Authors
Speak On Internet’s
Power
By
Gulus Emre
The co-authors of a book
on the interface between
internet and politics
ascribed a recent
national political
realignment to the rise
of a “Millennial
Generation” immersed in
on-line,
social-networking
technologies at an
Institute of Politics
event yesterday.
Authors Morley Winograd
and Michael D. Hais,
together with Kennedy
School professor Elaine
C. Kamarck, emphasized
the centrality of a
young generation—born
between 1982 and 2003—to
the rise of the
Democratic party in the
2008 election, and said
that the influence of
this “Millennial” voting
bloc would only continue
to grow.
In March 2008, Winograd
and Hais published their
book Millennial
Makeover: MySpace,
YouTube, and the Future
of American Politics,
which accurately
predicted a win for
democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama
after years of
republican domination.
The two authors cited
statistics yesterday
stating that 80 percent
of Obama’s winning
margin was composed of
youthful “Millennial”
voters, whose
proficiency with
Web-based
social-networking sites
allowed candidates to
mobilize followers while
also allowing followers
to mobilize each other.
The emphasis on the
importance of on-line
outreach struck a chord
with Jeffery F. Solnet
’12, student chair of
the Special Events
Committee at the IOP.
“I think the reason we
had this event was
because the topic of
technology is so
exciting amongst the
number of students here
who were involved in the
Obama campaign,” said
Solnet.
The Obama campaign made
a name for itself in the
2008 election for its
innovative use of Web
tools to catalogue and
organize voters.
The large size of the
Millennial generation,
coupled with the fact
that most people who
identify a party
affiliation early tend
to stick with that
party, suggests that the
generation’s influence
is here to stay. The
Millennium contingent
made up 17 percent of
the electorate in the
2008 election, and could
potentially account for
24 percent of voters by
2012 and 36 percent by
2020, the authors said.
“I thought students at
the IOP would be
fascinated to hear about
[Winograd and Hais’]
book because it’s about
you guys,” said Kamarck,
the Kennedy professor,
after the event,
referring to the
undergraduates who
attended last night’s
event.
The event, entitled
“Millennial Makeover:
How MySpace and YouTube
are Transforming
American Politics,” was
a dual effort by the
Harvard Political Union
and the Special Events
Committee at the IOP.
