Viral Marketing and Elections

A look at Austria might prove pretty instructive these days: since the government announced re-elections this fall, all the political parties have gone hysterical over the short period of time: how do you organise and manage a campaign in the short timeframe of only two months?

While the two big parties will probably rely on classical, agency-based campaigning, some members of the green party have started thinking aloud about a “crowdsourcing” campaigen: User are asked to design sujets, and my guess is that a lot of green politicians will start twittering all of a sudden. How can the power of direct communication be harnessed during these times? The next weeks will show if Austrian politicians make good use of Youtube, Facebook and Co. to reach out for the teenagers. This seems more useful than ever, considering that .at just lowered the age barrier: this is the first election where 16-year-olds are granted a vote.