The InTerneT’s ImpaCT on polITICal parTIes and CampaIgns

As the Internet age dawned in the late 1990’s, it became cliché to suggest the Internet would “change everything.” Now, more than twenty-five years after the birth of the worldwide web, the Internet has become a central part of the daily lives of people across the planet. It has quickly developed into the hub through which individuals communicate, maintain social relationships, conduct commerce, acquire knowledge, and even entertain themselves. Moreover the empowerment provided to individuals, via the Internet, has forced organizations and individuals to rethink, revamp, and revise the strategic and tactical approaches they undertake in conducting their activities. Thus the Internet revolution has changed how groups, and the individuals who comprise them, interact both internally and externally. Not surprisingly these changes, resulting from the Internet’s evolution, are impacting all things political. In fact one could argue the Internet has had a greater impact on politics than any technological invention since the invention of the printing press nearly six hundred years ago.