18 August 2008
Read what McCain and Obama are “reading”
If you’re an important or famous person, people listen to what you have to say. Now Google Reader’s sharing option means we can take notice of not just what people say or write, but what they read or should I say “read” (more on that in a moment).
The Official Google Blog and Google Reader blog together announced today the publication of the ‘Power Readers in Politics‘ page which lets you keep track of recently shared items from presedential candidates and political journalists.
We’re reading a lot about the candidates and the media this election season. But what are they reading? At google.com/powerreaders now you can track the news sites and blogs Barack Obama and John McCain read (from Drudge to The Daily Show) and follow articles catching the eyes of leading political journalists.
Apparently McCain and Obama both use Google Reader. Wow, that’s some great publicity for Google! I’m surprised though, more by John McCain since he doesn’t even have a Facebook page, he doesn’t strike me as the ‘I love RSS’ type.
So i’d question whether these articles are really what John McCain and Barak Obama (and others) are reading. More likely, it’s what their campaign team would like you (the voter) to think they are reading. Perhaps we can expect some articles that will appeal to the specific groups of people JM and BO are targetting.
Having said that, if you visit the Power Readers page, McCain’s current article is all about how McCain is strong on national security, and Obama’s is about a phone call he personally made to a heating and air conditioning contractor to thank him for a donation.
So, if you’d enjoy a bit of propaganda in your RSS reader every day, be sure to check out the Power Readers page and subscribe to your chosen candidate’s shared items (John McCain; Barak Obama). Sadly it looks like you can’t check how many subscribers a shared items list has (you can with a normal blog) so I can’t tell you which candidate has the most readers.
Of course, you can also create your own shared items and share them with your friends/the world - watch out for a blog post on this and more advanced Google Reader tips in the next few weeks.