Forget opening the newspaper at the breakfast table – Americans are now getting their news updates from online networking sites.
Thirty-five percent of Americans have seen a political video online, and 10 percent of the population has used networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace to obtain information about political campaigns, YouTube news and politics head Steve Grove said at Harvard University Monday afternoon.
News and politics at YouTube includes You Choose 08, youtube’s political coverage of the 2008 election and Citizentube, which is a collection of political video blogs and all other citizen journalism on the site.
Grove, a Harvard alumnus, spoke about YouTube’s role in politics with the recent legislation by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee allowing political officials to maintain networking websites and upload content that is representative of their views, making public discourse more accessible.
‘Candidates don’t have to go through the mainstream media to get their messages out,’ he said. ‘Thousands more people are engaged with politics now because of this medium.’
Coverage of the 2008 presidential election has increased with the dominance of sites like YouTube, which allow any individual to post and view political commercials attacking or supporting candidates.
Grove expounded on the profound impact of online content on current presidential campaigns, and its importance as a historical archive.
YouTube is accessible in both uploading and in viewing content, and Grove said the site was comparable to a ‘video library.’
‘My favorite YouTube statistic is that every minute, 13 hours’ worth of video is uploaded onto the site,’ he said, and gave pause to reflect on that number. ‘I think that describes how videos have become one of the most powerful mediums today.’
Boston University School of Medicine professor emeritus Merrill Feldman said the public should explore the influence of the Internet media on public perception.
‘I think there needed to be more discussion about how [YouTube] influences public opinion,’ he said.’
Facebook employee Adam Conner, who also attended the event, said online videos have had a strong influence on the presidential race and the upcoming election.
‘We have become arbiters of our own democracy,’ he said.
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