The New York Times reports that MySpace is moving into politics:
This week, the site will introduce a section dedicated to politics, with an emphasis on the 2008 presidential election. Called the Impact channel, it will be an online version of a town square, a collection of links to political MySpace pages that will make it easier for the site’s 60 million American users per month — many of them from the traditionally elusive and apathetic youth demographic — to peruse the personal MySpace pages of, so far, 10 presidential candidates.
The channel will be much like those on the site already devoted to music or video. By clicking into it and on the separate campaign pages, users will be able to read candidate’s blogs, view their personal videos and snapshots, and link to other sites that discuss pet issues. Then, theoretically, users will add their favorite candidates to their friends list, and their friends will add them, too. The campaigns will spread virally, in the 2008 campaign strategy of the moment.
Read more here. Of course, a number of candidates have already launched MySpace sites:
Already, campaigns are showing interest in the potential of the site.
“MySpace is definitely one of the tools we’ll be using to engage Internet users,” said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Barack Obama campaign, “and we’re well aware that young people are the ones who are engaging the campaign through the Internet, more so than other age brackets.”
Besides Mr. Obama, the Democratic contenders John Edwards, Joseph R. Biden and Dennis J. Kucinich have set up MySpace pages, as have the Republicans Ron Paul, the Texas congressman, and Mr. McCain. In coming weeks, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney will also launch their official MySpace pages, a MySpace spokeswoman said.
The candidates were moving onto MySpace even without the lure of the Impact channel, which is expected to be operating Monday.
Read more here. It will be interesting to see if Australian politics also moves online this year ...
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