British politicians are more than capable of making themselves look stupid but when ‘Speechbreaker’ is so much fun, it’s hard to resist giving a helping hand. Created by Lean Mean Fighting Machine for the Liberal Democrats, it allows you to remix speeches by David Cameron and Gordon Brown and post the results on YouTube. It has a simple, user-friendly design and is so easy to use that you can post things like this within a couple of minutes:
When you get to the Nick Clegg section, you only have the choice of a few words – ‘Choose’, ‘the’, ‘Liberal’, ‘Democrats’ – and some applause.
I like the way LMFM have looked at this brief from a different angle and that they (and the client) have been brave enough to go with a solution that doesn’t actually generate any content for the Lib Dems. Instead, they have reminded everyone of the nonsense that they have heard from the other political parties and shown them who not to vote for while making the Lib Dems seem young and challenging.*
*Although I have to say that, for me, the inclusion of the ‘C’ word wasn’t necessary and its inevitable overuse kills the fun (or maybe I’m just getting old?!)
That’s, in essence, how the “social media generation” deals with with political news and news in a broader sense. For the first time, social networks and blogs are playing a major role in a presidential campaign in the USA. Facebook, myspace, most of the web 2.0 sites that we use today didn’t exist 4 years ago, during the precedent elections, or with a limited audience.
But as of February 2008, they respectively have 8.6, 17.7 millions average daily visitors.
According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter — reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com — with a social one.
“There are lots of times where I’ll read an interesting story online and send the U.R.L. to 10 friends,” said Lauren Wolfe, 25, the president of College Democrats of America. “I’d rather read an e-mail from a friend with an attached story than search through a newspaper to find the story.”
Go check out the New York Times article for more details.
Social tools’ usage and potential are far from have been completely explored. This is a fact. Besides their original use – Social Networking for friend aggregation or Social Bookmarking for common bookmarks shared on a webpage – there are subsequent effects and results that have derived from the constant use and reinterpretation of social tools. One specifically comes as a result of peer pressure, generation Y and the Youniverse theory – the rise of a civic and social conscience on the Web.
Surely you’ve come across P. Diddy’s campaign “Vote or Die”. A political service group, Diddy’s group Citizen Change aimed at getting young people to vote. Exercising civic duties is a lost art on younger generations who grew under the influence of disappointed, entertainment driven parents whose disbelief in politicians and economical system influenced the younger people to just not care. Following the words of Bart and Lisa Simpson – “We’re the MTV Generation. We feel neither highs nor lows.” Well, they couldn’t be farther from the truth – this generation simply lacked the necessary tools and influential peer to actually push towards a more civic mind.. Continue reading ‘For a better World… The Social Tools’ True Purpose’
Throughout what could have been a regular Pancake Day, follow the election-related twits on a map across the country. Followed by, at around 8PM EST, live election results of all the Super Tuesday states.
More “Super Tuesday on the Internets” Great Stuff: AXE
The (genuine?) new print ad from AXE that will premiere tomorrow in newspapers in Chicago and New York City, as found on PokeNY’s blog.
Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Chaan-aange
A montage of all the candidates singing the same Bowie’s song. Seriously hilarious, especially starting around 0:45
Populations living in Democratic countries have little interest for Politics. So who does a big corporate TV channel like CNN call to the rescue to spice up the Democratic presidential debate? Who else but one of the most talked about young sites: YouTube! Americans were invited to shoot and upload their video-questions for the candidates, and more than 3,000 did. Among which almost 40 were selected by a team of CNN journalists, covering a wide array of topics from healthcare to Irak, gay marriage, guns, global warming. Imagine, on the main stage, the 8 Democratic candidates facing a huge screen. The CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in between, making sure that all of them had a chance to express their views.
The first questioner was calling for some real revolution in this “revolutionary” debate as CNN had been promoting it, challenging the candidates to actually answer the questions posed, avoid the usual political b*shit. Of course this didn’t happen and the answers were less memorable than the questions.
But this experiment was another proof that the political debate is really going down to the public arena, that you don’t need to be a journalist at the NY Times to be heard. Bloggers and online social network users have already been integrated in the political landscape here in the US and their impact on the issue of the 2008 elections will be immense. Just have a look at Hillary Clinton’s site. And her challenger’s, Barack Obama. You could think that they’re some myspace/facebook competitors. Not to mention their profiles on those 2 previously mentioned sites…
Democracy comes from the Greek word demokratia, meaning “Power to the People”. We’re really getting closer.
The TrendWatch is the collective postings of some of the FullSIX Group’s designers, strategists, and consultants on new media and marketing trends. It is meant to be an impromptu think-tank, and is a way for us to share theories and beliefs about how we think communication and connectivity is evolving.
We work for The FullSIX Group; a leading full service marketing agency with digital DNA. From our 15 international offices with over 600 employees, we constantly embrace and encourage innovation to make integrated marketing and communication campaigns that are more accountable and efficient for our clients.
Latest Comments
MNA, mens designer clothes, Combat Spaces, flawless skin, Joel [...]
seinn SCHLIDT [FullSIX Group], seinn SCHLIDT [FullSIX Group], jean, Regis Bergot
jean
Matias
Sarasota Web Site Design, Luis, Sarasota Web Design, Places to visit in Chicago & Wisconsin, mitnik [...]