There are a variety of uses for the world wide web from a candidate's
perspective. It, like television, is capable of delivering a message
to millions of users in an instant. Once a web page is put up for public
viewing, anyone with internet access anywhere in the world can view
this information. It would seem to be a great method for supplying information
for anyone interested in a candidate. In fact, candidates' use of the
web has increased greatly. In politics, one of the objectives a candidate
must have is to reach as Consider how communication tools are used. What makes them effective? Above all else, one must have an audience. Thus, it's important to note that the available audience on the world wide web has been expanding since its creation in 1991. One survey states that as many as 83% of adults utilize the web (3). Another indicates the number is only 62% (2), and yet another shows that 64% of adults make use of this technology (1). The numbers certainly vary. However, they indicate that an enormous number of people are accessing the web regularly. In 1997, the statistic was that only 52% of adults used the web (4). The year prior to that, only 9% of adults used the web (5). The actual audience for the web has a surprising makeup, reaching all people of both genders, and most or all races, ethnicities, and social classes. According to a recent poll only 7% of people use the world wide web as a major source of campaign information (6). However, 18% of the blacks in the survery used the web as a major source of campaign information. That is higher than any other racial category of people in the survey pool. Asians were a close second with 14%(8). This could be due to the fact that a lack of options in other forms of media has forced minorities to utilize the interactivity of the web and create their own web sites. Examples of these pages include http://www.blackpolitics.com, ,http://www.thesource.com and many others. Suprisingly, respondants with an income between $10,000 and $19,000 use the web for campagin information more than any other economic category. This could be due to the increased accessability of computers offered through schools and libraries. Although both of these facilities also tend to offer newspapers and magazines, information on the web is constantly being updated and there is a more diverse selection of information. Additionally, 12% of non high school graduates, more than any other educational category, uses the web as the primary resource for campaign news(8). Therefore, according to this survey the person most likely to use the web as a main source of campaign information would be a black, non high school graduate who makes less than $20,000 a year. This is a not the composite of the average web user, but rather of a group of people taking advantage of options never placed before them in the past. The web, then, is certainly an outreach that is still untapped. Consider
other uses of the web as well. Many Candidates are able to do the same same things they've always done, but they can reach a different audience and they can do it for a much lower price. Assuming that one has a machine connected to the internet, the cost of registering a domainname, such as "georgebush.com" is nominal, ranging anywhere from as low as 10 dollars to 35 dollars for a year. Campaigns that are spending millions and millions of dollars on simply broadcasting TV ads would logically find a 35 dollar registration fee to be minimal. Consider that in the 2000 election, Al Gore and George Bush spent as much money in Ohio on TV ads alone as Nixon and Kennedy spent in their campaigns across the whole nation (9). Television is a very pricey way to advertise. Examine the case of Ralph Nader. This candidate put a highly media-publicized commercial (in QuickTime movie format) on his website, available for download. The Green Party is not a major party and simply cannot afford to advertise in every state. In this way, this highly entertaining commerical, and then yet another, was available to the nation without having to pay millions for valuable air time. Who knows how this impacted the election, especially if one theorizes that most of Nader's supporters might have otherwise voted for Gore. If this is true, the extra votes that Nader "took" by having a high-powered web campaign could have made the difference for Gore in key year 2000 states like Oregon and Florida. Regardless, it is clear that the web is a powerful tool for any political candidate and it has not yet begun to be explored to its full potential.
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