German parties on youtube: Which performance is most embarassing?

Everyone loves seeing politicians on youtube. My personal favorite is this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icOO7Ut1P4Y. German EU-commissar Günter Oettinger speaks English (better: tries to speak, even better: fails in doing so). Maybe he went to the same school as Guido Westerwelle (watch out for our post about the fake profile "Westerwave"). The video has been posted in blogs, on Twitter on Facebook and nearly every German knows it. Sometimes some politicians wish, youtube wouldn’t be the memory of every embarrassing performance.

But parties do also love youtube. They can upload videos of their greatest speeches, funniest slogans and most embarrassing performances of political enemies. Honestly, they concentrate on their greatest speeches, or what they think to be the greatest speeches. And sometimes it seems as if they'd simply upload every speech. The question is, do the voters love the parties who  love youtube?

Two years ago, the famous German magazine “Focus” has analyzed the youtube-situation on three pages with examples of awful youtube-performances. They come to the conclusion: Only printed election-programs are more boring. But what has changed since then?

Simple answer: It can be even more embarrassing. Believe it or not.

Just one example: election-songs. The CDU has called their song for the parliament in NRW: “NRW in guten Händen”. Honestly, I am not sure, whether they have asked Dieter Bohlen or Ralph Siegel to write the song, but the melody consists of not more than three different notes. The performer obviously failed in one of the first rounds of any of the hundred casting shows. Okay, it is not easy to write a song which includes words like “Nordrhein-Westfalen”. But rhyming “mehr” und “fair” in a political song is as cool as rhyming “Herz” und “Schmerz” in a love song.

But take a look on your own, here are the links for CDU, SPD, Green Party , FDP, Linke.

P.S.: Watch a Netherland's journalist becoming a youtube-star with the help of German chancellor Angela Merkel. He asked, how the hell she could give the job of the finance minister to Wolfgang Schäuble who has once forgotten 100.000 DM in his drawer. And please, if you watch it, look for Horst Seehofer, who is sitting at the left side, how he is actually smiling and then trying to have a serious glance.

By Ger_Watch

YouTube and U.S. politics

There’s something about YouTube. It’s a phenomenon. You intend to look for one thing and find yourself an hour later watching more or less topic-related videos. Today it was just the same. But what I found is too good to keep it to myself. My original intention was to see how U.S. parties and politicians use YouTube. I will still write about it, but more than that I will give you a sample of good links that I found today researching my topic. I had a good laugh or two that I wouldn’t want you to miss.

But let me start with videos broadcasted by politicians intentionally. There’s, of course, the weekly republican address. I couldn’t tell you more about the video I found than you can read in the headline. I was too distracted by the representative’s eyes. He was obviously reading from a teleprompter. But it made him look so nervous that I got totally distracted. Poor performance. Next I found an election ad. Though, those are surprisingly hard to find among all the funny clips related. This one is from Massachusetts and I find it representative for American election campaign commercials. Some music in the background, a populist message, then the face of the guy who is going to save the country and finally a ridiculous remark like: “Enough is enough.”

But let’s come to the fun part. Not that those weren’t funny, because they DID have a humorous tone. YouTube comes in handy, when you want to have some insight to crazy stuff happening in a politician’s everyday life. Of course you can see them on the news as well, because most of them are taken from news shows. But on YouTube they live on for everyone to see. For example: Did you know that President Obama got called a liar by a politician while speaking? Or did you see of one of his funniest speeches ever? Where he actually opened his address by saying that he really doesn’t want to be there?! Where else would you see a fan-made video about upcoming elections that refers to Hillary Clinton as “Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend’s wife”?! And where else would you find all the hesitating answers of politicians when being asked questions about war, comfortably cut together?! 

Some videos are really just funny, some might be offending. Some are totally made up, but they get you thinking about incidents. Just like the funny clip about the Florida voting machine.

YouTube is a channel that is extremely connected with politics. It’s used by politicians themselves (more or less successfully) or used to make fun of speeches. And in this way it’s a way to shape and contribute to debates about politics. And it’s an entertaining way to do so. Of course one cannot take everything at face value. A lot is exaggerated or even made up. But still…!

There’s one last video that really left a lasting impression. It’s a campaign video for Barack Obama. It was created with the help of a lot of celebrities. You see, there are some out there who know how to use the internet. There are some that actually can.

by US_watch

Konrad Adenauer: The first German chancellor on Facebook

Their pictures can be found at the walls of party-offices, their names are used in many speeches. Not unusual, even when the politician is dead. But on Facebook or on Twitter?

Most prominent is the profile of “DerFuehrer” , who is followed by about 25.000 people. Some examples of his last tweets: “Jätzt, wo där Papst Komdomä ärlaobt hat, kann ich Eva nächt mehr längär hinhalten. Das wird mir die Kirche bößen!“ or „ Wänn jätzt allä nor noch öbär Fäisbock kommonizierän, solltä ich da wohl zögigäst einmarschierän.“Sometimes they just want to be funny, but most times you can also read a political message between the lines.

But let’s come to an „ordinary“ profile of a dead politician: Konrad Adenauer. He has, believe me, an own Facebook profile. But this time, no one pretends to be the politician (as done at many other fake profiles” but it is always spoken from “Konrad” instead of “I”. I’d call it an ode to Konrad Adenauer. There are posted many famous quotations, but there also questions posted similar to “What would Konrad say about the rescue of Opel?”. At that point, there seems to be a bigger possibility for participation that at the “active” profiles of politicians.

Unfortunately, the good old Konrad Adenauer died a second death, At the end of 2009, the last entry was posted. But his fans haven’t stopped commenting and haven’t stopped posting at his wall. Goodbye, and maybe we will see you on Twitter nex time. Everything's possible.

P.S.: If you are actually not interested in dead politicians, check out this link and you’ll find a list of other dead celebrities on Facebook.

by Ger_watch

Connect with a dead president via fb

It’s not unusual for a president to have a facebook account. What is surprising, is that a dead president of the United States has a facebook page that totally resembles a normal profile. Richard Nixon, a very controversial president seems to have a huge fan community. Though he died in 1994, his page is updated daily, sometimes several times a day. People post videos and photos of the 37^th president of the U.S.

At first glance it’s make-believe all over the place. The visitor gets the impression it’s a totally usual profile. I caught myself thinking “Wait, isn’t he dead?” for a second as well. This goes on at the information tab. Birthday, hobbies, political view…the usual. It’s not until the middle of the page when the person behind the page reveals that this is a tribute to Nixon. It’s stated that everyone is welcome to contribute positively or negatively, but with due respect. I’m wondering how they would know what his favorite quote was. I hardly doubt he wrote it down in his diary. “A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.” The dead president further reveals that he was a Quaker and likes politics and pianos. That he was conservative is not hard to guess, though.

The page’s goodies are the photos of Nixon. Only 13 wall photos, but 73 photos contributed by others. At first it’s the usual: Nixon in Egypt, Nixon with other politicians, Nixon and Dr. King, Nixon and his family. This is a very cute picture of him with his spouse, two children and a dog taking a walk along the beach. There’s also an old photo showing a young Nixon at the College football team. My favorite photo of him has been taken in China. Nixon tried to eat with chopsticks – the look on his face is priceless.

It’s true: Facebook connects people all over the world – and far beyond that. “Until death do us part” may refer to wedding vows, but it is not valid for a president’s relationship to his facebook account.

by US_watch

Tweets of the German party "SPD"

The Twitter-account of the German party “SPD” is quite active. At some days they tweet more than ten times. But that’s is not such a big miracle, as tweeting the links to your own webside is not the biggest exercise. I guess that twittering is a popular duty for trainees. Probably they copy & paste the sentence “*… in an interview with *” and then they complete with names as Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Andreas Nahles or anyone else and the medium “FAS” “spiegel online” or “SZ”.


Unfortunately, the account stays quite anonymous, it is not clearly to see, who is actually twittering. From my point of view, you have to see some faces behind the account to be able to communicate and participate.

To be fair, the SPD also tweets articles from their followers, but mainly from their own members or local organizations. What is missing, is the participation of followers. Why don’t they ask their followers for their opinion on the subjects they tweet? Only one time the last few days they asked if any follower has blogged something about an SPD-subject.


At least they use some hashtags for popular subjects as #zensursula, #Dioxin or #HartzIV.

“Pr-Blogger” has also published his impression of the SPD-Twitter-Account. He criticizes that the party responds too seldom to followers.


Another useful link: www.parteigefluester.de gives a live-overview of current tweets of every party and also of their politicians. At the moment Sven Kindler of the Green party tweets: “Nice interview in the Spiegel-magazine about Castor, protests and democracy”. And on the other hand you can see the reaction of an FDP-member directly to Sven Kindler: “For this stuff, the Spiegel is always good”. 

By Ger_Watch

Democrats on twitter

Twitter: some use it to tell all their followers that they need to go to the bathroom, are riding the bus or are bored. It’s used vastly by individuals in very different ways. But not only individual persons use twitter to shout out to the world without raising their voice. Whole groups can have a common twitter account. And of course parties wouldn’t miss to use this way of communication.

I took a closer look at the Democrat’s twitter profile. They have nearly 2700 tweets. They tweed several times a day, sometimes every hour and make it to more than 12 tweets a day. I guess you could describe the Democrats as active twitter users. They provide their followers with links and very often they link to their news blog.

Last week they tweeted a lot about president Obama’s State of the Union Address. They provide information and news. But sometimes they can be very entertaining. For example this tweet: “Exercise your right to vote—for our newest State of the Union T-shirt design.” Apart from trying to sell some merchandise and getting everyone to watch the address, they also thought of new and fresh ways to approach this issue. I found the following too funny to be true: Find out who's sitting with First Lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union. The link that followed led the reader to the website of the White House, where everyone could click on little chairs to find out who will be sitting where. A little window with a picture and a description of the person popped up. The who is who of the white house.  

So now it’s your turn. Tell us what you think about the Democrats twitter profile. Is it a good way to bring politics to everyone’s cell phone or just a ridiculous attempt to be up-to-date?! #Judge now#

by US_watch

A German blogging politician

Unfortunately, only a few well-known politicians have an own weblog. Therefore, I will examine the blog of a local politician: Rainer Zeimentz, mayor of the town “Koblenz”. According to the “Rheinzeitung”, he invests several hours per day for updating his weblog.

One of his latest post comments on the reactions of media on the subject: “How to cope with muslim children at school.” The SPD calls for separated swimming lessons or thoughtfulness during the “Ramadan”. The mayor now criticizes a newspaper article about the reaction of the CDU and thinks, that media is only copying the opinion of the CDU. From his point of view, this reaction shows racist tendencies. As a “real” blogger, he posts the newspaper article, but also the original material, which is object of the debate.

Surprisingly, he also adds some multimedia-material, which seems to be self-made. Some photos and a video with a summary of the photos show a local parking problem. This blog posts give the impression that he actually cares about local problems and also does some research.

He shows a big variety in subjects, the next post is about the revolution in Tunisia, so Rainer Zeimentz has published a post from “ReadWriteWeb”. But unfortunately, the next post is also from another blogger about the political winners in the election year 2011. That’s legitimate, but he could possibly comment it with some of his own words.

The older blog posts show his power: He blogs about social media and its use in local politics. That’s what local politicians should concentrate about and that’s how they reach the people in their region. And if they really want to start some opportunities for participation, they should do it like Rainer Zeimentz and invite the people for a discussion.

By Ger_Watch

Blogging politicians in the US – a long gone trend?!

Our idea for today was to write about blogging politicians. We wanted to focus on rather unknown people. We know about quite a number of blogging politicians in Germany. So I went online and tried to find American politicians who blog. I’ve got to say, what I found came to me quite as a surprise. It’s not that I did not find someone. I found a lot of articles about blogging politicians. But whenever I clicked a link the address was no longer available or the last blog post was more than 5 years ago. I tried very hard. But my efforts bore no fruit. If any of you has other information, or knows about an American politician, who still bloggs on a regular basis, please let me know.

Though I haven’t found what I was looking for, I still think my findings very interesting. It seems to me that blogging (at least for American politicians) is a long gone trend. I found the answer to the question why that is, in Representative John Fritchey’s last blog entry. He quit blogging in August of 2010 after 5 years of keeping his blog updated with the following words: “And while the response and readership were great, I eventually realized that there simply weren't enough hours in the day for me to take care of everything else that I needed to and to continue to do this blog in the way that it deserved to be done. The ability to use Facebook and Twitter to reach an even wider audience essentially sealed the deal.” It’s a bit sad, because I think he obtained a decent blog.

Of course president Barack Obama has a blog. But this is not maintained by himself, so I don’t count it here.

A French guy by the name of Loic Le Meur has put together a nice list why politicians should blog. I recommend this as obligatory reading material to every politician out there. Facebook and twitter are nice, but nothing gives you the in-depth views and conversations like a hand-made blog does. #blog is not dead#

by US_watch

Fake profiles: Take a look at "Westerwave" on Twitter

On the homepage www.wahl.de it is possible to ask for the online reputation of every German politician. How active is Angela Merkel on Twitter? How many fans has family secretary Kristina Schröder on Facebook, and has she even an account?

The most surprising result during research is the fact: Nearly every politician has a twitter-account. Even more surprising: Most of them are fake-accounts. They are not always funny and do not exist for a long time, as the one from labour secretary Ursula von der Leyen. On the other hand, the fake-twitter-account of the famous foreign secretary Guido Westerwelle is a big success: Nearly eleventhousand followers read his tweets. Two days ago, he twittered: “Souregg. Justin Beaver is 7th in the list of the 50 populariest women – and I not. I need a better searchmaschinemarketing”. Obviously, the account makes fun, of Westerwelle’s not-existing English-skills. “My speech at the threekingsmeeting walks good. ‘Who wants to lead a land must be ready to hecarry thirstparcourses.” Highlight is definitely the name for German chancellor “Merkel” as “remindel”, get the translation?, or secretary “Brüderle” as “Littlebrother”? And do you get who is “GoodMountain”, “Stonemeggy” or “Seafarmer”?

Obviously, most of the posts are only “fun”, but nearly every current political subject is mentioned: “Forge now a plan to find the pussthrow and to pay it this slick-dry-blowed babblebag From and to Goodmountain sowhat from back! #wikileaks“.One more tip: If you want to read as many Guido-Westerwelle-accounts as possible, type in “Guido Westerwelle” and find eleven other profiles.

by Ger_watch

Fake profiles: Condi on twitter

We already showed that politicians using social media can turn out to be very funny or at least entertaining. But most of the time this is just a nice side effect that is not intended by the politician or party themselves. But then there are accounts that have this single intention: to mock the alleged owner. Those are fake profiles. There are 65 listed fake profiles from politicians on twitter alone.

One among those belongs to Condoleezza Rice. Well not herself, because obviously it’s fake. Her Bio on this account says: “Aspiring NFL Chairman or Concert Pianist”. She tweeds under the short name of “Condi”. Sadly “her” last tweet was in November 2007. But this one shows very well, that this cannot – under no circumstances – be her own twitter account: “Dammit, Rove! How many times do I have to explain TiVo to you?!?! (He forgot to record the Browns/Ravens game last weekend.)”

Most of the tweeds are about her working life with George W. Bush. Just like this one: “G. thinks he's so funny. He keeps popping into my office singing "Condi, Condi" to that "Candy, Candy" melody. NOT FUNNY, G.W.!” This fake account does a good job at making fun of Condoleezza. It makes her look like a naïve woman, who is just interested in girly stuff instead of politics: “OMG, cutest halter ever top at Forever 21. I'm so getting it G.W.'s girls. Maybe they will introduce me to Paris!”

Her profile picture is also well-chosen. It shows an angry Condoleezza, indicating the size of something with her fingers. What she was talking about at this exact moment is open to speculations…

She sadly has only 38 tweets. If I had to pick my favorite one of them, it would be the tweed from December 2006: “AWKWARD! G. just caught me texting with "Obama," but he thought it said "Osama." Doy!” It’s hilarious on so many levels.

Dear inventors of Condi’s fake twitter profile: PLEASE get back to work. You did a good job. Fake profiles are a great contribution to the world of social media. They are hilarious AND have an actual link to current politics. Way to go, folks!

by US_watch

What is allowed in the German "Bundestag"?

Twitter, Facebook, Weblog, are they actually allowed in parliament. Do you see any politicians sitting in the back row, in front of them alternatively notebook, iPad or iPhone?

Notebooks and calls with mobile phones are definitely forbidden, iPads are allowed. Actually, I ask myself, where is the sense in this rule? If I were a Member of the Bundestag, I’d feel annoyed by people, checking their emails while I make a speech. Or twittering jokes at the same time, as the German newspaper “taz” has found out.. On the other hand, it makes politics more attractive, when you can follow the opinions of several Members of the Bundestag live via Twitter.

The official explanation for the iPad is, that it hasn’t got a keyboard and makes no noise. Moreover, it is now allowed to use the iPad to make a speech, when you don’t want to print out the manuscript. Thanks to Jimmy Schulz (FDP), making the first speech with the help of his iPad, the console is now allowed. But his speech has actually not been his best. With the help of the youtube-video  you can find a quite rugged speech.

But the biggest scandal about new technologies and social media in parliament, has been the “twitter-scandal”. During the election of president Horst Köhler, three members published the result on twitter, before it was official. And others created fake accounts of prominent members and published even false results during the election 2010.

by Ger_watch

Technology and politics

Politics and the internet are very much intertwined nowadays. Obama had a great online campaign; parties and politicians have facebook profiles and twitter accounts. They use every channel to reach possible voters. But there’s this one area where politics and technology don’t go hand in hand. Well, at least in the USA. There’s this one place, where politics has put up a “Technology and progress, please keep out”-sign. It’s at the very heart of politics: Washington D.C.

So far representatives were not allowed to bring cell phones, iphones or blackberries into parliament. Which doesn’t mean that some haven’t tried so far. There’s been one incident in March of 2010 when a politician complained that a colleague took a picture of him while he has been sound asleep. This opened up another discussion about electronic devices in parliament, which had been forbidden so far. That’s totally understandable. Who would want someone to take a picture of them, while they are asleep at work?! This is a fair enough argument to ban progress from Washington D.C.

Shortly after this, another incident heated up the discussion once again. A lady by the name of Nolan got messages from outside, which helped her answering the questions she’s been asked in parliament. The cell phone as prompter – that’s not new. I’m sure there has been a number of students who hid their cell phone on the toilet to get some help in an exam. At least most of them were clever enough not to get caught in the act.

With Republicans gaining more power after midterm elections, there could be some change to ancient rules. They want to allow electronic devices on the floor as long as they don’t disturb anyone (“impair decorum” as it’s officially called). Let’s wait and see. Maybe one final day we can congratulate them: Welcome to the 21^st century!

by US_watch

The homepage of the "CDU"

A homepage is not so much web 2.0, I know. Despite this fact, I want to blog about the possibilities to participate on the homepage. Are there discussion? Are the social-media-tools of the parties included? Are there any blogs?

I don’t want to admit, that I had the usual reservations, but actually I had. But to my surprise, the homepage seems to be quite young and active. The homepage is really colorful and has nothing to do with the color of the party: black.

I can click a button, and become a member by filling in a online document. The next click guides me to the youtube-channel, and above I can get to the facebook-profile to an unknown-politician.I am not sure, whether they promote the page of Hermann Gröhe everyday (wouldn't make so much sense), or whether they change everyday (would make a lot more sense). On the bottom of the page, I can also click at the "MeinVZ" and at the Twitter-Account of this unknown man.

But is there any possibility to become part of a political movement? There is, or at least, there seems to be a small one. With another click, I get to a special action of the party: I can fulfill the sentence “Our country…” with another 140 signs (the Twitter length), upload a photo and become part of a huge gallery, formed as the borders of Germany. There are people writing “Our country gives everyone a chance”, “Our country needs dedicated trainees”, or “Our country is beautiful”.Obviously, that’s not an online revolution, and probably it’s not enough to recruit a huge campaign team, but it’s a good beginning for a country, which seems to be so bored and disappointed from German politics.

There is only one disadvantage: The homepage has two-main sides, this interactive “portal” and the page about the party. And when it comes to “serious” topics on the “party”-page it’s boring again. So why can’t they explain their political program on the same page as the one with the colours and the interactive tools. Or is their program simply no fun at all? And shouldn’t have people the chance to comment on the party’s attitude towards integration or homosexual relationships?

By Ger_Watch

A conservative party's website

It’s not too long ago, when the Republican Party discovered the incredible opportunities the internet offers to them. Their homepage: www.gop.gov is the address that provides a home for every Republican heart. It is made by the Republicans who are in congress. Once on the website, the visitor is greeted with the weekly Republican address. The website itself produces a slightly feeling of being overtaxed. Many possible clicks wait and make me feel a little helpless. The constantly changing picture in the middle of the website doesn’t help at all. At a closer look the page is well organized though. It’s just that the design hides this fact pretty well.

Once oriented, the visitor can find “smart solutions” on the country’s problems. They are even explained in a video. The highlight for me was the fact, that the website has a blog. YES. In deed. Republicans blog about their point of view on current issues, which happens to be health care in 90 per cent of all cases. There are uncountable videos of some politician giving a speech. They also have an extra section, where they can pursue their favorite hobby: Obama-bashing. It’s called: “Obamacare-flatlines” and it tells everyone “the truth about Obama’s health care.”

 

A bit contrary is the page of Republicans in senate. It looks more like yellow press online. There are colors everywhere. But it’s more innovative about the forms of criticizing Democrats. There’s a growing number at the side, that shows the growth of debt. It’s entitled: rising debt, Democrats keep spending… 

Back with the Republicans in congress, they plead you to check out their various channels, in which they’d like to contact you. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, flickr, RSS-Feed…the list goes on. It seems like Republicans really grasped the spirit of modern communication, of how to reach possible voters. What they don’t know is that the internet is not a one-way street. It usually works both ways. Anywhere but here – to contact the Republicans the visitor is asked to use the good old-fashioned telephone. Or an e-mail. There’s no way to comment on anything anywhere on his whole expanding page. It seems to me, Republicans want to reach the world via the internet. But the world itself should just sit there and listen.

by US_watch

Angela Merkel on Facebook

66.281 people like Angela Merkel’s profile on Facebook. Not really surprising, if you take a look at this awesome bunch of information. Watch out for her hobbies: gardening, hiking and cooking. Interesting. She also whistle-blows her favourite musicians: “Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Beatles, Karat”. And what a service that she adds in brackets after Karat: “East German rock band”. That’s all somehow nice, a little bit funny, but what if I want to know more about her politics, what if I want to become part of a discussion about it?

Angela Merkel (respectively her office) posts circa once a week a political statement she has said in a newspaper, or optionally a video. There are always hundreds of people who click at “like” and also hundreds of people who discuss the topic. Web 2.0 as a democratic tool for discussions?

Let’s take a look at the post concerning young carolers. 563 persons have commented on this topic. At first glance. A second look shows: Some people write about her attitude towards Angela Merkel (“angela is the best woman”), some write about personal problems, which should be solved by the government (“I have finished my B.A. program for nearly 2 years and a half now. I need the German public help”). Mostly, there arise big topics as integration, which parties are finally the best and the price of gasoline. As anyone can imagine, this ends up in a chaotic discussion.

So, if you wanna see a little bit action on her profile, you have no other chance then clicking the page of "Süddeutsche Zeitung". They have figured out, what Angela Merkel's page should look like.

by Ger_watch

Barack Obama on Facebook

More than 500 Million people are on Facebook. Of course among them is the current president of the United States. Barack Obama has an authorized account that is run by an organization in his name. His wall is updated with status, videos and comments several times a day. The ordinary facebook user, however, cannot post on his wall or leave him a personal message. Bummer. I wanted to say hi so badly. 

 

 
But the side provides a lot of information about the president. One of the first things a visitor can see is that his religious views are filled in with “Christian”. That should surprise a lot of Americans. Or better: one in five Americans. According to pew research that’s the number of U.S. citizens that think of Obama as a Muslim. Maybe that’s why he wanted to make it clear on facebook. 

He’s not that chatty about his political views though. This information is simply missing. Maybe he just wants to let the pictures speak for themselves. There are 36 photo albums, with one for each month of his time as president. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what was so special about “May 2010”. But more than 8,000 people liked it. And more than 1,200 commented on it. Maybe it was Michelle’s red dress. Who knows?! The best pictures come last: An album entitled: “Old school”, showing a young, handsome Barack. 

For all the information provided – there is one question that remains unanswered by his facebook account. It’s THE most discussed issue right now: Does he or does he not…dye his hair? Maybe that’s worth a post, don't you agree, Mr. President?!

by US_watch

Social media? Web 2.0?

Web 2.0: If you want to be cool, use this word, even without knowing what it means. If you want to be even cooler, talk about university 2.0, TV 2.0 or health 2.0. The opposite example are casting shows: Everybody talks about it, but nobody would admit that he watches it. With Web 2.0 it is often the other way round: Everybody talks about it, but only a few people actually know it or use it. So: What is Web 2.0, can it even be defined?


American writer Seth Porges has once published an article with the headline “Will Human Laziness Burst the Web 2.0 bubble” (http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/09/27/the-futurist-will-human-laziness-burst-the-web-20-bubble/). I think this question somehow explains Web 2.0 quite good. Web 2.0 depends on the activity and the creativity of everyone. It is all about participation and becoming part of this huge thing called “internet”. It is not any longer Web 1.0 with a few content-producers and lots of passive users, clicking on this page, surfing on another page, and on good days, type some words in google.


Trying to define Web 2.0 in a few words or even a few sentences is difficult, if not impossible. Even the word’s inventor Tim O’Reilly needed five pages to explain the term. The strongest arguments to explain the term, always seem to be the examples. O’Reilly says, web 1.0 is Britannica Online, web 2.0 is Wikipedia, web 1.0 is personal website, web 2.0 is blogging. And at least he explains: “Web 2.0 is an attitude, not a technology.”


But why should politicians even have this attitude? Is everything new automatically the best strategy? Let’s look at the numbers: Only 60 to 70 percent of young people find their way to the voting box. 96 % of young people regularly surf. And obviously, a 17-year-old-girl has not the biggest motivation to read 20 pages of boring party programs, when the alternative might be watching a Justin-Bieber-Youtube-Video and commenting it with three or four hearts. Studies show that young people are not uninterested in politics, many pupils or students even engage in social organizations. The trust in politicians is missing, but also the chance to participate in an uncomplicated way. So why don't politicians catch young people at exactly the place, where they stay the whole day? On the internet. 

By Ger_Watch

Welcome to the social media battle

Welcome to our blog socialmediabattle. “We”, that are Ger_watch and US_watch. We are two social media-addicted girls with a mission. We want to reveal how this beautiful and powerful world of social media is more or less skillfully used and misused by politicians. As we are Germans, it’s only logical to take a close look at how our own politicians behave on the web. 

That alone should be a whole lot of fun. But to make it juicier we also picked another country. A country with a political system, that is not too different from Germany’s. But that is still different enough to make it exciting to compare. A country, whose politicians know that “facebook” does no longer only refer to a book filled with pictures of students. And that twitter does not only refer to birds. We looked for a country that has just as much comical potential as our own: The United States of America. There are some examples of how funny politics can become online. Like the all time favorite: Obama girl. In case you don’t know this video (then for your own reputation, by all means don’t tell anyone) or just to enjoy it one more time, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU

So here we go: Every day we will have a different topic. We will compare two politicians and how they present themselves online; every day it’s: America versus Germany. Some of the politicians will be well-known. And of some of them you might have never heard of before. We will dig into research; we will not avoid accounts that could cause us physical or psychological damage. Every day will be a battle. twit_watch takes care of Germany and fb_watch takes a good look at the USA. Then you can comment who won the battle. Who has the least embarrassing Facebook account? Whose tweeds are the best? It’s your choice. Are you ready? Let the battle begin.

The following link is a service to all of you. Because we know not only politicians make mistakes when online. We are sure you will think of someone you know, when you read this. Have a good laugh: http://matadornetwork.com/life/social-media-faux-pas-dont-be-that-guy/

 By US_watch