Multi-Media Hillary

The US presidential campaign is being fought online, according to the BBC - one sure sign that blogs and social media are forces to be reckoned with.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign site has a blog as well as HillCasts, videos of Hillary speaking directly to you, her online audience, about what Hillary as President would mean. There are also a range of videos of her campaign trail, speeches, photographs, press releases and of course a section where you can contribute to her campaign as well as take part as a volunteer.

Her blog is not written by her - the byline of the bloggers are clearly evident at the top of each post and they include a volunteer Michael Brasher and also her Chief Strategist Mark Penn. Hillary’s chief blogger appears to be Crystal Patterson but I couldn’t easily find any information on the blog about her. As a blog-watcher, I think that it’s a good move to be transparent where the blog is written by someone other than the figurehead who has top billing on the site. I also like the fact that there are guest bloggers giving their particular perspective on the campaign. Having a volunteer, especially a student, write about his experiences brings in the view “on the ground” and also helps to connect with other students and volunteers - and potential volunteers. My one feedback point would be: It would be good to see an “About” page that tells us something more about the regular blogger(s) so visitors are aware of the context in which they write. However, this could just be my non-US ignorance of the personalities in the drama or my not being able to easily find the relevant information on the site.

The overall impact is to present Hillary Clinton’s message in a range of media and also to share it in a way that is easily digestible and understandable for ordinary people. It’s not mediated by the press so she can say what she wants to say direct to her audience. It makes her seem accessible and in touch with ordinary people’s lives and concerns. It keeps her real by sharing information about the process of campaigning. She is referred to as Hillary and her team are Team Hillary - the first name adds to the sense of her being approachable and in touch while emphasising that she is a woman. And also, distancing her from her husband Bill, which is who think of when we hear “Clinton”.

Hillary is not the only candidate using multi-media online. You can visit Barack Obama’s site at http://www.barackobama.com/. John Edwards also has a presence online at http://johnedwards.com/ and famously, he is using Twitter to keep friends and followers updated on his campaign trail. I added him as my friend on Twitter to see what it was all about and he added me back! He seems to twitter himself - when a staffer twitters, it says “(from staff)”.