Mr. Smith Goes To MySpace
What’s far scarier than any zero-day flaw in software? MySpace as a tool to select presidential candidates.
Yes it’s true, MySpace is expected to announce later today that it will partner with Mark Burnett, the man behind such gems as Surviver and The Apprentice, to create a new reality TV/internet series designed to select a political hopeful to represent America.
The show, expected to launch in early 2008, will, according Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of News Corp.’s MySpace unit, mark “a giant leap in the re-democratization of American politics.”
Or possibly remind us that successful use of a video camera tripod does not a great leader make.
Anyone wishing to emulate Mr. Smith in a bid for Washington glory can submit a video through MySpace video where the 100 million users of the site can discuss, vote, attack and flame presidential hopefuls.
Burnett and other backers of the program see it as a way to get young people engaged in the political process and with MySpace users’ remarkable grasp of important issues in the news, it’s hard to see where the new show can go wrong.
