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April 03, 2007, 01:17 PM ET
MySpace Steps Into the Political Arena
As the 2008 election approaches, you’ll probably start hearing a lot more about how Facebook and MySpace, the two social-networking sites most popular with college students, hope to cast themselves as political bellwethers. Facebook is off to a head start: During the last election cycle, it unveiled a service that “polled” students by letting them record their likely voting preferences (The Chronicle, September 18).
Now MySpace is making ambitious plans to join the fray, according to CNET News. The social network says it plans to hold a virtual presidential election — scheduled, for some reason, for the first two days of 2008 — for all of its users in the United States. “Iowa and New Hampshire may be selecting delegates, but the MySpace vote will be the first test of where candidates stand in the election year,” said Tom Anderson, the company’s president, in a statement.
It’s hard to imagine any candidates watching the results very closely, though. For one thing, MySpace will allow users to cast ballots regardless of their real-life voting eligibility. For another, many observers still doubt whether MySpace users willing to click a button or two will be equaly willing to trek to a voting booth. —Brock Read
Categories: Student-Life
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