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Could giving power to the people mean the downfall of democracy?
Internet campaigns helped Barack Obama get into the White House, but are they good for democracy? Chris Bond reports.
IF anyone doubted the unbridled power of the internet, then Barack Obama's momentous victory in the US Presidential Election last month will have silenced them.
The president-elect won on the back of an unstoppable tide of popular support in a country ready for change. At least that's how it was portrayed. However, that doesn't tell the whole story.
When Obama started his election campaign, he was operating on a shoestring budget, yet by the time he swept into power his financial clout dwarfed John McCain's. Much of this was due to an internet fundraising campaign which attracted more than three million donors, who between them donated about $650m (439m) – more than the combined total for both presidential contenders in 2004.
But it's not just politics where online people power can make a difference. John Sergeant's prolonged stay on the BBC entertainment show Strictly Come Dancing was the direct result of a public campaign orchestrated by fans on the internet. On Facebook, there were two dozen groups devoted to "the people's John Travolta" which, much to the chagrin of the purists, kept the former political correspondent in the show until he finally quit on the grounds, as he put it, that he might actually win.
Sergeant isn't the only person who's been championed by an internet campaign. In the same week that Obama was making history, 1980s pop star Rick Astley was crowned Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards, seeing off the likes of U2 and The Beatles.
The unlikely victory of the man who hadn't had a hit in decades was engineered by the online "Rickrolling" phenomenon – whereby the popster's 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up was hidden behind various fake website links – which meant he inadvertently received as many as 100 million votes. Astley's name wasn't included on the original shortlist, but the public were allowed to nominate their favourites and Richard Godfrey, a senior vice-president at MTV, admitted afterwards: "We've been well and truly Rickrolled."
Although somewhat farcical, it showed how influential – but also how open to manipulation – the internet can be. Alex Kelleher, chief executive of technology firm Favy.com, believes online campaigning has become a powerful social tool. "People sometimes ask how to start their own campaigns, but quite often they come out of nowhere. A good example is a recent advert for Motrin, a painkiller brand in the United States, which suggested that carrying babies in slings could be painful. Then someone on the social networking site Twitter wrote that they thought it was patronising to mothers, even though it was trying to help people with back pain.
"An influential blogger then picked up the story and very quickly it spread to the mainstream press, and after a couple of days the company had to pull the campaign," he says. "It's a bit like a butterfly flapping its wings and on the other side of the world a storm starts."
Kelleher believes internet campaigns are already helping change the political landscape. "It's the first time in the history of human communication that one person can bring about change in this way. It's democracy without borders.
"Communities are no longer based on geographic location; they are increasingly based around interest groups and social networks, and they are more democratic than the mainstream broadcast media. It means the little people can influence political discussions in a way they perhaps couldn't in the past."
Some politicians have been quick to see the potential here, and opposition leader David Cameron has used his regular videoblog as a way of presenting the Tories as a more modern party. But, while embracing the internet can help you reach a younger audience, the downside is that online campaigns scrutinise political leaders in a way never seen before.
Not only that, but as fans of John Sergeant and Rick Astley have shown, they can make a mockery of the democratic process.
"In terms of democracy, online voting is potentially very dangerous, as hackers will always be one step ahead," says Kelleher.
"I would like to vote in an election using my TV, but I know that whatever technology the Government came up with, someone would find a way of getting round it. It's sad but it's an unfortunate truth."
Despite this, he believes online campaigning will play a big part in shaping the outcome of future UK elections. "There's no doubt that the internet will be important in the next General Election and those who get their strategy right, like Obama did, will definitely have an advantage."
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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