Web changing political campaigns?

EIGHTY-FOUR percent of political campaigns last year used web sites designed to encourage participation in the political process, according to a University of Washington researcher.

The percentage is up from less than 70 percent of campaign sites in 2000 that offered opportunities for involvement.

“More and more, candidates are moving to web sites that go beyond mere advertising and ones that instead offer opportunities for the public to get involved in the political process,” Kirsten Foot, a UW assistant professor of communication, said.

“Obviously, candidates are recognizing the value of an informative and engaging web presence,” Foot added.

Foot and colleague Steven Schneider, an associate professor of political science at the State University of New York, analyzed candidate web sites from all 505 congressional and gubernatorial contests in 2002. They found 84 percent of those sites facilitated involvement by site visitors, helping them make donations, sign-up to volunteer and subscribe to email lists.

The researchers found 21 percent of campaign sites went one step further, facilitating involvement and mobilization by site visitors. These sites included features such as e-cards and other “e-paraphernalia” that could be downloaded and displayed, as well as encouragement and assistance in writing letters to the editor.

Foot said these features enable supporters to become vocal advocates, persuading people to vote for the candidate.

“Our findings illuminate a phenomenon. That phenomenon is that the playing field is changing,” Food said. “The Internet is changing campaign practices, and as the campaign practices change there could be changes in the whole equation of how an election is run.”

The ultimate impact on the political sphere, she says, could be a dramatic one.

“The Internet changed the way we socialize, the way we shop and the way we work. Now it’s changing what campaigns do. There are innumerable impacts that we’re just beginning to explore,” she said.

Foot and others refer to the previous generation of candidate Web sites — those that are nothing more than a promotional flyer transferred to an electronic format — as brochure-ware. While the newer sites still contain such promotional material, they also include the features that engage and mobilize readers.

Foot’s findings were presented at the recent opening of the Election 2002 Web Archive at the Library of Congress. The research was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

University of Washington release, March 10

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