By Espen and Jens Sunday MySpace launched Impact Channel.
Catchy name, but that’s also about everything that is positive about the site right now.
Impact Channel will according to the New York Times be an online version of a town square, providing a collection of links to political MySpace pages that will make it easier for the site’s 60 million American to peruse the personal MySpace pages of, so far, 10 presidential candidates.
The idea is that the channel will be much like those on the site already devoted to music or video. By clicking into it and on the separate campaign pages, users will be able to read candidate’s blogs, view their personal videos and snapshots, and link to other sites that discuss pet issues. Then, theoretically, users will add their favorite candidates to their friends list, and their friends will add them, too. The campaigns will spread virally, in the 2008 campaign strategy of the moment.
But hold on for a moment… spread virally….spread what virally?
A snapshot of Rudolph Guiliani's official Myspace impact site reviles… well, nothing, it's f…… empty! It's set on private. Now that's what I call endorsing the SNS spirit! Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton likes to be written about in third person - How personal! And by the way; John McCain endorses torture for the sake of protection of the country: Just check his favorite TV-show. Now that’s American…or isn't it these days?
So is it just BlogCampaigning that have a fairly negative impression about the site? Let’s check how other blogs perceive the site:
There isn't much to write about. The Impact channel feels like little more than a hastily-thrown-together landing page for "official" candidate profiles.
Obviously not!
However, as a majority of young people maintain their primary SNS identity on Myspace, it is clear Impact Channel presents a potential tool when it comes to reaching voters. So why not use its potential.
Allow me to quote Techpresident again:
This is uncharted territory for social networking services, and may prove to be one of the defining stories of the 2008 race. With Myspace owning the dominant share of the SNS market, if candidates can effectively design fund-raising destinations and widgets, the potential is enormous.
well, unless you're Rudolph Guiliani, that is.