NEWS DESK MWAH HA HA!!! - "Extra Extra! Republicans Presidential YouTube Debate Isn't as popular as Star Wars Kid!"

"These mad Republicans and their...'YOU-TUBE'!" Spewed aged Democrat supporter Joseph Bloggs outside congress today. He didn't really, in fact, he doesn't exist...it was a clever ploy to get you reading this post.

Anyway, US Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have recently held a debate in which they answered voters questions that had been submitted to YouTube.

This is interesting for a few reasons. It opens up a new platform for political debate. If broadcasters can work out a system by which they can broadcast their information over social networking utilities, they will be able to spread their message to many millions of potential voters.

The debate was heralded as 'The youth vote getting a voice.' This leads on to another important factor. Youth vote is very important in politics as it is often the 'Youth Vote' that is not counted. The reason for this is...youth generally don't vote. Only 20% of youth in the united kingdom (18-21) said they would definitely use their vote. (BBC 2001 Election Watch)

Sites like YouTube and Facebook could be key in the future (with the owners of the sites permitting) of getting the Youth interested in politics and their vote.
How long will it be before people can have a live feed over the Internet with two way conversation to a studio or party headquarters? Will 'Question Time' audiences be replaced by macs? When will the 'Vote for who you want to run the country' application be available on Facebook?