The political season is well underway, with several all-important state and national electoral contests. Politicians may differ about their stands on the issues this year, but they seem to find agreement about one thing: the wisdom of using cutting edge technology in their campaigns.

New media and technology already got widespread attention during President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign for the White House.

“The attention social media received was highlighted in the Obama campaign,” observes Kevin Lane, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh Technology Council. “It’s certainly has not let up.”

“Generally speaking, politics in the United States has begun to adopt a number of different efficiencies that businesses have been using all along,” Lane added. “The web conferencing product … is primarily for business use. It’s a way to have face-to-face, meaningful dialogue in business settings without having to get on a plane.” That means a much lower cost to have a meeting, according to a recent report on TMCnet.

Lane explains that Web conferencing and social media enable a message to be distributed widely, efficiently and simultaneously.

“The value will be recognized and you will see more of that in political circles,” Lane said.

These kind of social media are very useful, anytime you have a message to communicate and need to do it to a large audience, which is dispersed.

You can use it to talk to a group of volunteers who are working on a political campaign; potential financial supporters; or potential voters.

An example of a teleconferencing product is Bradon Technologies' flagship product, SAViiDesk, which provides real-time Software-as-a-Service collaboration via the Internet, that lets organizations hold Web meetings and conferences with an unlimited number of users located anywhere using their computers, BlackBerrys or Windows Mobile smartphones.

SAViiDesk relies on VoIP, enabling participants to be free of the constraints of a traditional telephone and actively participate in Web meetings.

Or another example can be found in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which recently reported about Chorus Call Inc., a Pennsylvania-based teleconference service provider, starting its newest venture at the same time that political campaigns heated up.

The company recently introduced a free social networking site with live, interactive audio and video that features a town-hall format geared to candidates, according to the newspaper.

What is different, too, is that these technologies involve two-way interaction.

From his own perspective, Lane said that texting or sending email messages is often very cryptic. Someone may not choose their words carefully. In addition, you can’t hear the inflection in someone’s voice, can’t see their facial expressions, or can’t see attempts at humor or sarcasm.

“Often, these go misinterpreted in email,” Lane said. “There’s no substitute for interpersonal one-to-one, face-to-face communications.”

“The second best thing to face-to-face is to see a face over a teleconference line,” Lane said, “so you can hear and see the tone. This is especially true for politicians who want to use expressive language.”