It’s election year and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) recently announced their official role in the 2012 GOP Convention. The Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa, Florida in the late summer. Google will provide the official social platform and provide live stream content.
Tech Crunch’s Frederic Lardonis reports Google’s plans streaming key events live and the use of Google+ as the means for voters to interact with Republican candidates. In a press release with PR Newswire, the convention chief executive William Harris announced their plans to give voters the opportunity to learn more about the candidates and participate in the election. They want to essentially bring the convention to people.
This wasn’t the first time that Google was linked with the Republican National Convention. In 2008, they joined Ustream.tv to offer live streams from the convention. One of the key runners Mitt Romney also used their video chat service back in March. It’s important to note that Google is non-biparisan. President Obama featured a Google+ hangout right after one of his addresses.
Google’s Vice President of Public Policy, Susan Molinari is thrilled about this news and she think’s this opportunity will remove the barriers while enabling voters to feel more empowered.
Social media technology is shaping the way people decide to vote and Google is using this to their advantage. This could be the GOP’s best decision to date as incorporating social media is a surefire way to earn the attention of young voters. Obviously, there is really no way to predict how most young voters will respond to the Republican National Convention, but it should capture their attention and inspire them to vote whether they vote Republican or not.
I wonder if we will find out more about what Obama’s campaign plans to do. We still got a little more than six more months to before Election Day.
