Internet Blogging as a means to get elected… Can Blogs Affect The Political Norm?
Factors that affect elections are numerous and embedded in society. Increasingly, the internet is becoming more and more part of the culture that many countries live in. Taking these two points, the question must be asked: Can the increasing influence of blogs begin to have a real affect on the voting conciousness?
At the moment: no. Not really. The traditional means to get elected still hold firm, with the internet becoming an increasingly important factor. But the rise of the internet’s affect does not necessarily correspond with the fate of the blogs. Sure, a news/blog site can still reveal scoop to drastically change the public opinion on an individual, but in the slow world of opinion polls revealing ad campaigns, corporate media and (God forbid!) actual policies still being the main contributors to public opinion, the independent bloggers of this world have yet to see real impact on the election.
Will this remain so? I don’t know. The fact remains that when it comes to setting the mainstream agenda the corporate press will still retain the power, even when it comes to the online world. The bloggers and similar such media players will still remain in the background of the situation, perhaps with something very important to say, but with significantly less listeners.
