Here we are, less than a day away from the opening of the polls. I am sure everyone is excited to cast their votes, but even more excited to see the end of the incessant smear campaigns coming from all over. I am sure most of you have received more than one e-mail declaring that Barack Obama is a terrorist, or calling into questions John McCain’s military service record.
Of course attacks like these will put the candidates on the defensive. With a large portion of both campaigns relying on social media and word-of-mouth, it only makes sense to target the online community and directly stand up to these smears. After all, you can’t get stabbed in the back if you are standing face-to-face.
To combat smears against his campaign, Senator Obama launched http://fightthesmears.com/. This site is set up to directly address and discredit negative information about his past that is spread through emails. Obviously, political emails have been quite viral in recent months, and this site urges people to forward these emails to them so they can publish their version of the information presented.
Social media has proved to be a crucial component of this election for both candidates, and has changed the way campaigns will be run forever. Candidates are now running campaign ads on YouTube, directly addressing supporters via Twitter, and creating outlets for their supporters to get their side of the story.
It is true that the social media sites have forced people and companies into being more transparent, and politicians are certainly no exception to this rule. The future will show that those who pay attention and respond to the non-stop conversations happening will be the most successful.
