How will bloggers play a role in the 2007 Elections?

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief January 26, 2007 · 1 min read

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This question has been asked of me many times by people from the media — how will bloggers affect the May 2007 polls? What role will they play in the coming elections?

I couldn’t really put in a solid answer to this one but I offered several possibilities along the lines of citizen journalism:

Bloggers can influence their readers’ opinion and might sway their senatorial list.
Bloggers can provide the lead for MSM follow-up, verify facts and run stories.
Information Campaign. In times of election, a lot of propaganda are being hurled left and right. Bloggers can provide a second opinion or help clear up mis-information.
Bloggers can provide more coverage than MSM can ever squeeze in 30 minutes of airtime

In the US, every candidate has to have a blog or a podcast. Will our aspiring public officials follow the trend and embrace the long tail? How will they regard the internet a new campaign tool?

Watch out for an exclusive scoop on how the politicians and their PR advisers are using the web to do smear election campaigns. Only on Yugatech this Sunday midnight. :D

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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34 Comments

JC John SESE Cuneta · 19 years ago

Bloggers do free campaigning but allows open comments (moderated in the sense that no cursing and the like).

Literally, give the power to the people, give the people the power to share opinions.

That’s how I see bloggers influencing the Philippine Elections.

sexy mom · 19 years ago

why not a party list for bloggers? and we have one in the making, you – yuga

jhay · 19 years ago

It the domain “eleksyon07.com” already taken up? ;)

bikoy · 19 years ago

a blogger is running for congress by the way. Mong Palatino of Mongster’s Nest is Kabataan Party’s president and primary nominee

ManuelV · 19 years ago

Bloggers will not be able to affect the May 2007 polls, especially if their readers are as savvy as the regular readers of Yugatech. :-)

There are still possibilities, though, for blogging with a twist.

Here’s to the rise of the masa bloggers and their true effect in Philippine politics! :-)

Carl · 19 years ago

Bloggers can post pictures and video clips. Kitang-kita kung may pandarayang nagaganap. :)

bikoy · 19 years ago

hm, kung saka-sakali, ang tanging magagawa ng blogs ay #2. i dont think it will make a dent on any campaign unless a msm outlet carries it. a vast majority of filipino voters don’t have access to the internet and not a substantial number of those who do, avidly follow blogs to be swayed on their decisions.

Nick · 19 years ago

@jun, this is definitely going to be a busy run up to the elections, yet another crossroad in our nation’s long history…

rexted · 19 years ago

I think blogger could be ” Mata ng bayan ” since whereever you are you can blog something na makakatulong to have a clean election. But beware bloggers can also make false accusation sa mga candidate.

jun · 19 years ago

Time-to-publish is the advantage of blogs. There’s none unlike print or even radio and tv. Remember Noemi’s Milenyo post? And the tsunami blogs? I think the “exclusive and first seen/heard” info will play a significant role.

We also have the OFWs who will be using the net.. Think Absentee Voting.

The hard part now is to wade through the muck and see the real stories.

@Yuga: This is one of the things I mentioned last December. This could be one “business” for “bloggers”.

@Jazzy: It can be both for the good or the bad… It’s a tool and a powerful tool at that.

Nick: I agree, blogs will make a difference. Good idea on the Youtube upload… Let’s encourage this in our blog posts..

Another opportunity that I see now is SEO.. ItuloyAngIsulongSEO guys, keywords: Philippine Election 2007

Jazzy · 19 years ago

not unless they see a substantial votes coming from internet users, i don’t think they will do some serious campaign online.

they may bribe Abe for P5M for endorsement.

if the price is right, correct Abe? :)

Nick · 19 years ago

Notice to all Filipinos.. have your videophone in hand at all times, anything newsworthy regarding a candidate should be uploaded to Youtube..

This is a great time to really be on top of the elections and cover any frauds that are sure to take place..

I am pretty sure… let me rephrase… I KNOW THAT BLOGGERS ARE GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE..

hip2b2 · 19 years ago

But, what is the actual number of voters that read blogs compared to the number of people who watch TV or read the paper/tabloids (MSM)? Are the readers restricted to the pinoy tech community? So will blogging be counted as campaigning and therefore subject to COMELEC guidelines and spending caps? So many issues so little time …

How does this compare to other forms of electronic campaigning like SMS or MMS blasts (Smart, Globe and SUN will love this. Subs will hate this)?