MySpace Goes Political

MySpace has become one of the most popular websites among the younger generation. So, why not utilize this social networking site and get this generation more involved with the politics of today? Yes, that’s right. MySpace is getting involved in the 2008 presidential elections.

MySpace has launched its new channel, Impact, where a member of MySpace’s network can go and read up on the all the presidential candidates and their views on the growing issues in the country. The site provides links to official candidate pages along with election related media, and banners and links to put on your own MySpace page.

So, will this be the answer to getting the younger generation to vote? Well, in an article from the New York Times, it was written that “Some observers believe that such efforts by MySpace and other social networking sites might make [campaigns] influential among voters in 2008”. Last election, there were websites that attempted to raise interest among the younger voters, but the websites’ impact was not as great as many hoped it would be. However, MySpace, an already very popularly established social networking tool, has a big shot at finally getting politics out to those voters.

For example, take a look at Barack Obama’s official MySpace page. You can read his biography, about his ideas of how to improve the country, and even my Obama merchandise. Currently, he has 86,188 “friends” on his page (not quite as many as Fall Out Boy’s 1648319, but the impact channel still has well over a year to build up a following).

People are finally starting to figure out how to reach generation Y. Whether MySpace will get the younger generation to vote, or not, the candidates are certainly looking in the right place.