Search engine giant Google and its video-sharing subsidiary YouTube have launched Web sites for the special municipality elections next month, in the companies’ latest effort to highlight the Internet’s role in modern political elections.
The Google Web site and YouTube channel dedicated to the Nov. 27 elections were launched as “online platforms to help Taiwanese voters and candidates interact online,” Google Taiwan general manager Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said in a statement issued on Friday.
In addition to basic information on each municipality and its election, the Web site presents a Web page for each candidate that compiles news stories, blog posts and information from social networking sites such as Facebook and Plurk. Internet users can also post messages on the page’s chat board.
A graphic on the municipality page shows how many times the two candidates were searched on the Internet during the day, a tool for voters to compare the candidates’ popularity.
The YouTube channel allows users to upload videos to voice their opinions and questions for candidates.
Google and YouTube have previously launched Web sites for political elections in Australia, Japan, the UK and the US. US President Barack Obama became the first US presidential candidate to successfully utilize the Internet and social networking sites to interact with voters during his 2008 presidential campaign, Google Taiwan associate marketing director Richard Li (利啟正) said, adding that the Internet has now also become an important aspect of political campaigns in Taiwan.
Visit www.google.com.tw/2010election and www.youtube.com/2010electiontw for more information.
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