Recent political experiences have shown different ways of doing politics. The politicians and the campaigns that they have to run are being adapted according to the social context, cultural aspects of their audience and electoral preferences. Therefore, with the fragmentation and individualization of the audience, politicians are adapting their discourses to target voters in different ways. Nowadays, they recognize the importance of the heterogeneity and diversity of publics and their preferences. For example, some campaigns are still using traditional media to persuade voters that are not familiarized with the internet, or simply because this target public do not have access to the web or they do not like this way of communication. In this case, the traditional media holds the radio spots, TV commercials and press media called Traditional Campaign.
In contrast, the “new” political campaigns show the impact and versatility that the use of technology such as the Internet might have. The audience that prefers to use the Internet based on the interactivity and the instantaneous character that this media offers also is being targeted by politicians. The best example of this idea is the Presidential American Campaign of 2008. Barak Obama targeted the web community using the new social media as an important part of his campaign.
So, the big question is how politicians can motivate youth participation and commitment in society?
Hugo Olivos – Tv Studio Lab Assistant
Comments @ hugo.olivos@hotmail.com
