OK, the likelihood that I will be able to tap the Chinese audience with a Chinese version of ElectionGeek is pretty slim at this point, I have enough problems with English (thank you grammar policing comment-leavers who misspell themselves). With that said many sites and writers have devoted themselves to the influence of technology on politics and world affairs and I have news for them. This story showing that China and the US are now tied for the #1 spot of most Internet users is a sign of where our world and electronic politics are headed. 221 million here, 221 million there, that is a whole lot of people. Just think though, with just 300 Million people here and over a billion there, which nation do you believe will win out?
Think of it, the worlds two superpowers, a Communist nation and a Democracy tied for those vying to get online to buy pornography, check sports scores and find a love connection. Oh and get themselves involved in the global economy, push innovation and spread ideological/philosophical/political ideas. The Western dominance of the Web in terms of audience and marketshare is ending. Add to China those in Japan, Korea and the rest of Asia and you have an online powerhouse that will soon be roving targets for marketing, advertising and content generators.
More than that, imagine a day when the political world online is dominated by Chinese thinkers, eye-witnesses and ideologues. If only we had an instant ability to get accurate translations (sorry babelfish but it just isn’t there yet) and information sharing among the worlds largest Internet populations begins an explosion of sharing ideas and questioning long held beliefs..
If the liberal/egalitarian dream of the Internet was the connecting of opposing forces in an innovative way, there can be no greater reality than seeing China and the US coming together economically and ideologically online and there may be no larger influence on our political ideas or theirs. Yes, I am talking about more than sharing Obamagirl with them. Time will tell and it will tell fast because it won’t be long before that number on which we are tied today stays somewhat fixed for us but doubles for them.
Found via Political Wire, in addition to hitting the major news networks and doing traditional media interviews this Friday to reject Jeremiah Wright’s outrageous 9/11 comments, he also released a video directly to the Internet and at the end urged everyone who viewed to spread it.
Everyone rolls their eyes when a candidate mentions their Web address but the odd thing is, it works. Mentioning the site on TV actually leads to people going. Likewise simply asking viewers to forward on is a great way to create action. Political communication, as well as advertising and all forms of persuasion, is about moving people to action. No better way than to tell them ask them to do what you want.
techPresident was nice enough to lump me in with a host of far better writers on the topic of how the candidates are using the Web for a 2007 in review post. You can check out the highlights of all of our thoughts at techPresident. Very interesting conclusions with Ron Paula and Barack Obama leading the pack in most questions but some mentions for John Edwards, Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton in there.
Not many Republicans are seen as really using the Web effectively, other than some brief Mitt Romney and John McCain mentions. For the most part I found it interesting that many of us who were asked to comment agreed on most of the answers.
Thanks to techPresident for letting me be involved!
I have never been a fan of polling people with online forms. Online polling is so easily manipulated it is a joke. In most cases simply deleting your cookies will let you vote a second, third, fourth, fifth time. If that doesn’t work there is an endless stream of over things you can do to mess with the vote, which is why Ron Paul wins every online poll taken right after Republican debates.
Right not TechCrunch has an online poll about who will be America’s best choice for a technology friendly president. Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are leading with Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee coming in second. However Ron Paul’s vote total is two thousand votes higher than all of those who voted for Democratic candidates combined. In fact he has 1599 more votes than all of the other candidates Republican and Democrat combined.
A man who basically has admitted he knows nothing about the Internet and will cut government spending on all kinds of amazing science and math projects is the overwhelming choice of this online poll. Read the rest of this entry »
