 According to their article 'Political Video Mashups as Allegories of Citizen Empowerment', the videos are empowering because the users become more literate with online and offline information they receive daily; they become more active when it comes to interpreting meaning and also realising how a speech may have been manipulated.Online videos such as political mashups are starting to take on a serious role within the politics of the United States of America.In the 2008 elections (often referred to as the 'YouTube elections') more than 40% of voters watched video content relating to the elections online.