MySpace.com pages of 10 U.S. presidential candidates will be made public today when the popular social networking website goes live with a channel devoted to politics, civic groups, and charitable missions.
News Corp.'s MySpace will launch Impact Channel at http://impact.myspace.com to provide a place on the Internet for people worldwide to rally around political candidates or cherished causes.
The channel will begin with a focus on contenders vying to win the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
A preview of the Impact Channel main page revealed photo links to profile pages of Joseph Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Dennis Kucinich, John McCain, Barack Obama, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.
The website also featured video clips in which presidential candidates and other politicians, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, discussed issues or developments involved in the race.
Visitors to the website are provided easy ways to copy candidates' virtual election banners or badges to personal MySpace pages and to become part of online fundraising networks for campaigns.
"As the country's most trafficked website, MySpace will play a powerful role in the upcoming election," MySpace chief executive officer Chris DeWolfe said.
"Our digital candidate banners will be the yard signs of the 21st Century and our political viral videos and vlogs [video logs] are the campaign ads of the future."
About 90 million people used MySpace in February, according to figures released by Internet market research firm comScore Networks Inc.
MySpace said the launch of Impact Channel is the first phase of a plan to use the power of online social networking to generate enthusiasm for, and involvement in, politics and civic issues.
"It is, in many respects, a revolutionary step in the way political candidates are engaging with voters," MySpace vice-president Jeff Berman said.
"Users are looking for more ways to interact with candidates for office and people doing good in the world. For candidates and do-gooders, this is a home for their profiles and their communities."
While the Impact Channel was launching with a focus on the U.S. presidential election, it will be expanded to be used globally for political contests of all kinds as well as by non-profit organizations, Mr. Berman said.
"It is a brand new way of engaging the community and empowering them to make a difference," he said.
"It works just as well for the President of the United States as it does for president of the student council, and as well for Habitat for Humanity as it does for the Burrito Project."
After word of Burrito Project, a small charity group that helps feed the homeless in Los Angeles, spread on MySpace it inspired the start of a kindred organization called Falafel Project in Damascus, Syria, Mr. Berman said.
Inspiration for Impact Channel came from "an enormous" number of users seeking ways "to do good," according to MySpace.
"The idea that we could help redemocratize politics in the 21st Century; how could we not be excited about that?" Mr. Berman asked rhetorically.
