Interactive Media: Traditional Media’s Unmentioned Cousin

As I sit here and watch the CNN-YouTube debate on TV, I think about all the political hoopla going on in America, I look at all the online tools being used and seldom mentioned on traditional media. Let’s examine the facts…

When all the politicians announced their candidacy for president of the United States, mainstream media only mentioned their websites. However, when you go to their websites, you get to know their Myspace, Flickr, Facebook and maybe even their blog on their site. However, the only way that you’ll know is if you see their ads. It almost seems that traditional media only looks at websites as an added tool to a campaign and nothing else seems to matter.

Ever hear about John Edwards’ poverty tour that he took over the course of around nine days? I’m sure you did…but have you noticed that he’s been tracking it through his website? If so, how would you have known? Through someone’s blog? An affiliate website? Maybe through the actual John Edward website? But did you know that he monitored his activity through Twitter? You could keep track through an interactive map? Text messaging too? There’s a lot of interactive features that could have been used.

When doing traditional media, don’t forget about the cheaper (lower cost) method of marketing…it’ll be more popular…