What better way to interest young people in politics than MySpace, the internationally popular social networking site? MySpace Impact is a new channel which aims to educate it's users and promote interest in the world of politics by encouraging discussion, providing news and interviews, and most importantly allowing members to vote. Launched in March this year, the Impact Channel has grown to include details of volunteer opportunities with non-profit organizations and now has a viral donation facility for users to give money to charities and political parties they support. What started as a channel for influential movers and shakers could has developed into a thriving community.

 

What can I do on the Impact Channel

Strangely enough, I couldn't find an "about" section on the channel at all, so instead I've created this list of opportunities and interesting features you can find on MySpace Impact:

• Find profiles of Politicians who have registered with MySpace.


• Read about the 2008 Presidential election in the United States, including video interviews with the primary candidates


• Get the latest news in international politics


• Discover non-profit organizations


• Find events which have an impact for charitable causes


• Look for opportunities of charitable work or employment in your area of residence


• Find political forums to air your views on subjects close to your heart


• US citizens can even register to vote in the 2008 elections through the Impact Channel!

Participate in the monthly Impact Awards

The Impact channel honors MySpace members who have had a positive impact in the community through the MySPace Impact Awards. Each months, awards are given in one of in six different categories: International Development, Poverty Relief, Social Justice, Health and Safety, Environmentalism and Community-building. Candidates for these awards are nominated by MySpace users, and once the month's candidates are selected, users can vote for the organization they believe is most deserving of the award.

Create a donation badge for your profile

Do you support a particular charity, political group or worthy cause? Now you can create a donation badge for your readers to donate to the organizations you actively support using PayPal. Your friends can also collect the code for the badge from your own profile and add it to theirs, in order to generate viral donations for the causes you feel are most worthy.

Will it really encourage younger users to be interested in politics?

So far it seems that the Impact Channel has developed a lot of interest amongst it's users, especially in regard to the 2008 presidential elections in America. There are literally thousands of comments and friends attributed to the presidential candidates and 2008 election profile, which suggests a mass social interest in this political stream. In international MySpace sites, there are also localized Impact channels which offer useful information catered to your locality, though as yet I think only the US based MySpace are covering political elections.

Will the channel make an impact of it's own? Well, I think that it already has! I will be very interested to see new developments on this channel, especially if the focus does develop internationally to include elections, campaigns and more charities outside the US which I'm sure would encourage more MySpace users to participate in events.