New Media and Political Marketing in the United States: 2012 and Beyond

Abstract

Technology is an ever-evolving aspect of political campaigns in the United States. Even before the days when sophisticated survey research or television advertising burst on the scene, campaigners were seeking ways to campaign more efficiently and effectively. The Internet has provided a wealth of opportunities for candidates and their campaigns to use technology in creative and innovative ways. The 2008 U.S. presidential campaign clearly illustrated this. But the question becomes: What is next? Where does new media go from here, and, more importantly for scholars, what kind of research questions will be central when studying these new uses of technology? This article begins with a discussion of where new media, and the study of it, go in 2012 and beyond. We briefly take a look back at the 2008 election in which campaigns made great strides in the use of new media, breaking new ground by using tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other online video sharing sites and many others in ways that had not been seen before. We also look ahead and discuss what we expect in the 2012 U.S. elections and beyond. We do this from the perspective of campaigns—how candidates and their advisors as well as voters will use new media—and from the perspective of scholars: What are the directions for future research in these areas?

KEYWORDS:

• campaigns
• elections
• Facebook
• Internet
• new media
• online
• social networks
• Twitter
• YouTube

Notes

Banner ads or Web banners are advertisements embedded on a Web page consisting of graphic images or multimedia objects that contain a hyperlink to the advertised company or project.

Internet search advertising allows companies to place online advertisements in search engine results. It is sometimes referred to as CPC (cost-per-click) or PPC (pay-per-click) marketing.

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site that shares a user's business profile with other professionals.

Google+ is a social networking platform offered by Google, Inc.

The elaboration likelihood model is a model about how attitudes are formed and changed. This model is based on the belief that in order for attitudes to change, one can engage in two routes of persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route (Petty and Cacioppo 1986).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Terri L. Towner

Terri L. Towner (PhD, Purdue University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Oakland University in Michigan. Dr. Towner's teaching and research focus on American politics. Specifically, she is interested in public opinion, political behavior, new media coverage of campaigns and elections, the politics of race and class, and quantitative methods. Dr Towner's research has been published in outlets such as New Media & Society, Journal of Political Marketing, and The Howard Journal of Communications.

David A. Dulio

David A. Dulio (PhD, American University) is Associate Professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at Oakland University, where he teaches courses on campaigns and elections, Congress, political parties, interest groups, and other areas of American politics. Dulio has published eight books, including Cases in Congressional Campaigns: Riding the Wave (Routledge 2011), Vital Signs: Perspectives on the Health of American Campaigning (Brookings Institution Press, 2005), and For Better or Worse? How Professional Political Consultants are Changing Elections in the United States (SUNY Press, 2004). He has written dozens of articles and book chapters on subjects ranging from the role of professional consultants in U.S. elections to campaign finance. Dulio is also a former American Political Science Congressional Fellow on Capitol Hill, where he worked in the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Conference for former U.S. Rep. J. C. Watts, Jr. (R-OK).