This presidential election has seen technology employed in ways unseen four years ago, including use of YouTube, cell phones and increased outreach to social networking sites.
Michael Berkman, professor of political science, said the campaigns of both Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama appreciate "the viral quality" of the Internet.
"Both campaigns put out commercials faster than we have ever seen before," he said.
Berkman said the McCain campaign is good at creating campaign commercials and dispersing them online. The Republican campaign issued some commercials during presidential debates using pieces of the debates, he said.
Joe Ramagli (senior-journalism), vice chairman of Penn State Students for John McCain, said he has gone to McCain's Web site to watch the candidate's ads.
Ramagli said the site stays current.
"They actually have more of a youth appeal than people think," he said of the Republican candidates.
Employing technology is one of the best ways to reach people because they frequently use their computers and cell phones, Ramagli said.
Berkman said the Obama campaign is skilled at taking advantage of cell phone use.
Obama was the first presidential candidate to announce his choice for vice president via text message and e-mail when he named Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., his nominee in August. His campaign texts event alerts to those who sign up.
"They essentially harvest cell phone numbers," Berkman said, citing examples like the concert that hosted members of the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band at the Bryce Jordan Center last week.
Concertgoers could text to the campaign and the campaign communicates would alert back via text message, said Andrea Mead, Pennsylvania spokeswoman for the Obama campaign.
Berkman said the Obama campaign also collects e-mail addresses, as it did when Obama came to Penn State before the primaries.
Mead said the Internet has served as an important tool to all political campaigns.
She said mybarackobama.com allows people to connect with friends and do their own outreach including downloading call lists without coming into an office.
"College students tend to be online all the time," she said, adding students relate to organizing and gathering information from the Internet.
The Internet has grown the campaign at a grassroots level, Mead said, and the reason it is so valuable is because it allows supporters to do their own research.
Peter Feldman, Pennsylvania communications director for the McCain-Palin campaign, said a blog is maintained on the campaign's Web site.
"It's a communication tool," Feldman said. "We use it for rapid response to make sure that news is put out there as quickly as possible."
Feldman said the campaign has a whole division devoted to various forms of technology, including YouTube videos. All the ads are on YouTube and some are made especially for the Web site, he said.
Campaigns also have a presence on networking, news-ranking and micro-blogging sites. The Obama campaign is present on Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Twitter, BlackPlanet, MiGente, AsianAve and others in addition to its own my.barackobama.com, commonly called "MyBO."
Support for McCain is also present on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter in addition to McCainSpace, at mccainspace.com, a networking site affiliated with the campaign.
Ramagli said he is a supporter of McCain on Facebook and his support is visible to his friends. McCain has the second-most supporters out of politicians on Facebook, falling directly behind Obama, as of press time Monday.
He said he was also a supporter of Sarah Palin two weeks before McCain announced the Alaska governor as his running mate. Palin is the third most supported politician on Facebook as of press time.
Ramagli said though he doesn't use McCainSpace and he doesn't personally know anyone who does, he has heard a lot about the social networking site and he knows it's popular.
Zachary Zabel, president of Penn State Students for Barack Obama, said he is a supporter of the Democratic candidate on Facebook and he runs the Facebook group "Penn State Chapter Of Students For Barack Obama."
He said the group is the best way to get student supporters and volunteers in for meetings and events. Zabel said pictures from the office and events are posted to the page.
Though the local campaign doesn't use "MyBO" that often, he said the site can be used to create events. "MyBO" enables people without an office in their area to still be active within the campaign, Zabel said.
