Predictive analysis is the “secret sauce” of microtargeting writes Washington Post columnist Steven Levy. He explains how both US political parties have key consultants to help them apply microtargeting by gathering elaborate information on voters, from which “careful analysis can yield counterintuitive opportunities to win votes.” Levy tells us technology is an increasing player in the elective process in the US:

Well before the party conventions, it’s fair to say that technology has made its mark on the 2008 election cycle. Bloggers are at the center of the political conversation, and the Pandora’s box of YouTube is an endless source of macacas, Obama Girls and incendiary pulpit sermons. But within the campaigns themselves, the talk is of a technological advance based on number-crunching, databases, selective surveying and laser-focused voter contact. To political technocrats, 2008 marks the maturation of “microtargeting” — a technique that, if things are as close in November as expected, may well affect who takes the White House.

Microtargeting, as its name implies, is a way to identify small but crucial groups of voters who might be won over to a given side, and which messages would do the trick. It’s a bit scary because instead of trying to figure out how to direct media and mailings to a fuzzy cohort such as “soccer moms,” microtargeters know who you are and try to push your personal hot button so that you’ll choose their candidate.

Predictive analysis is the “secret sauce” of microtargeting writes Washington Post columnist Steven Levy. He explains how both US political parties have key consultants to help them apply microtargeting by gathering elaborate information on voters, from which “careful analysis can yield counterintuitive opportunities to win votes.” Levy tells us technology is an increasing player in [...]