The general election of 2008 saw the use of social networks and the Internet play an important part in political campaigning for the first time. Now in 2010, with geo-location and GPS being a standard smartphone feature, we are about to see yet a new revolution in our elections take place - on the mobile platform, with the Apple iPhone taking the lead.
The iPhone App will assist fieldworkers canvassing their neighborhoods. Volunteers can quickly pull up data on voters combined with maps and voter contact lists. Gone is the clipboard and paper map!
The iPhone App will also include breaking news alerts, talking points and interactive literature to share with voters right there on the their doorstep. And it's not just one-way communication. The volunteer can also send real-time feedback and door counts to political headquarters. This iPhone App has certainly eliminated the need to input data overnight after field workers return to base. Now it will be live and thus permit campaign analysts to view the picture as it unfolds, back at base.
In just two years, this is a revolution in technology that will change the political campaigning landscape in ways we could not have imagined back in the 2004 elections. In the 2008 elections, it was all about YouTube and Twitter most notably utilized by the Obama campaign, and then came Facebook. In 2010, we now have sophisticated smartphones that bring the technology on the road with all the possibilities of live, geo-specific analysis. With Facebook and Twitter now incorporating geo-location targeting technology, this brings yet more social media features for local campaigners.
The Democrats are rolling out this App shortly. It will be interesting to see how much technology the Republicans will embrace this time around. But you can be sure, it will be an interesting election.
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