MySpace Partners to Stream Presidential Debates Live

Posted by Nick O'Neill on August 6th, 2008 2:00 AM

Today MySpace will be announcing a formal partnership with the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), to launch MyDebates.org, a site which will interactive tools for users to engage in the upcoming Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. This is the first time in history that the Presidential debates will be streamed live online. The site will also provide a forum for viewers to post feedback live.

This is a monumental announcement for MySpace who expects this site to transform the Presidential election process. MySpace has been extremely active in the political process, previously announcing the launch of Decision ‘08 back in June. As I pointed out in June, one participant who has been surprisingly less active is Facebook. Back in January, Facebook partnered with ABC for the New Hampshire debates. Nothing has been announced since.

The debates will begin in September and will be broadcasted live on television as well as on MySpace. Currently MyDebates.org redirects to a MySpace landing page which has left me a bit confused on the logistics of this new site but wherever the site is located it will provide: an application which embeds the debates, on-demand playback functionality, polling opportunities and the ability to share the videos across the web.

This is a huge announcement for MySpace and it highlights the increasing integration of politics and the web. There is no doubt that this trend will continue, this announcement simply being one landmark in the process toward complete digital integration with the political process.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 2:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.