will present how this medium is being used (ch. 3). Finally, the following three theses (ch. 4-6) will be discussed:
- How Obama is represented
- Barack Obama uses MySpace in an unconventional way
- The site's goal is to attract new voters and to lead them to his main webpage
2. What is MySpace?
MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends. Each member has his or her own personal profile, can participate in blogs, join groups, upload photos, music and videos. Here are some facts about MySpace:
- it was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe
- music-driven version of Friendster
- the most popular social networking site on the Web, especially for teenagers and people under 30
- in 2006, there were more than 100 million users on MySpace.
- in 2005 News Corp. paid $580 million to buy Intermix Media, MySpace's former parent company, and folded it into Fox Interactive Media (FIM)
Despite of the popularity of this social network, there are still some points of criticism remaining:
According to MSNBC, MySpace offers the perfect conditions for spyware and due to the lack of appropriate security measures, personal information provided on the site might be abused. As MySpace also attracts many under-age kids, it, unfortunately, has been a platform for cyberbullying and sexual assaults from paedophiles.
3. How is the medium being used?
In this chapter the highlighted elements on Obama's MySpace site will be presented:
Digitality
New media can been seen as an extension of analogue media:
- MySpaceTV as an extension of traditional TV
- biographical information as an extension of flyers
- text messaging as an extension of letters
One of the characteristic features of new media is the "state of flux", which means that continuous change of information, by both producers and potential users, can occur. Another element is that the relationship between author and reader is blurred. Moreover, the reader has the possibility of selecting information individually.
Interactivity
Interactivity mainly consists of hypertextual navigation, registrational interaction and interactive communication. On the one hand, it offers advantages for campaigns, because it allows to easily reach many people. On the other hand, users can make personal experiences, which simplifies the identification with the candidate.
Dispersal
There are different ways of reaching Obama's MySpace site:
- one can reach Obama's website if one is familiar with MySpace or if one is a member
- one can follow a link on Obama's main website to his MySpace site
- one can use a search engine to find the URL of Obama's MySpace site
- one can also be invited to his site by a friend ("Forward to Friend" function)
But the prerequisite of reaching his site is to be interested in getting more information about Obama.
Virtuality
The term virtual reality is applied to several different forms of media and image technologies. In this case, it is used as a feature of post-modern cultures in which many aspects of everyday experience are technologically simulated, for example the replacement of (political) face-to-face discussions by blogs.
4. How is Obama represented?
Although it is often criticized that Obama lacks experience and routine, his MySpace site represents him in a completely different light: as
- competent
- patriotic
- thoughtful
- determined
- optimistic
- and as a person who is close to the people
Patriotism and optimism
This logo is everywhere on his MySpace site, even used as background image. It is conspicuous that the logo contains the colours of the American flag which shows Obama’s patriotism. The “rising sun” on the logo represents hope and a spirit of optimism. The white colour of the sun, which is a symbol for pureness and wisdom, dominates. This symbol is well expressed especially in his default image: the white colour in combination with this special camera perspective from bottom to top show Obama as a sublime and powerful person, almost “the chosen one”.
Thoughtfulness and Determination
The default image also expresses his thoughtfulness and determination through a concentrated view focusing the distance. Another point which supports these traits of characters is the strict and clear layout of Obama’s MySpace site: the design and the colours match in a perfect harmony which the users may associate with Obama’s character and his skills as a politician. Obama seems to organise and to plan carefully his actions and he seems to know exactly what he wants.
Closeness to the people
There are several elements demonstrating his closeness to the people
- people can get in touch with him, for example
- by email
- by instant message
- by using the "JOIN US" button
- by signing up as regional campaign volunteer
- by buying advertisement products
- by donating
- a Spanish message is supplied on the site which shows that Obama tries get contact with minorities as well
Competence
The combination of the aspects mentioned above lead to the conclusion that Obama is a competent candidate to become the next president of the United States. He unifies all the important and essential character traits for a president in his person. This way, he disclaims the criticism that he lacks experience and routine.
5. Barack Obama uses MySpace in an unconventional way
Normally, the users of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook expect each other to stick to the certain unwritten rules of communication, for instance
- participating in enlarging or building up a (new) "community"
- sharing some personal/private information, interests and activities with each other
- being interested in others’ interests and activities
- getting in touch with other people, making friends
Opposed the most people’s MySpace sites and also other presidential candidates' MySpace sites, Barack Obama does not provide very much personal information. All one learns about him is some biographical information (his career) and his marital status, for example.
However, he does not even tell the user about his “body type”, i.e. height and weight.
In contrast to other MySpace profiles, Obama does not use all the given “blurbs”. His contestant Hillary Clinton, for example, provides users with her personal interests on her MySpace site.
On the other hand, Obama even misuses some of them, which can be seen in his “Who I’d like to meet” section. Instead of presenting his MySpace friends, there are functions which aim at the user getting involved in the movement and his campaign.
These elements also try to lead the user to Obama’s other websites, particularly his main campaign website:
Another example for Obama’s unconventional use of MySpace is the language style chosen. Opposed to many other users who decide in favour of a rather colloquial language, Obama choses an informal style. The whole site and especially his personal message and biography, appear very impersonal and vague, almost like “wish-wash”. If one exchanged “I” by “he”, everybody could have written it.
6. The site's goal is to attract new voters and to lead them to his main webpage
As it has already been shown above, MySpace attracts only a certain group of people who would probably not visit Obama's official webpage. Therefore his MySpace strives for attracting new voters and leading them to his webpage in order to win their favours.
According to Danah Boyd three dramatic changes developed over the last years concerning the behaviour of internet users, which apply to Obama's MySpace site as well:
- spreading of the product through verbal propaganda among friends instead of traditional "marketing"
- spread of participation through word-of-mouth publicity and inviting friends to the community
- social software users are more interested in other people than in a certain topic --> importance of social relations
The relation between Obama/Obama's campaign and the MySpace users can be illustrated with the help of Jakobson's communication model:
Barack Obama is the addresser who sends the message ("Obama for president - help realizing it") to the addressees, the users of MySpace by written text and pictures (code). The subject (context) is the presidential election and the medium of contact is the internet. The page is not very detailed and therefore does not satisfy all readers' demands for more information.
If one is interested in his political issues and wants to find out more about his goals, one has to use the links provided on the MySpace site. They will lead to his main webpage where all the information is given, for example:
After having followed the links, people get the information they seek. Obama's campaign will then have achieved its goal and might have attracted new voters.
7. Conclusion
The aim of this Wiki entry was to show how Obama's MySpace site is used and which effects are thereby created. It was found out that Obama uses this site for the purpose of reaching new and young voters and to convey a certain image of himself: a trustworthy and progressive president. The reason for this is that, compared to other candidates such as Hillary Clinton and John McCain, he has often been accused of not having enough experience for this office. By using MySpace in an unconventional way and presenting himself with the expected competences, he tries to counteract this criticism and turn it into a positive image of a young and dynamic leader.
8. Sources
Danah Boyd (2007). The Significance of Social Software. In: Thomas Burg, Jan Schmidt (eds.) BlogsTalks Reloaded. Norderstedt.
Martin Lister (2003). New Media: A Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge.
"MySpace." Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Computer Language Company Inc., 2007. Answers.com 15 Jan. 2008. <http://www.answers.com/topic/myspace>.
"Barack Obama." MySpace, 2008. 25 March 2008. <http://us.myspace.com/barackobama>.
Comments (1)
Anonymous said
at 11:40 am on Feb 20, 2008
Its looking good!
JR
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