Political Growth Of The Internet

Political Growth Of The Internet

Government Websites

Government websites are those that have a dedicated ending to the domain name, this being, .gov. This has helped with the political growth of the internet because it is a widely recognised domain and has helped to bring countries together.

In the UK we have dedicated county council websites that use the .gov domain. This ending can only be used by official government sites, meaning that the information they hold is known as reliable and safe because it will have been put there by people with the right authority.

This has shown a growth in the internet due to politics because people now use these websites to find out about future events, maintenances, useful links and much more that can be used to help them.

Elections

With the internet, election campaigns have been able to extend themselves to people that normally wouldn't be interested in them. Essentially, they have been modernised to fit in with the current form of communication. The campaigns can now be seen by all ages and by everyone that it might affect, this gives them a larger coverage as they will still be covered by the media. With such large coverage, parties are aided in getting more votes.

As well as this special websites have been set up in the past to keep users up to date with the election, including the seats that have been filled and by which party. This gives a wider coverage that is in more depth and always available for viewing.

Furthermore, candidates for an election can post their manifestos online for everyone in the area to see. This means that you don't have to print them out and waste resources, it also means that more people will be able to have an opinion on the proposed principles.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites have allowed politics to be more dominant on the internet. There are hundreds of thousands of people on at least one social networking site and because of this the events that happen during an election can easily be made public. These can be posted on a dedicated wall and are simply passed around by posting links or commenting for your friends to see.

Many Members of Parliament have taken it upon themselves to try and interact with the community through social networking sites. They do this because it means more people can communicate with them about problems that they have within the area, as well as being able to see opinions or principles from the MP themself.

This has helped with the political growth of the internet because it has expanded the media in which MPs can be contacted through and the way that they can show their personal campaign.

Online Petitions

Online petitions have allowed the traditional format of a petition to become digital. This means that more people can sign it because there are now more people using the internet. A petition can be made public through the use of other facilities on the internet that have also aided the political growth, such as Facebook or Twitter.

These petitions work because when a person signs the petition an email is sent to the designated email address. If a lot of people sign, then the user's inbox is going to quickly fill up, and when hundreds or even thousands of these appear, it is a hard message to ignore.

This has helped with the political growth of the internet because more people have access to petitions, and if news of a popular one gets around then the government is going to take action.