The following is a guest blog by Politics TV's very own Dan Manatt. I've also edited in some of my own commentary into his post. Also a disclaimer, I am now an intern for Politics TV.
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Below is a remarkable string of videos — Presidential announcements (more or less) by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson...
Interestingly, one of the unifying commonalities among these diverse candidates from the Democratic party is that their Presidential announcements (well, more or less announcements) underline the growing popular use of Web Video. This is evidence of the increasing influence and power that the blogosphere and emerging vlogosphere is having on politicians of all stripes. With what looks likely to be by far the most expensive Presidential primaries and election in U.S. history, candidates are vying for the People's Money, which can be found inside the netroots movement.
Web 1.0 and later the blogosphere has enabled the bypassing of "big media" and allowed citizens, candidates, and voters to engage in interactive communication without traditional media filters. Later on, politicians such as Howard Dean popularized the fundraising prowess and message machine of the netroots.
Web 2.0 and now YouTube Democracy has taken that "bypass" and that interaction to the next level of Video. Not only is it evident in these video announcements, but it will take a quantum leap this week when Sen. Clinton stages interactive Web Video chats. It’s Ross Perot’s "electronic town halls" come alive.
Clinton's decision to have an interactive web video chat is an encouraging sign for the direction that the 2008 Presidential candidate will take the blogosphere and the vlogosphere, which is refining the use of web video. While we should not fool ourselves to think that any candidate's web video chat with us "commoners" would be an unscripted, real conversation with any American that chooses to participate, on the other hand we should not completely disregard this very first step in the Presidential race of making candidates appear in non-traditional settings.
The talking heads over at CNN, FOX and the like must be livid to have not been chosen for these candidates to make their announcements.
PoliticsTV.com is collecting all of these significant new videos into a new category: YouTube Democracy.
The coming of YouTube Democracy — by which we really mean Web Video/Web 2.0 Democracy — has been in the making since Steve Forbes became the first candidate to announce for President via webcast in 2000, and even back to the founding of Progressive Networks (now Real), which Rob Glaser initially founded as a video aggregator of progressive video content. In 2004, Bush-Cheney and the DNC both made impactfull use of Web Video
But it wasn’t until 2006 that Web Video truly changed the political dynamics for any campaign or issue. In 2006 we had the first YouTube Democracy "shots heard round the world" — with the "Macaca" video and other important political videos - which undeniably won Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
In 2007, we’ve already seen the international equivalent — the Saddam Hanging Cellphone Video, whose impact will be felt for years to come.
And now the Web Video Announcements by all the major Democratic candidates.
"The Revolution will not be televised" Joe Trippi wrote in his e-politics book in 2004. Joe was technically right but fundamentally mistaken:
American Politics is now not only played out in the grassroots, TV, and blogs, but via Web Video. And things will never be the same.
I have had fun tracking this space since 1999, when I went to work for FreedomChannel.com, one of the first political Web Video ventures/non-profits, and since founding ptvMedia in 2003 and PoliticsTV.com in 2006. We will continue to track the phenomena of YouTube Democracy, highlighting not just the old-style politics, but the use of the new Web Video technologies.
Check out the "YouTube Democracy" Videos: