Local politicians take a leaf out of Obama’s book
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hurriyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 11, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Having seen the success that can come from taking an Internet savvy approach while campaigning for votes, politicians here are in no mood to let the opportunity pass.
Taking the lead from U.S. President Barack Obama’s highly successful use of the Internet during his presidential campaign, candidates for the upcoming local elections have also started capitalizing on Web sites, e-mail and the social networking site Facebook.
Demand for Web sites and Web hosting has increased 40 percent due to the upcoming local elections. Obama’s successful use of online campaigning is believed to be the primary reason behind this growing interest by Turkish politicians in the Internet.
Candidates for the local elections March 29 are no longer just competing via traditional means but are now making use of the Internet to reach potential voters. Candidates have Web sites, e-mail target audiences and have facebook groups.
Murat Yanıklar, general manager of the Internet firm turkticaret.net, said there has been a demand increase of 35 to 40 percent for Web sites and Web hosting due to the local elections. "Most of the candidates have their Web sites designed with local constituencies in mind. There is a serious increase in employing digital methods during campaigns compared to the previous elections," he said.
Videos in demand
"Through the Internet, candidates can both create an interactive environment for their target audience and reach the younger crowd," Yanıklar said. He added that video sections for Web sites have become really popular. Another trend is registering domain names with the candidate’s name next to the name of the area he or she is running for, Yanıklar said.
Yanıklar also said it was pleasing to see candidates from major political parties making an effort through the Internet. "The highest demand comes from the Marmara region. Candidates from every party are showing interest but the top demand is from the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, candidates. Web site design prices range from 1,000 to 5,000 (Turkish) liras," he said.
Facebook is popular worldwide and is the newest campaign medium. The incumbent mayors of Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir all have Facebook groups, as do their rivals.
Murat Karayalçın, the CHP mayoral candidate for Ankara, has 26,597 members in his Facebook group while AKP candidate Melih Gökçek, Karayalçın’s rival, and the incumbent mayor of Ankara, has only 2,451.
Kadir Topbaş, incumbent Istanbul Mayor from the AKP, has 1,024 fans on Facebook, a number that pales compared to those of his main rival from the CHP, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who has 108,000 supporters.
Other candidates competing on Facebook include İzmir mayor and CHP’s candidate, Aziz Kocaoğlu, who is seeking re-election and has 4,359 supporters. Mansur Yavaş of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and mayoral candidate for Ankara, has 5,464 fans.
Obama used Facebook and MySpace
The Internet played an important role in Obama’s presidential campaign. Obama’s team made use of social networks, direct e-mail and search engine campaigns to reach each voter individually. Toward the end of his campaign, Obama had 2 million members on his Facebook and MySpace pages.
Demand for Web sites and Web hosting has increased 40 percent due to the upcoming local elections. Obama’s successful use of online campaigning is believed to be the primary reason behind this growing interest by Turkish politicians in the Internet.
Candidates for the local elections March 29 are no longer just competing via traditional means but are now making use of the Internet to reach potential voters. Candidates have Web sites, e-mail target audiences and have facebook groups.
Murat Yanıklar, general manager of the Internet firm turkticaret.net, said there has been a demand increase of 35 to 40 percent for Web sites and Web hosting due to the local elections. "Most of the candidates have their Web sites designed with local constituencies in mind. There is a serious increase in employing digital methods during campaigns compared to the previous elections," he said.
Videos in demand
"Through the Internet, candidates can both create an interactive environment for their target audience and reach the younger crowd," Yanıklar said. He added that video sections for Web sites have become really popular. Another trend is registering domain names with the candidate’s name next to the name of the area he or she is running for, Yanıklar said.
Yanıklar also said it was pleasing to see candidates from major political parties making an effort through the Internet. "The highest demand comes from the Marmara region. Candidates from every party are showing interest but the top demand is from the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, candidates. Web site design prices range from 1,000 to 5,000 (Turkish) liras," he said.
Facebook is popular worldwide and is the newest campaign medium. The incumbent mayors of Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir all have Facebook groups, as do their rivals.
Murat Karayalçın, the CHP mayoral candidate for Ankara, has 26,597 members in his Facebook group while AKP candidate Melih Gökçek, Karayalçın’s rival, and the incumbent mayor of Ankara, has only 2,451.
Kadir Topbaş, incumbent Istanbul Mayor from the AKP, has 1,024 fans on Facebook, a number that pales compared to those of his main rival from the CHP, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who has 108,000 supporters.
Other candidates competing on Facebook include İzmir mayor and CHP’s candidate, Aziz Kocaoğlu, who is seeking re-election and has 4,359 supporters. Mansur Yavaş of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and mayoral candidate for Ankara, has 5,464 fans.
Obama used Facebook and MySpace
The Internet played an important role in Obama’s presidential campaign. Obama’s team made use of social networks, direct e-mail and search engine campaigns to reach each voter individually. Toward the end of his campaign, Obama had 2 million members on his Facebook and MySpace pages.