Google Offer Services for Bloggers at the Conventions

Google Will Offer Services for
Bloggers at the Conventions

By AMY SCHATZ
August 19, 2008; Page A4

WASHINGTON -- Google Inc. will help set up a two-story, 8,000 square-foot headquarters for hundreds of bloggers descending on the Democratic convention in Denver next week, and it will offer similar services at the Republican convention in September, as new media gain influence in politics.

Four years ago, Google wasn't a significant presence at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Its high-profile presence at both conventions this year mirrors the growth of new media, which will provide their takes on events and compete with established media companies via Google's YouTube video site and other social-media outlets.

With its financial support for the "Big Tent" blogger facility at the Democratic convention, Google stands to gain exposure and goodwill from 500 or so bloggers who paid $100 for access to the facility, run by a coalition of bloggers. Google's software and services will be featured, including a kiosk in the public area of the tent where anyone can post videos on YouTube.

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With the potential for a blogger around almost every corner and delegates with cellphone cameras everywhere, including private parties that shut out journalists and bloggers, privacy will be hard to come by.

"There's no such thing as off the record anymore. There's no such thing as private moments anymore," says Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of NDN, formerly the New Democrat Network, and the New Politics Institute.

"We saw that with 'macaca,'" Mr. Rosenberg said, referring to an incident in 2006 when a videographer recorded then-Sen. George Allen using a term often considered derogatory to some ethnic groups. "This is the condition of life now in the new media age."

Four years ago, YouTube hadn't been founded yet. Now, it will have booths at each convention to help delegates and bloggers upload videos taken on the floor or at events around town.

"It's an amazing opportunity for us. You don't get all these people in one place but every four years," says Robert Boorstin, director of corporate and policy communications in Google's Washington office and a former Clinton administration official.

Not only will bloggers have Internet access, workspaces and couches for napping in the "Big Tent" headquarters, they will be provided food and beverages, Google-sponsored massages, smoothies and a candy buffet. On the final night of the convention, Google is co-sponsoring a bash with Vanity Fair magazine for convention-goers and journalists that has become one of the hottest party invites.

Google will offer similar amenities for bloggers and new-media reporters who attend the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., company officials say. It will demo a variety of new political tools next week, including a search function on YouTube that will offer almost real-time keyword searches of convention speech videos.

At the Republican convention, about 200 bloggers have been credentialed to attend and work from the press filing center. They will have the same access as reporters. That is up from about a dozen bloggers who were credentialed in 2004, according to Joanna Burgos, a convention spokeswoman.

"We recognize it's a whole new world out there with bloggers but we're really embracing it," she said. "It's so many more channels to get our message out."

At the Democratic convention, bloggers from each state were chosen to be embedded with their delegations on the convention floor. Several hundred other bloggers will report from the Big Tent and at events and protests around Denver.

"The paradox is that the events themselves are all news-free, and it's really mostly just atmospherics; there's no real news made after the VP picks are announced," says Micah Sifry, co-founder of TechPresident.com, an Internet site that tracks developments in Internet politics. "On the other hand, it's a target-rich environment for bloggers."