MySpace just announced that it will hold presidential town halls online and on campuses with, so far, Sam Brownback, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, Bill Richardson, Mitt Romney, and Tommy Thompson. Between September and December, MySpace will hold an “intimate, candid dialogue between one Presidential
candidate and the MySpace community while viewers at home submit questions via MySpace instant messenger and watch live via the MySpace webcast.”
In the press release, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe vowed: “This won’t be the stale debate format with one moderator getting canned
answers to the same old questions. “Our users will have the chance to get direct answers to the questions they want to ask - unfiltered.” Not sure what they mean by unfiltered. Clearly, someone will pick which questions to answer. But then, maybe we get to see what’s answered and not.
LATER: I just spoke with MySpace’s Jeff Berman, who heads up video. He explained that the events will be held live in front of MySpace users on the campuses. They will ask questions directly and will have the opportunity to follow up — which beats the “real” debates. More questions will come online. Berman said they want “a real dialogue.” MySpace will stream the town halls live online and then archive them, whole or in chunks, with all the usual MySpace functionality: We can embed them in our blogs. They are also looking into other ways to enable us to do more with the video.
MySpace has been clever about the campaign, trying to notch up the ambition from rival YouTube, which has pages for candidates’ videos and the Spotlight allowing candidates to ask (insipid, as it turns out) questions of the voters. As reported here previously, MySpace is also holding a primary on January 1 and 2 with monthly straw polls leading up to that. And MySpace is making a political reality show (if that’s not essentially oxymoronic). You can find all the candidates’ official MySpace sites here.
MySpace insists that it is the right place to reach voters (with advertising as well, one presumes):
According to third party metrics, the majority of MySpace’s users are of voting age and have a higher engagement rate for civic and social activity when compared to other Internet users. For example, comScore Media Metrics* reports that nearly 65 million Americans visit MySpace every month and that more than 85% of them are of voting age. Nielsen//NetRatings** reports that MySpace users 18-years of age or older are nearly three times more likely than average Web users to interact online with a public official or candidate. Additionally, Nielsen//NetRatings reports that MySpace users are 42% more likely to view online video relating to politics or public affairs, 35% more likely to research politics and campaign information online, and 44% more likely more likely to listen to online audio/radio related to politics/ public affairs.
But see also this TV discussion by college students making fun of the notion of voters on MySpace. I wouldn’t ignore the space if I were a candidate.
