Digital Trends

It’s one of those things that probably had to happen. MTV has been rocking the vote and talking to Presidential candidates for several years, but it was inevitable that more of the digital competition would muscle in on the act.

Following the YouTube debate by Democratic hopefuls (the Republican contenders go head to head there in November), MySpace, with its millions of users, is teaming with MTV to host front runners from both parties.

It will be a slightly different angle, however. Instead of a straight debate, candidates will hold dialogues directly with voters, who can IM, text or e-mail their questions in real time. The event will be webcast live on MTV.com and MySpacetv.com.

 

There will be a total of 11 of these dialogues, going from September to December. Each will last approximately an hour and include live polling on how viewers rate responses. The plan is to have candidates on college campuses.

There will still be a moderator and a small live audience, but for the most part the dialogues will be unfiltered.

“We very much want to take the Iowa or New Hampshire living room global,” said MySpace spokesman Jeff Berman, referring to the states holding the first primaries next year. “It's much more akin to the conversation that happens around the dining-room table in Nashua (N.H.) or at the state fair in Iowa rather than on a stage with a dozen candidates all trying to squeeze in their consultant-crafted sound bites.”