The Success of 2.0bama

18Oct08

Barack-berry.

I’m not one to get politically preachy on you, but is (or it should be) common knowledge that the Obama-Biden campaign is one of the most intelligently run campaigns in American history. Sure, their optimistic rhetoric, media darling status and relentless campaigning have served them well. But, let’s talk about their well planned (and well executed) campaign in the social media space.

First, a little background: I’m a first time voter. Unfortunately, I turned 18 only two months after Dubya was reelected in 2004. Between following the race on TV and discussing it in my high school Gov class, there wasn’t much for me to do in terms of “interacting” with candidates or the political process at all.

The Obama campaign followed myself, other millenials and digital natives as we moved closer and closer to arguably the most meaningful election in this country’s history. We are an important audience to reach and they certainly took that into account. Garnering our support and ultimately our vote meant having us truly “experience” a political campaign in an engaging way, without just sitting in front of the tube (well, except for this tube).

From facebook and the “most followed” twitter handle, to the podcasts and viral videos, to the VP mobile alerts (yes, I got mine on time), the Obama camp adopted an unprecented new media strategy to reach a group of voters that may have never even punched a ballot. Thank you, Chris Hughes!

Let’s just say I felt truly comforted by this when I got my iPhone 3G a few weeks ago.

See you on November 4th :)

Senator Barack Obama meets ValleyZen’s Drue Kataoka and talks about the role of Social Media in his campaign:

-Will Wheeler
Photo credit: Time Magazine Online

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Filed under: internet, new media, online, social media, Uncategorized, web 2.0   |  2 Comments
Tags: Barack Obama, campaign, Democratic Party, Digital Natives, election 2008, Joe Biden, Millenials, Our American Shelf Life, politics, social media, Will Wheeler