Election Essay

Election campaigns are always striving to get more people to vote and the media is always searching for new ways to inform citizens. This year it is obvious they are taking full advantage of online media sites to get people involved, informed and actively voting.
The first example I saw of the election campaign taking an advantage of social media sites is on Facebook. The home-page of Facebook has a counter that allows you to hit a button that states "I voted". The counter then shows you the amount of friends (along with some of the names) that have voted and the total number of people on Facebook that voted. As of this minute 7,365,553 people on Facebook have voted. While writing that sentence the number has continued to jump by thousands. Using this popular site to demonstrate the number of people who have voted is a great idea. Most people have the tendency to want to fit in and be like others. By demonstrating the number of people who have voted we feel obligated to do so as well.

Another interactive means to follow the election is through CNN's website. CNN has an interesting tab located in the bottom corner of their home-page, it is called "My Race". This tab allows you to pick your location and the races that you wish to follow. From there you can follow the races you choose and see the race as the polls close.

I better prefer the New York Times website for following the election. Their home-page is completely dedicated to the election. Not only is it entirely dedicated to the race but it also offers more of an interactive page. The main part of the site has a map that shows the political party that is in the lead, the party that has won and lastly the gain. Their site has more than just a map, it has an easy to follow timeline, graphs, videos and many articles. The New York Times allows viewing the election simple and easy, it gives a variety of different views of the election therefor giving them a leg up on the competition.

Many websites are not as effective at following the election like the New York Times. One example of a website that i found is not effective is the Chicago Tribune. This website may have articles that link to pages about the election, but it is not very clear on their home-page. One aspect of their site is the photo gallery they have featuring political leaders entering voting booths. It is an interesting measure to show the election instead of telling us. I thought this fit in fairly well with our still photo gallery assignment.

In conclusion it is obvious the media has turned to online multi media sites to inform citizens about the race and to get them in a voting booth. The best website I encountered was the New York Times, this is because of all the interactive, simplistic means to follow the race. The Chicago Tribune is not as effective as The New York Times, but their still photo gallery was definitely informative and interesting.