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The Search For A Candidate
The other obvious search words involve search terms people use when researching specific issues. Here again, McCain is busy; his people say that at various times they've bought 10,000 different words. But other candidates are active, too, sometimes appearing in surprising places. Who shows up when you type in "stop global warming"? Bill Richardson! Giuliani pops up with "flat tax" and "illegal immigrant." But when I tried "universal health care," nothing from any candidate came up. Vary it a little by typing "health care reform" and you get a paid link to … John McCain. (On the other hand, in my experience, typing in "Fred Thompson" often leads to sites selling authorized campaign merchandise, as if the politician-actor were running on eBay.)
As this medium evolves, you can expect dirty tricks like "click fraud," which is the practice of methodically clicking on an ad link to drain the advertiser's kitty. And then there's the question of negative search ads. The search companies have standards for ad content, but it's unclear how this is applied to political speech. Can you place an ad calling someone a crook? An adulterer? A liar?
Before we resolve those questions, the political action will likely spread to social networks, where advertisers can target users by their personal interests and political affiliation. "I can see targeting conservative Facebook users in South Carolina who have guns," says Republican political consultant David All. Next time around: the Facebook election.
With Jennifer Ordoñez
With Jennifer Ordo�ez
© 2007
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Member Comments
Posted By: Oakheart @ 11/28/2007 4:25:37 PM
Comment: Ron Paul, the most electable of all GOP candidates, has topped the 9.5 million mark in only a few months.
Posted By: BoomerBill @ 11/07/2007 9:46:31 AM
Comment: Oneupweb is doing an ongoing study of the presidential campaign and how it is being conducted online. In September, the research found some paid activity (McCain, Romney, Thompson, Giuliani and Obama) and considerable Social Media initiatives. But not one campaign had made any attempt at natural optimization of their website -- the single best way to get ranked on Google and other search engines. Strange.
Posted By: Truthseeker07 @ 11/07/2007 9:12:09 AM
Comment: McCain leading tje web surge?? Once again we can see the mainstream media attempting to divert us from the truth! Ron Paul is without a shadow of a doubt the online leader, and no mainstream media will report that, because they want to pollute our minds, and have us believe he is a joke. Ron Paul received 4.3 million dollars in one single day! I don't know what the media is trying to do here, but provide the truth is not the goal anymore. Some speculate that Ron Paul is recieving hits from "spambots" but answer me this, do spambots give checks?