Real-time experiment in Funf stages
prolog "Make this choice for the point of view! Less. Eat more!" – With this spectacular claim, the BKD offers potential WAHLER in your digital polling station. There permits the delivery "Virtual ballot" Active intervention in the election campaign. What looks at first glance according to exemplary burger participation on the high of the election campaign time, turns out to be cross-entry par excellence. With a skilful Persiflage of the online format of the "Virtual party centers" Does the Newcomer party attract here here "Burger King for Germany" (BKD) (WWW.BKD headquarters.EN) All registers of the interactive election campaign.
Last but not least, the styled network prize of the "tasteful alternative" BKD illustrates that the election campaign Anno 1998 does not last only on poster, marketplace, newspaper pages or television screens. With the internet, a new arena of campaign communication has aroused that since the Fruhsommer also from the "usual" Party landscape is considered. In the new media format, the partial unemployed workers are based on international standards political online marketing and use the World Wide Web frequently as a schaubuhne for digital commercials.
In the remaining weeks to showdown on the 27th. September will expand the online election campaign continuously, in the various phases of campaign time each different types of offer and scene of the election campaign activities in the network foreground occur. Overlooking the online events from the USA (Prassadschaftschahlen 1996) and Great Britain (General Election 1997), a tour is roughly subdivided into the views of the network election campaign in FUF stages. (Additional information )
1. Stage: from CDU.DE to PDS-Online.DE -Virtuelle party centers as a starting point of the online election campaign
Due to its striking positioning in the data room determine the quite comfortable developed "Virtual party centers" The first section of the online campaign. The network envelopes of the parties provide their surfing regular customers with the standard formats of digital election advertising, while the offers between – some mubs vary widely-free – posched placards in web format, interactive campaigners and elaborate "Online Spots".
The digital second recycling of the party advertising material is the foundation almost every online campaign. Around the biographies of the top candidates, the reproduction of the most important content statements or the envision of offline election dates. A media-friendly appreciation is especially designed for the web-prasenz developed content such as online dossiers to important campaign topics, electronic newsletters, discussion forums or chat events with party representatives.
Crushed in addition to these web-communities graphically defined "Online Spots", How to use SPD and FDP in this early campaign phase: From the party homepage direct routes in graphically resistant areas, which give materials around the choice of bilanes and users the opportunity to discuss and comment on the advertising strategies. Here the online campaigns take the form of election commercials of the "second kind" At which, in addition to styled program and personnel pressing station, also ensure feedback from the interested base.
2. Stage: by Helmut-Kohl.de to joschka.DE – the personalization of the campaign by candidate domains
The campaign-related intensification of the offers on the pages of the virtual party centers, however, leads to a veritable right "run over" this web sites. As a well-logical consequence, a differentiation of the main locations of the online campaigning takes place in the second campaign phase. If the decided election campaign of the virtual party centers can certainly apply as a German specific, the second stage illustrates the bonds from online electoral champions in other countries. As a most apparent phenomenon, the establishment of personal campaign pages with a defensive internet address apply. These "Candidate domains" Fold a bundig in the trend for personalization of the election fighter manager.
The most prominent representatives of this in this country still quite new genre of political online offers can be found under domains like WWW.Chancellor.DE, WWW.Schroeder98.DE, WWW.Guido Westerwelle.DE or WWW.Joschka.de. However, at the present time these offers are barely over the construction site status (Joschka.de), act as a digital redirect plate to ages (Guido Westerwelle.or benefit simply from the office bonus (Federal Chancellor.de).
The candidate domains are also the target of wildcard offers, which want to take advantage of a supposedly popular addressing. So is the domain Helmut-Kohl.DE, for example, registered on the young Union North Baden, which under the prominent URL their electoral education program with the slightly militant name Battle-of-98 (at www.Helmut Kohl.DE) offers.
The quite intuitive address WWW.Gerhard Schroder.DE shows itself steadfast as an online construction site, which hardly surprised, as the Young Union Oberpfalz has acquired the name rights. However, the Chancellor’s candidate preserves the active help of three not very unlessing supports of a (very) boy "Digital agency" from Koln, the www.Schroeder98.de for adequate online prasence (and effective self-promotion).
Significant for the current situation of the candidate domains, the solid and functional personality page of Jost Stollmann – while in the camp of the professional politician still there is some confusion, demonstrates the newcomer the so important media competence. The cleavage of offers tailored to the top candidates can make a stronger focus on personal content that reflects in highlighted accessibility through an exposed domain name. In this occupation of public space on the Internet, the online election campaign is on the high of the current grid – who wants to attend himself, must not be on the "Home game" In the virtual party headquarters, however, restricts MUB with a defined websites in the competition.
3. Stage: from election campaign.de to choice.DE – Interactive offers, election news and electoral education
With increasing campaign duration, the online election campaign will also develop into a technical race of political counterparties. The offers of competition are observed, on any innovations such as audio and video offers or "Direct conversion" At least the internet must have "gross" Parties react quickly. In this context, the gimmicks, gimmicks and quiz offers, with which the election reversals want to demonstrate a technical consideration.
The multirzworns interactive potentials of the Internet use the most online electorate but barely hardly, only the SPD shows fingerbuildings in the "Negative Campaigning", If the competition is to be cariced in co-making cartoons.
Numerous examples of the use of technical Internet conditions so far, especially the websites for election reporting, which constitute another important venue of the online election campaign and gain in importance, the closer of the election date represents. The most prominent representative of this new media genres, the Hamburg offer WWW.Election campaign98.DE, the design and care of a comprehensive press archive for the general election has made its task. With the "Phrastress" offer the election observers from the Hanseatic city at the same time "interactive" Apple, which uses the program’s prospa of strategy papers as a database for generation – partly – entertaining nonensense texts.
More serious access are the "Choice" The Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which allows a query of the election results of all federal elections or the background offer from WWW.Election 98.De which offers a look at the choice history of the Federal Republic, as well as typical election campaign elements to analyze and comment on.
In the course of the steady spread of the online electoral evidence, pure link collections also have economy, especially search engines such as Yahoo! or Lycos on the plan.
4. Stage: voting Treet.DE to election day.DE – current reporting, polls and forecasts
In the immediate pre-selection time, the websites for the current election reporting occur, because in the last weeks before the inlet is a strong mediaprasence – analogous to the highest goal of the many buhlers around the coveted Bundestag seats. In this phase – which is about the last four weeks before the election is to be scheduled – the frosted media with its own internet prasence in the foreground. The online offshoots of daily or weekly newspapers place their election reporting flushes in the network and hope so on taking effects.
Not only the usual suspects (Z.B. Mirrors, Focus and Star goes into the crumbling, skillful network positioning also allow the supposed "Small" in the media business to assert oneself. With the backup of the domain www.election day.DE has placed around the Koblenz Rhein-Zeitung its campaign claim long. The formation of joint ventures is by no means unaffected under the larger media providers, so the Berlin Tagesspiegel and the Hamburg time with the boric game Choice of $ TREET offer a clever prognosis instrument for the prediction of the election results – the trade in the party acting has just begun. (See also "Electoral.DE – The first German borse on the web"To)
5. Stage: from ARD.de to statistics waistband.DE (time trial) – High Noon on the net – "Onlive" elsewhere
But his completion and high point, the online election campaign concludes on the day of the decision itself – the 27. September will be in the sign of a novel media competition. Although the coarse part of the election folk is waiting for the forecasts and extrapolations as usual from 6 pm in front of the TV screens, but parts of the crosslinked election will then follow their eyes on the computer monitors. the "Onlive"-Transfers to the Internet, although the television reporting can not yet reach the water, but the prompt results, reactions and analyzes in the network contribute to establishing the numerous web sites as new sources of information.
the "usual" Media – in special daily newspapers, news magazines and television broadcasters – are focusing on a documentation of extrapolations, politician statements and expert statements – a foretaste here is the election special in the online journal of the ARD. Local and regional providers were able to specialize in the presentation of constituency results and direct candidates, official places such as the Federal Statistical Office will finally make the final results online.
In the finish and at the start: the general election as real-time experiment
A short tour Džhorizon to the location of the online election campaign can show that parties, candidates and the media have discovered the Internet as a new format for election advertising and reporting. The phases of the online election campaigned here point to one "centrifugal" Expansion of the offers and their establishment in different places in the network. The Internet is considered "Real-time experimental field" used to explore the possibilities (and limits) of strong political network communication. Even if the online activities are unlikely to expect too much offline effects on the ultimate election outcrow, the opposite and structuring of a new media environment can help to reuse the Internet as an initial policy arena in the noise.