Chapter 2: Related Literature

There are lots of studies undergoing influencing the purposes of social networking sites

and the implications possible with the use of it are becoming rampant as the technological

faculties of mankind develops. This chapter presents the social networking site as a modern

political campaign tools which reviewed by the researcher which have significant meaning with

the study.

Related Literature Foreign

Rice (2003) Blogs, short for Weblogs are a frequently updated Internet journal that has

become a growing Internet subculture. This once techie phenomenon has now become an

invaluable tool in the 2004 presidential election, adding another innovative Internet component

to campaign communications. Blogs have already become a power tool in the Democratic

presidential nomination battle. Currently, four of the nine Democratic presidential candidates

have an official blog. The use of blogs has brought supporters together to form a new online

community and reinvented campaign fundraising, shifting it from a few big donors to countless

small donors. Blogs create a new communication dimension by giving a candidate their own a

virtual and interactive community and giving candidates an instant forum using unfiltered

communications to share their views. Additionally, many candidates’ grassroots supporters have

created their own blogs to show their support, devoting their time and energy to promoting their

favorite candidate. Other blogs have popped up as commentary and opinions about the

presidential candidates and there are plenty of negative blogs against presidential candidates.
 The blog contains campaign links, featured sites, blog links, and information about

events. It offers a campaign diary and an opportunity for supporters to share their views on the

blog. With each blog entry, readers can post their own comments, send the entry to a friend, and

link to other blogs that reference the entry (a feature called Trackback). Dean’s site adheres to

the formula of many popular blogs, with many insightful updates from the campaign trail from

the candidate himself, as well as contributions from campaign staff and volunteers.

R. N. Roberts and S. J. Hammond (2004) stated in their book, “Encyclopedia of

Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms”, that in the twentieth century

presidential campaigns have used television, radio, newspapers, phone banks, and direct mail to

reach voters. By the early 1990s, political campaigns slowly began to regard the Internet as a

potential campaign tool. By the campaign of 2000, both primary and general election candidate

made extensive use of the Internet. In their book also, Surveys of the political use of the internet

indicate that campaigns frequently use web sites to (1) post biographical information on

candidates, (2) distribute issue papers and policy statements, (3) recruit volunteers, (4) raising

funds, and (5) use e-mail to communicate with campaign workers, supporters, and the media.

Graff (2007) “In 2000, much of the world was still on the slow and noisy dial-up Internet

connections. By the beginning of 2007, though, nearly 90 percent of Americans reported that

they use a broadband connection to access the Internet, up from over 50 percent just a year

earlier. More than one in three Americans was connecting wirelessly to the Internet. The very

technology that over the last decade has transformed the global economy has transformed the

campaign process as well, so that this race will be run as much on the World Wide Web as in

union halls and town squares and on television.” He also said that, “The threads of politics,

technology, and globalization have intertwined to reshape our lives and our political future. The
challenge for the candidates in 2008 will be to recognize these changes and tackle the seemingly

disparate but actually much interconnected issues of technology, health care, education, trade,

energy, and the environment, and unite them into a cohesive governing philosophy, aided and

driven by the tools and technologies that have come of age since Bush v. Gore.”

Going beyond the borders of the Philippines, it is seen in the United States of America

the use of social networking sites as campaign matter in their previous 2008 Presidential

Elections.

Lutz (2009) said on his fourth lesson from Obama’s social media campaign that 60

percent of adults in the United States belong to a social network, most do not belong to more

than one. If you want to reach them, you have to know where they are and connect with them

there. As Obama adviser Scott Goodstein said: “Some people only go to MySpace. It’s where

they’re on all day. Some only go to LinkedIn. Our goal is to make sure that each supporter

online, regardless of where they are, has a connection with Obama.”14 Obama had profiles on

more than 15 social networks, including Facebook and MySpace. But he also was the first

presidential candidate to have profiles on AsianAve.com, MiGente.com and BlackPlanet.com,

influential social networks for the Asian, Hispanic and African-American communities.

The fifth lesson from Obama’s social media campaign as stated by Lutz (2009) notes that

these days, there is a social network for every distinct social niche. There also are umbrella

networks that span all interests. Facebook has 150 million members; MySpace has 110 million;

LinkedIn is approaching 50 million. These users have invested time, energy and social capital

into developing their profiles and engaging other people on their network(s) of choice. The
Obama campaign leveraged these existing platforms to maximize the social velocity of its

outreach efforts.

The overture of social networking sites as campaign media become very phenomenal as

seen with the past elections, specifically, the recently conducted May 10 Presidential Elections in

the Philippines. Rice, for example, gave the views regarding the use of blogs as social media in

the internet, which is only one part of the networking arena. Roberts and Hammond have noticed

potential in the use of the patronized internet networking with the inclination of the online

community with social networking sites. Graff sees the effects and benefits of social networking,

like the use of Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace for instance. Lutz drafted the social media plan

of U.S. President Obama whereas the use of online sources made it possible to gather supporters

for Obama’s campaign. The social community, also as Lutz said, is filled with different interest-

oriented networks, one of them as political electioneering.

The relationship of these literatures drafts the foundation of crediting social networking

sites as campaign media in elections.