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Over the course of the 2008 presidential campaign, each presidential candidate has created a channel on YouTube to post and share videos. This study focuses on the three candidates that have been most prominent in the current campaign cycle: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain.
This study focuses on videos posted between the dates of December 1st and May 27th. Data was collected on how many views each respective video had and the date it was posted. Finally, each video was coded as a commercial, personal story, news clip, speech, interview, debate, or other. Some videos shared characteristics of more than one category, and were coded as both. The following is a definition of each category, followed by an example of that type of video:
Commercials
One of the most popular types of videos candidates are posting is campaign ads that were initially shown on television. These are primarily 30 second spots that are played in specific states during an upcoming primary. It is common to see the same commercial tweaked slightly and re-released in another state.
Personal Stories
Personal Stories are interviews with individuals besides the candidate. Generally, the interviewee talks about why he or she is voting for the candidate
News Clips
These videos are clips taken from the news and posted on YouTube.
Speeches
Speeches are videos of a candidate giving a speech in front of an audience. Press conferences were included in this category. Some of these videos are also news clips.
Interviews
Interviews are videos in which the candidate is interviewed. Most of these are also clips from the news.
Debate
These videos are clips from debates. They were not coded as news clips.
Other
The three candidates have posted a wide variety of videos that don’t fall into the above categories. These videos are often made specifically for YouTube.
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Methodology