Political Debate Over Blogs- The Function Of Blogs In Political Campaigns

(Source: Herald Sun)

My last blog entry highlighted the use of these blogs in political agenda and being an essential tool in twenty first century political campaigns. In the lead up to, and after, the current Australian election, the use of this technology was highly evident.

The use of social media, in particular Twitter, were platforms for the political candidates to send their messages to, and try to convince Australians to vote for them. Kevin Rudd is an active user of the site, utilising it to further his political speeches and keep public's aware of the Labor policies along with scrutinizing the Liberal party policies. His tweets were daily, sometimes more than once, with these being particular examples:

'I will fight for Australia's future. For your jobs, your schools and a fair go for all. KRudd' 
@KRuddMP 28th August 2013

'Under state liberals, 4000 health workers sacked, 1000 on Bris northside alone. Quality of health care being hit. Jobs lost. Appalling. KRudd'
@KRuddMP 1st September 2013

Mr. Rudd currently has 1,391,435 followers on his page, thus his message reached and promoted debate for 1,391,435 people. Rudd also took to social news and entertainment website, Reddit to participate in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) where he answered the public's questions on the election and Labours intentions in parliament. The thread received 9562 comments from the public. 

A study conducted by Larsson and Moe (2012, p.733) analyzes how this use of technology especially Twitter was used in the 2010 Swedish Election in a similar fashion to that of Australia. The study assessed the reasoning behind political blogging as conducted by a member of parliament and its effectiveness. It states that:  

'Golbeck et al. (2010) analyzed the contents of over 6000 tweets from Members of the US Congress. The analysis showed that the members tweeted primarily to disseminate information, often providing URLs to news articles about themselves or to their blog posts.'

In relation to our current political use of blogging and social media, the direct use of these outlets tends to reflect the study. These internet sites are a massive expansion of the public sphere and are an outlet for political campaigns and debate to spark community interest.

Reference List:

Kevin Rudd 2013, 'KRuddMP Twitter', retrieved 12 September 2013, <https://twitter.com/KRuddMP>

Larsson, AO & Moe, H 2012, 'Studying Political Microblogging: Twitter Users in the 2010 Swedish Election Campaign', News, Media and Society, vol. 14, no.5, p. 733, <https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/143750/viewContent/1978556/View> 

Reddit 2013, 'I am Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia. AMA!', retrieved 12 September 2013, <http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1lbe0s/i_am_kevin_rudd_the_prime_minister_of_australia/>