Winning the political website race
A survey of the political landscape from a web perspective reveals a profound evolution that has taken place in terms of quality and user experience. Top sites from “web-aware” candidates show an engaged environment that’s not just pushing agenda, but taking the deep dive into “the now.”
From a quick scan of the top contenders on both sides, it seems that the Democrat front-runners and Republican Ron Paul have taken key points from the Howard Deans of the political landscape by aggressively pursuing their social online communities, taking full advantage of this strategy. On the Republican side, with the exception of Paul, the campaigns are lackluster and vanilla, looking as if they are still 4 to 8 years behind the Dems. They obviously aren’t seeing the benefit of connecting with thousands of potential voters and by focusing their online audiences. The Republicans (minus Paul) look like they are out of touch or just don’t care. Most likely both, since it looks like they’ve invested next to nothing on developing distinguished milieux.
The winner in the online race is undoubtedly Obama. His site is sophisticated in its design, uncluttered and clean, making generous use of space. It offers great resources for connecting with him and his legions on national and regional levels, along with providing up-to-the-minute social networking options. The “MyObama” experience is fully baked, with the ability to join groups and circles, create a blog, hosts events and connect with others in your area. I also love the how they’ve integrated the logo across the site, especially the “People” banners. Any site that offers iCal functionality built-in wins my *ahem* vote. Clearly the Obama people “get it.”
Hilary’s site, on the other hand, while visual appealing, is also cluttered and lacks the refined approach that the Obama site nails. There was no selection for my state and instead of embedding social networking into the site, they’ve slapped it on top. Clicking the “Hilary I Know” link in “Video” takes me to a completely different site, which is jarring, and offers no obvious way back. The link is buried at the bottom of the page. While the site is better than most, it ultimately fails to be a leader.
In sum, it’s good to see this evolution taking place and candidates fully participating in the webscape, continuing to push for a richer experience for the voter and potential voter alike.
Tags: politics
