The Effects Of Online Video Clips Upon Political Election

Information technology is advancing rapidly with each passing day that internet space has ushered in highly interactive"Web 2.0"era. As developed streaming technology and universal broadband equipment, online video clip becomes a new major medium of receiving information and publishing ideas. In America, the video sharing website, YouTube, is the most representative platform which has led the way on the internet since 2006.It infiltrated the daily lives of American internet users deeply. YouTube also plays an increasingly pivotal role in today's American political elections. Especially in 2008's Democratic presidential primaries, fresh young African-American statesman, Barack Obama, and former first lady, Hillary Clinton, were amazing showing of political energy and willpower in the electoral process. Generally felt that YouTube is one of the important factors which impacted the results of the election. Based on the theory of communication studies and political science, this thesis will analyze the effects of YouTube upon 2008's Democratic presidential primaries by three aspects: how it affects the candidates, voters and mainstream media? At the same time, this thesis will also discuss the functions of internet media in the electoral process.