Post Broadcast, Bottom-Up World

Social networking, Internet-based tools and innovative thinking will disrupt and transform our electoral process. 

This is democracy in a post-broadcast, distributed, bottom-up world, and technology could well be a deciding factor in the 2008 presidential race.

Patrick Quinn of PQMedia has compiled some figures of candidates’ online spending in 2008 that provide a good sketch of this new landscape. Online spending will reach approximately $73 million at all levels. E-mail marketing dominates, accounting for 62 percent of online spending. Web development comes in at 27 percent, while display, search and video ads make up the remaining 11 percent of online budgets.

The effective use and management of technology has the potential not only to increase profits, but also to forever alter the way we live, think and create democracy. 

In my 2007 book “Sustained Innovation”, I wrote extensively about the diverse global trends of innovation.

“When we try to articulate what is happening in this new era, we resort to a familiar set of words: globalization, outsourcing, offshoring, information age, innovation, age of connectivity, disaggregated corporation, death of command and control, real- time corporation, knowledge economy, sustainability.

“As with a dozen blind men touching an elephant and describing what they feel, each of these terms is relevant as far as it goes, but each addresses only part of the whole. To choose one as a lens through which to view life and business in the 21st century is to run the risk of missing the larger picture.

“As a first step in organizing our thinking about these forces and designing a response, we can group these terms in two categories. Information, knowledge and innovation might be considered the ‘what.’ Connectivity, disaggregation and partnerships might be considered the ‘how.’

“Information > Knowledge > Innovation

“Connectivity > Disaggregation > Partnerships “In other words, what we need today to survive is information, which can be analyzed and turned into knowledge, which can then point them to innovation. We get there by connecting, disaggregating and reaching out in new ways.”

There’s no question that technology appeals to the educated and the young. I’m not a political analyst, but as the younger generations age, it’s only a matter of time before technology assumes a central and critical role in elections. Leaders whose visions can reach out to this audience by converging technology and traditional politics will ultimately not only lead our country, but will also understand intimately the transformed landscape of our society and its institutions.

FAISAL HOQUE is the Chairman and CEO of BTM Corp.  BTM innovates new business models and enhances financial performance by converging business and technology with its unique products and intellectual property. © Faisal Hoque

For more about technology and government, visit BTM Corp.’s Web site.