Move Over, Palin: The YouTube'ization of Chris Christie

I must admit, I have a terrible tendency of using our "Indy Media" class as a springboard for my own research/idea creation--thus, if it ever appears that I'm more engrossed in my iPad/computer than the class discussion, do not be alarmed: it's actually because I'm searching for an idea sparked through our discussion.

For me today, this "spark" came through Lisa Donovan's sketch about the 2008 election and her portrayal of Sarah Palin. With today being Election Day, and with an especially important election going on in my home state of New Jersey, I began thinking about the portrayal of our political leaders on YouTube: are the first hits for searches on YouTube for these political figures parodies or actual video?

Today, almost every famous figure from politics to television to sports having their own website, Twitter, and what have you; so it came as little surprise to me that a search for New Jersey's incumbent governor Chris Christie on YouTube ranked his own YouTube page first. It slightly surprised me that Chris Christie's own videos were the second and fourth things listed--although it definitely didn't surprise me that his interview with David Letterman (uploaded by Christie himself) was fourth. To be honest, the first page of "hits" for a "Chris Christie search" proved to be legitimate sources, from ABC to FOX News to, well, an interview with Jimmy Fallon. The one hit that did surprise me, though, was the commercial currently being run on television in New Jersey depicting former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal endorsing Christie for re-election. It didn't surprise me that the Shaq commercial was one of the top hits--I expected it to be one--but it was surprising that the clip wasn't uploaded through the Christie Administration: the commercial was featured in a "Young Turks" report. Until our class discussion, I had never even heard of this group before--believing the only people who actually could become mainstays on YouTube and make money were the "What the Buck?" and "cat lady" type. I already had a newfound appreciation for the group after we watched clips of their organization and its development in class, but the fact that they are ranked by a search engine right up there with the ABC's, NBC's, and C-SPAN's of the world proves just how far YouTube channels can take an organization.