Blog Hillary
The author of this blog is Kate Sokolov. She uses her real name along with her photo and not any type of pseudonym, which would then define her as a “citizen bogger.” Her first post can be dated back to June 23 of this year when Hillary sent a letter along with a video message to all of her supporters about how much of an inspiration they have been to her. I suppose that this was Kate’s inspiration to start this blog because in her first post entitled "UNITY" she wrote, “while Hillary is no longer actively campaigning for herself, our work is not done — Hillary called on all of her supporters to unite behind Senator Obama and ensure a victory for America in November by electing him to be President..”
Kate is clearly very passionate about the Democratic Party and, with the election quickly approaching, she posts new information almost every other day. The overall tone is optimistic despite the obvious lack of Hillary Clinton on the presidential ballot. Her main objective is the support the Democratic Party for this November election. Her posts are currently keeping updates of Hillary on the campaign trail with Joe Biden including photos and video of specific public events. On Hillary’s home site you can even learn more about Hillary’s background and how she went from being the First Lady to a US Senator. There are also places you can show your support for Hillary by buying exclusive merchandise or donating money so that you can become a “HillRaiser.”
According to a recent study, “46% of all Americans have used the internet to get news about the campaigns, share their views, and mobilize others” (Pew Internet, 2008). I think that for most people it is difficult to constantly keep up with the flood of information that comes during an election year. I believe that the Internet provides a relatively simple alternative to watching biased news reports on news stations like Fox. Blogs are a perfect example of how the tech-savvy, many of them young, gain a voice and can move masses (Baker, 2004). It is easy to search through the information that is posted to find something that you agree with. Then you are free to post your own comments in return and make your own voice heard. It also unites people for a common cause creating a sense of community among people who would otherwise not know each other. I think that politicians are catching onto the power of the Internet and are trying to use it to their advantage, unfortunately they have to be careful not to tilt the demographics of power so much so that they lose control.
References:
Baker, S. (2004). Click the vote: in the age of internet politics, the web can make or break a candidate. Business Week. Retrieved on October 23, 2008 from http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/04_13/b3876125.htm?chan=mz
Pew Internet. (2008). The internet and the 2008 election. Retrieved on October 23, 2008 from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_2008_election.pdf
2 comments:
good blog! It's a good point that blogs unite people with the same interests (in this case political interests). They also encompass many sides to an issue as opposed to biased news sources as you said.
Very good post. It was very informative and and leaves me feeling like I got a good idea of the blogger you discussed. I especially liked the statistic you included about the percentage of people who used the internet to get campaign information, the world is definitely changing.
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