YouTube and Social Media's Effects on Political Advertising Campaigns

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[Name of the Author]

[Name of the Faculty]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Significance2

Aims and Objectives2

Research Questions3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Defining Political Advertising4

Functions of Political Advertising4

The Consequences, Effects, and Ethics of Political Advertising5

YouTube and Political Advertising Campaigns7

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY9

Research Design9

Qualitative Research9

Literature Search9

Data Analysis Method10

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS11

Obama's Social Media Use in the 2008 Presidential Campaign11

Analysis of YouTube' Impact on Political Advertising Campaigns12

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION15

REFERENCES16

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background

From the beginning, politics has relied on the support of one contender over the other. It is there to stay forever, but the methods and mediums for political advertising and communication have changed continuously (Damore, 2002). Whenever a new communication medium has emerged, political contenders have chosen that method for the persuasion of voters. In order to provide information about different issues to voters and to boost their images, contenders spend a large part of their campaign for advertising (Wayne, 2004). The rise of internet along with the failure of the unidirectional advertising model, political campaigns now search new paths for the conveying of message to the public.

One of such emerging advertising paths of social media that have come forward during the digital revolution is YouTube. YouTube is a digital video viewing site that provides a platform for sharing, viewing and uploading countless official as well as unofficial videos. It has the ability to provide a perfect platform for comprehending and analyzing various political issues (Granato & Wong, 2004). The facilities provided by YouTube are free of cost and anyone can access unlimited quantity of videos. There is no requirement for registry. Furthermore, the viewers get the option of rating the available content, leaving comments, viewing average rating of a clip and the number of times the any video has been viewed.

Thus, politicians can easily interact with countless voters and supporters through this medium (Granato & Wong, 2004). Through YouTube, modern political campaigns interact with their voters by way of producing videos, and some voters upload their own videos to encourage and convey message to other voters. Due to regular updating of campaign advertising, it has also forced the traditional media, such as newspapers and broadcast networks to keep an eye on this social medium to make latest news (Damore, 2002). Therefore, it can be easily said that YouTube has the tendency to create news agenda just like news are reported through other forms of media.

Significance

Without any doubt, new communication media will continue to emerge with the advancement in digital technology. Since, public has a huge part in politics, therefore political advertising campaigns will surely adopt the newest communication paths to interact with as many people as possible in the cheap possible way. This study will present valuable insight about the role and impact of social media, especially YouTube, in political advertising campaigns. The study will also analyze whether there is a positive or negative effect on political advertising campaigns with the use of social media.

Aims and Objectives

This thesis has the ...