ADMK goes online

The New York Times of yesterday carries an interesting article detailing how both the Republicans and the Democrats are discovering the utility of the Internet as a campaigning medium. Adam Nagourney writes:

Democrats and Republicans are sharply increasing their use of e-mail, interactive Web sites, candidate and party blogs, and text-messaging to raise money, organize get-out-the-vote efforts and assemble crowds for a rallies. The Internet, they said, appears to be far more efficient, and less costly, than the traditional tools of politics, notably door knocking and telephone banks. Those include Podcasts featuring a daily downloaded message from a candidate and so-called viral attack videos, designed to trigger peer-to-peer distribution by e-mail chains, without being associated with any candidate or campaign. Campaigns are now studying popular Internet social networks, like Friendster and Facebook, as ways to reaching groups of potential supporters with similar political views or cultural interests.

Further, the article quotes from a survey by the Pew Research Center, that the number of Americans who went online for election news jumped from 13% in 2002 to 29% in 2004. Surely, even politicians don't want to be behind in the digital revolution. India, though is a different story altogether. I think we are still a long way away from influencing voters through the Internet. In our country, what works is the crowds that one can draw along the way. That explains why all the main campaigners in Tamil Nadu have hit the road already. So when I came to know that the ADMK had launched a campaign website, it came as a surprise to me. However, the site itself (ElectADMK.com) is like a breath of fresh air. The design is simple and elegant, and the content has been organised reasonably well. There is even a registration form, probably for sending out emails during the run-up. The one thing I would have liked is a clickable list of candidates, which would give the profile of each candidate. Secondly, the site is very much Amma-centric, which however is not very surprising. Anyway, the site is good and is worth a few clicks... even if you are voting for the ADMK.