• Reuters, Thursday, April 19, 2007 11 AM

Candidates in the 2008 Presidential race are doing a pretty poor job of marketing themselves online. While Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama have put loads of material on their Web sites, loaded videos on YouTube, posted profiles on MySpace, and even opened up offices in Second Life, "there is a sense it is mostly one-way traffic -- from "them" to us," analysts say.

How very un-Web 2.0 of them. Oxford University Professor Helen Margetts, who directs research at the Oxford Internet Institute, says that politicians need to expand their online efforts by allowing more interactivity and user-generated content. "They haven't been very innovative," she said.

Indeed, engagement is low, despite the candidates' attempts to utilize Web 2.0 applications. Dialogs need to be created, and ideas need to be challenged and answered. Otherwise, it's just the same old story--a bunch of politicos talking at us, instead of with us.

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