- November 11th, 2008
- Filed under Current Events, Technology
Did you know 73% of Americans use the internet at least occasionally? That is a lot of people! So using texting, email, blogs, social networks, etc. for politics was an obvious and very smart decision.
One of the untold stories of our new President Elect, imho, is the fact that for the first time in 8 years, we have a leader who embraces and, more importantly, actually uses & understands the same technology as you and me.
Technology, specifically the Internet (not Internets!), has never played a more important role in the campaign for an American President. The list of internet technologies I could find which President Obama utilized were, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, MyBatanga, FaithBase and his very own social networking site MyBarackObama. And, I’m sure there are several more I’m missing!
More importantly, President Obama compiled an email list of over 10 million supporters according to Wired. And even more exciting, this list will live on beyond the campaign trail!
As part of the presidential transition, Obama officials are looking to add a significant “new media” component to the White House communications operation. The campaign employed 95 people in its Internet operation, building a user-friendly Web site that served as a platform for grass-roots activities and distributed statements, policy positions and footage of Obama events. The White House Web operation will follow a similar but probably more ambitious path, transition officials said. – Wired
I think the significance of using these new mediums to deliver a political message is that they have the ability to bypass traditional slanted media outlets and the message can be more pure as it can be delivered directly to the people, therefore bypassing the Sean Hannitys of the world. Trust me, that’s a win for both Republicans and Democrats.
Finally, Washington gets it. Can you imagine getting an important real-time text message from your government? Now if only I had an iPhone. This is way too good to be true… somebody pinch me.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I agree about his use of social media, although I will say, I was receiving Obama text messages, and it was amazing how quickly they turned irritating. I will be interested to see how he leverages this list of supporters in 2012.
As a side note, I will also be interested to see how long it takes my computer dictionary to recognize the word Obama.
November 12th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Great article. You said it best when you said “…bypassing the Sean Hannitys of the world.”
It’s the first time I’ve felt like the President is speaking directly to me.