14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that at least one of the Republican candidates that are currently fighting for the nomination of the GOP for the 2012 presidential elections is interested in bringing politics to Farmville, the most popular social game on the Facebook platform.
Representative Michele Bachmann, who hails from Minnesota and has become a major contender after winning the Iowa straw poll earlier in the year, is apparently interested in using the strong networks created by the social game to spread her political message.
Michael Hendrix, a political consultant in Dallas who works on the Bachmann campaign, has told the San Francisco Chronicle that, “We'll throw out four or five different messages targeting different demographics. You're trying to figure out which message will drive a higher response.”
Hendrix has talked about the “gamification of politics” and says that he will be releasing a new Facebook program later in the year which will allow players of Farmville to get their characters to campaign for any political candidate that they support.
Their online characters will be apparently able to go door to door from one virtual farm to another and talk about the candidates they support while also placing signs on their own lawns.
Hendrix says, “The majority of social gamers are stay-at-home moms over 38” and plans to target this segment and turn them into Facebook campaigners for Michele Bachmann.
It's not clear whether Zynga, the company that runs Farmville, needs to give its OK to such a virtual political campaign or whether players can decide on their own whether they are interested in taking part in it.
The video game space has been timidly used for political campaign since 2008, when Barack Obama, the current president of the United States, placed a number of campaign ads in some titles.
The rise of social gaming will give candidates an easier way of spreading their message.