Are South Africans ready for “Politics 2.0″ ?
Sep 15, 2008 Mobile, Uncategorized
Are South Africans ready for “Politics 2.0″ ?“Politics 2.0″ according to wikipedia is ” the idea that social networking and e-participation technologies will revolutionize our ability to follow, support, and influence political campaigns” and I would like to append that not only the political campain but the politcal process in general”
Unless you have been banished to a far flung Island totally isolated from all media over the last 4 years or so; the name Barak Obama has to sound familiar to you. Depending on the level of media that you may be exposed to, his name (Barak Obama) has become synonymous with the word CHANGE !
That message has been communicated and promised so well that even the means; with which that message is spreading; has changed. For the the change has been social media. The use of social media tools such as blog, shared video (Youtube), instant messaging (Twitter), social networking (Facebook et al) has done much to popularise and spread Obamas election promise.
Visiting websites for the major political parties in South Africa one soon realise that the political parties sit at varying levels of readiness for a robust political campaign that takes advantage of social media. At the most basic level at least they all have a web presence of some kind.
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| ANC | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | 15-Sep-08 |
| DA | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | 15-Sep-08 |
| FFP | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | 15-Sep-08 |
| ID | Y | Y/N | N | N | Y | N | Y | 15-Sep-08 |
| UDM | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | 15-Sep-08 |
| ACDP | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | 15-Sep-08 |
| PAC | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | 15-Sep-08 |
However most lack an RSS feed which to my mind is the most fundamental element required to really give wings to a political opinion published on their websites. I thought it was curious though that among websites visited they all seem to have a representation in one form or the other on Facebook.
No doubt the use of the tools has some significance but how relevant are all these tools in South Africa ?
Broadband penetration in South Africa sit at a low and depressing mark ( around 1% at best estimates source ), This does not compare well with the US at 57 % (source).
We do on the other hand have one of the highest mobile phone to user ratios in the world. This ubiquitous state in my opinion is the most widely ignored means of communication by political representatives. However, looking at the agenda on this years MobileActive08, I am convinced that perhaps some light will be shared towards that “Politics 2.0″ Euphoria I long to see.
Are South Africans ready for “Politics 2.0″ ?Tags: Politics 2.0, web 2.0