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.

The Republican National Convention, an organization which typically supports candidates that are less than technically savvy, has decided to step up their tactics with a new website targeting Barack Obama. The developers of the site clearly have the beat on digital media given that Barack’s newsfeed is called the “FriendFeed”. Aside from that it’s not a complete rip-off of Facebook but it attempts to come close.

The site picks out a random set of “friends” that have less than a positive spin to their profiles. The team also launched a “BarackBook” Facebook application. Unfortunately the application doesn’t work so perhaps this campaign wasn’t thoroughly planned. The website is ultimately a hit job on Barack which attempts to discredit seven of his associates that have a sketchy past.

The fact that the site can only come up with seven “associates” that Barack has at one point associated himself with is pretty impressive. It’s a creative attack campaign and I give the RNC a lot of credit for this. It’s clearly an attempt at generating a lot of negative publicity for Barack Obama. Whether or not they will succeed at it via this individual campaign is another question.

The Obama campaign has been referring all journalists requesting a response to the RNC discussion board which includes a thread called “This Site is Lame”. Whether or not this campaign is successful, it highlights the massive popularity of Facebook domestically.

No stranger to embracing political discussion, MySpace has teamed up with NBC and MSNBC as part of the Decision ‘08 initiative according to Caroline McCarthy. According to McCarthy, “it’s a competition to choose MySpace’s ‘citizen journalist’ correspondents at the major parties’ national conventions later this summer.”

Surprisingly absent from the political conversation? Facebook. While Facebook had their own presidential candidate debate in partnership with ABC earlier this year, there have been no announcements of any other political events taking place for the company. That’s not to say that’s nothing planned though given that the company has at least one employee based in D.C. to help get political events organized.

Entrants into the MySpace contest must answer “Why do you vote?” “Why are you the best person for this job?” and “How will you stand out in the crowd and get the scoop no one else can?” A group of judges which includes Tom Anderson of MySpace will choose the finalists. Getting to cover the national convention parties sounds like an awesome opportunity for one lucky MySpace user.

If you’d like to participate in the competition, go check out the Decision ‘08 initiative on MySpace.

I have been receiving a ton of messages regarding my past few posts on social media and politics. One observant reader over at Makemebe.com, Henri, noted that I was only talking about politics on a large scale. Henri is right and the reason behind it is that national and local politics are two very different monsters.

Ask any person who is running for President and they can tell you at least two of the candidates. Ask that same person who is running for Representative from their district and I am certain you will get a blank stare. Take it to the next level; city counselor, school board, magistrate, or any of the host of other local elections and people become interested again.

Reps and Senators are another ball game, dm me if you would like a post about that, but local politics is a great venue for social media to make a real difference. Unlike national politics local elections and government have direct contact, almost daily, with the people they serve.

With the run about most people have in their daily lives today they do not have time to be overly active in local politics, here is where social media can make a difference. Imagine a city a counselor’s meeting being streamed over Ustream.tv with an active chat forum being monitored during the meeting.

Citizens could voice their opinion and present questions to their representatives while at home or at the office. Citizens would be in ‘virtual attendance’ to meetings that would affect their lives. I am not suggesting that people could vote online but at least they could get their voice heard. After a period of time many of those virtual attendees might start to physically attend local meetings, therefore becoming more involved.

Local politicians could also hold virtual conferences with their constituents. Local ‘town hall’ style events that would let people hear directly from leaders. Utilizing tools like twitter and directly converse with a massive amount of private citizens. Upload these meetings to video hosting service and send out an RSS or email letting your citizens know the meeting is now online.

I certainly think local politicians can still use tools like Utterz and podcasts to create interest in campaigns and issues, but local politics allows a greater connection with citizens. By that same nature the social media that politicians use can be more direct forms of communication. The social media options they choose shouldn’t be static or just a post; they should offer their constituents an active voice and a chance to debate online.

Local politicians should also utilize message boards and forums as much as possible. Again, since time is often a key reason local citizens don’t get involved in local politics well monitored forums give a citizen an opportunity to enter a debate without facing time constraints.

Remember the key to getting people involved in local politics is to defeat the two main hindrances of lack of time and lack of information. Properly using social media combats both of these enemies and allows citizens to engage their government on the citizen’s terms, which is the best way I think.

Do any of you out there agree with me? I find the topic of politics and social media incredibly interesting but I must admit I have never worked directly in politics, only indirectly through a PR capacity. I would love to hear from some of my fellow District Dwellers on this topic. Send me a DM or comment here with some of your thoughts.