Election 2008 - Gather for the People

The social community Gather.com just announced the launch of a political discussion and a national search for a “People's Press Corps”. Election 2008 on Gather will engage voting adults into political discussions on vital issues of the upcoming election. Seven of the presidential candidates have already committed to creating groups within the Gather community and Gather's special demographics may prove interesting for voters and candidates alike. A recent poll of the Gather.com community revealed that 98.8 percent of members plan to vote in the 2008 presidential election.

Gather at a Glance

A cross section of the Gather.com community would appear highly educated, engaged and informed about current events and world issues. Unlike most social media sites Gather's members are of a somewhat older demographic with more experience in life and in voting according to the site's press release and about pages. The following is a breakdown of a piece of the Gather demographic:

• 46% male, 54% female
• 73% of audience 30-59 years old; median and mean age 42
• 72% college educated or higher (3X national norm)
• 86.3% of audience has $50K+ household income
• 20% of audience has $100K+ household income
• 77% own a home

As you can see the makeup of Gather.com is as described, but interestingly not of upper class socioeconomic background. The prevalent incomes are actually middle class by today's standards and female members outweigh makes significantly. According to Tom Gerace CEO of Gather: “In partnering with Gather.com, the presidential candidates will engage in sophisticated and interactive dialogue with a highly desirable demographic of American voter.”

Candidates

It appears as if the majority of Election 2008 candidates have signed on to address the interesting and informed Gather community. I think this is great for Web 2.0, Gather, voters and as a way to further highlight some of the major issues we face in the coming months and years. Here are the links to the current candidate groups at Gather:

http://biden08.gather.com/

http://dodd08.gather.com/

http://edwards08.gather.com/

http://giuliani08.gather.com/

http://kucinich08.gather.com/

http://obama08.gather.com/

http://romney08.gather.com/

Gather for the People

Perhaps the most interesting and innovative news is that Gather is performing a nationwide search for six bloggers to cover the 2008 presidential elections as a People's Press Corps. Press corps potentials are invited to submit articles and/or video on an election topic and submit it to election08 at Gather. The finalists will be selected by the Gather community and the winners will be selected by the Gather Editorial Team. Winning bloggers - 2 democrats, 2 independents and 2 republicans - will report on the 2008 primaries for Gather. The People's Press will have exclusive access to candidates, experts and events. Winners will also get a chance to report directly from their assigned primary via an all expense paid 3 day trip. Is this cool for Web 2.0 or what?

The Voice

You know I have always seen Web 2.0 and blogging as a kind of grass roots beginning to a larger and more engaged worldwide community. A portal if you will, for real people to address issues and concerns often not voiced properly in traditional media and often outweighed by high profile news and celebrity status. Personally, I find this news very exciting and progressive. Bloggers engaging candidates even more closely than even in the YouTube debates can only lead to better and tougher questions and hopefully some elevated thinking on the part of candidates. Demographics aside, everyone with even the smallest interest in world events should weigh in to these monumental opportunities to affect change. Here it is, a chance to be a voice for the people. Isn't it time to throw a hat in the ring?