Internet and Communities.

We all live in the 21st Century, and as technology advances faster and faster every year, so to do the ways that an individual can find others who share their views and interests without having to even leave the comfort of their own home. At ever increasing speeds with a single click of the mouse, a person enters a world where their voice can be heard by others around the world, all they need to do is have the knowledge to use the technology and the desire to do so.

Take for example last year's presidential campaign. On the first page of the article Web 2.0 Powers Political Campaigns - From Presidential Race to Local Elections, Chad Vander Veen analyzes how the Internet was a key factor for McCain and Obama to gather supporters to their cause, with his primary points being on social networking sites. Under the subheading Grassroots Made Easy, Veen states, "The Web has blossomed from a campaign novelty to an essential tool to reach voters." The message Veen is wanting his readers to understand is that the Web is now a requirement if a candidate is too have any hope of winning the election. In the same paragraph of his article, Veen says, "The difference during this election cycle for president is the advent of Web 2.0 applications; chief among these new applications are social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr. By integrating these new sites into their campaigns, presidential candidates create new avenues to reach voters." Looking at this statement from a voter's point of view, Veen is arguing that social networking sites have become necessary tools for voters to obtain information about the candidates based, not only on what the candidates say about themselves, but also what other voters say about them.

Further along in his article, Veen leaves the national level of politics and does a more local examination by speaking with Saundra McDavid, who is (or was) running for the Idaho State Senate. Venn quotes McDavid by saying, "The key to reaching the younger voters is to go online. That's their world. You're not going to get from a flier in the mail the same kind of personal touch that you can get using the Web site, blogs, and 2.0 technologies - where you are actually bringing your voters or people who are interested in hearing about you into your world." What Veen is saying by quoting McDavid, is that younger people (no age range was given in the article) are more likely to get their news and information from online, where it's easy to find. Even if a voter doesn't have access at home, they can go somewhere that has a computer with internet access, such as their local public library or a cybercafe.

In the next paragraph is his article, Veen quotes McDavid again by saying, "The next step, McDavid said, is to post campaign videos on YouTube. The candidate hopes this will open more venues for voters to connect with her campaign." This statement adds YouTube to the campaign trail. What sets YouTube apart from MySpace and Facebook is that YouTube is designed solely around videos instead of blogs or "quick thought" websites like twitter.com. In a video, a voter actually gets to see more than a candiates views, they also get to see important personal traits such as their personality, their tone of voice, how they present themselves, how they react to criticism, and so on and so forth. In regards to who a voter decides to vote for, the candidates' views are only one of the things a voter looks at, there is also the human aspect, meaning that a voter wants to vote for someone who not only shares their opinions about certain issues, but also someone who they would feel comfortable around were they given the oppurtunity to be with the candidate in person. YouTube videos can help alleviate concerns on the personal level that a voter might be feeling about a candidate, but it's up to the candidate to determine how they want to come across to others.