The 2008 presidential have been friending users all over MySpace. And Facebook. And Digg. And about a dozen other mainstream social networking sites. But then the outreach stops. Or does it? Are the campaigns using social networking communities to encourage political participation, or have they become just another form of political advertising? Does having a profile on these sites actually meet the goals of a campaign - winning votes, donors, and volunteers? What about the voters? What do we want? A discussion about the ways in which online social networks are changing politics and whether or not 'authentic community' and 'political campaigning' are mutually exclusive.
http://2008.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels_schedule/?action=show&id=IAP060394
