techPresident - John Edwards Unofficially Enters Second Life - Comments

Growing Politics in Second Life

liamkanno — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:21:13 -0500

Second Life has certainly been the wild west in terms of political campaigns, and it is interesting to see some of the same social dynamics emerge in this VR world. With political candidates using popular communication technologies such as You Tube, Flickr, Party Builder, & Facebook, it is no wonder that Second Life has an attraction to it as a viable platform for grassroots activities. I would like to see more official support from media campaign managers from any camp, since any political campaign presence in SL still reflects on the candidate, and professionalism and consistency of message is crucial for the success of any candidate on any communications platform.

Residents in SL expect there to be the presence of political campaigns, and some are prepared to support initiatives, while others are prepared to tear them down, therefore building the proper culture of individuals in SL is important in order to build a campaign message efficently. The Obama HQ on Silicon Island (232, 215,32) has emerged as being an ideal center for providing rich media content, and community building opportunities for Obama supporters worldwide. The same thing is happening with the Edwards, and Hillary Camps.

The Obama for President Group has plans to rally at Capital Hill and hope to see events coming from other camps soon.

A race to the bottom

Ruby Sinreich — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:24:23 -0500

I'd actually suspect that most of the serious candidates won't invest in something as weird-seeming as SL until it's impossible for them not to. I don't recall many of them blogging until Dean made them look like morons for _not_ having blogs. Similarly, it's just a matter of time.

= Ruby

--
personal blog: http://lotusmedia.org
local issues: http://OrangePolitics.org
consulting: http://netcentriccampaigns.org

Could be Obama, but...

Joshua Levy — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 23:43:56 -0500

Obama disappointed a lot of folks by staying out of the social media game until he launched his new site, but that site is full of features, so it could be him. It will be interesting to see if anyone would be so bold as to use an avatar in their image -- for many people it might just seem too much like a video game and too divorced from real life.

My bet is on Obama

Raven Brooks — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:05:40 -0500

My bet is on Obama. He and Edwards seem to be neck and neck in terms of making use of new technologies.

John Edwards Unofficially Enters Second Life

Joshua Levy — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:35:00 -0500

John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to -- unofficially -- tread into the Second Life waters.

(Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner actually got there first, but he dropped out of the race before there really was a race, so it's hard to count him as a candidate.)