Obama On Twitter, Facebook, And Beyond

Thomas Friedman was right.

In 2005, Thomas Friedman published The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. Among other findings, this seminal work identified how digital technology was (and is) transforming America, including the political arena.

At the time, Friedman predicted that the political party that stakes out the emerging flat world political frontier “will be the majority party in the twenty-first century. And, he issued a rallying cry to Democrats who he described as “the most disconnected from the network.”

Well, Mr. Friedman, it’s obvious now that President Elect Obama heard you loud and clear.

Friedman’s Technological Political Model In Action

The next technological political model will revolve around the power of community and individual uploading. In this model, the public officeholder will no longer be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he or she will become a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many, creating networks of public advocates to identify problems, solve problems, and get behind candidates who get it.

So far, Obama’s election campaign has successfully implemented this model. While Senator McCain admitted that he doesn’t know how to work his computer, President Elect Obama’s team has leveraged the power of millions of online followers to not only finance his campaign, but to build a database of supporters who could be mobilized into foot soldiers in a massive “get out the vote drive.”

What Tech Tools Did Obama Use?

Go to the Obama Biden Website, and you’ll find Obama Everywhere, a listing of all the social media sites where followers could connect with the candidate. Among them:

• On Twitter: I was among the 120,000+ who followed Obama on Twitter, and received regular posts about his whereabouts. It was fairly subtle and unobtrusive, but it kept Obama at the forefront of our thoughts. I’m sure this influenced many campaigning tweats. We definitely saw several heated discussions where we tried to convince undecided voters to vote for Obama.
• Facebook: While the Twitter crowd was substantial, it’s nothing compared to the nearly 3 Million supporters on Barack Obama’s Facebook page who tuned in for daily messages.
• You Tube: Although there are only 128,000 subscribers of the BarackObama You Tube Channel, there have been over 19 Million channel views. And this doesn’t take into account all the videos on other sites that may have influenced this campaign from former Secretaries of State foreign policy advice, to how to be a smart voter, and even the political spoofs.

This pervasive online media presence enabled Obama supporters to shape our advocacy to relay the platform message; to discover how to deal with potentially damaging charges; and to reflect the positive demeanor that has been at the heart of this political campaign.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that the Democrats have succeeded in taking back the political reins, the question remains as to how they will use 21st Century tools to implement promised change.

Andrew Rasiej was ahead of his time when he ran for office in New York City, but his argument, quoted in Flat World, is good advice for Obama today:

Well, the time is here to apply the same principle - the power of many - to reinventing civic life and reinvigorating our democracy….People are disconnected from the political process because they think it does not connect with their lives. If the mayor asked everyone to take a picture of every pothole, you will be amazed at the response.”

One elected official [alone] cannot solve the problems of eight million people [insert US population] …but eight million people networked together can solve one city’s problems.

Imagine if the millions in the Obama database continued to do all that they can do, as individuals and as a collective, to come up with creative solutions to the problems that we face: dwindling fuel supplies, global warming, lack of universal health care, etc., etc.

I’m not sure how this connectedness will play out in the upcoming administration. I’m sure managing the massive information upload of the collective wisdom of millions is a daunting task.

However, I’m confident that the same team that found a way to use Flat World Tools to run this historic political campaign, will also figure out how to harness this energy to run a great presidential administration.

How do you think that the Democratic Party can or should use its database of supporters to implement change?

Articles About The Obama Campaign:

How The Internet Helped Propel Barack Obama To The White House: Barack Obama’s mastery of the Internet as a campaigning tool was key to his election victory. Gordon Rayner, Telegraph.co.uk.

5 Ways Obama Used Technology To Win The White House.

James O’Malley, Yahoo News Tech Digest.

Texts You Can Believe In: Forget robo-calls - Obama’s text messages are this campaign’s secret weapon. Farhad Manjoo, Slate.

The Challenge - No Time For Laurels; Now The Hard Part - Peter Baker, The New York Times.

More On Living By Learning About Politics:

How To Be A Smart Voter - Bipartisan resources for becoming a well-informed voter.

I Don’t Want To Be An Ugly American - Bipartisan resources for a refresher course on American Foreign Policy.

The Funniest Political Campaign - Sometimes the most powerful comedy is rooted in the deepest pain.

Silly Rabbit, Elections Aren’t Just For Kids - Sharing Election Night with friends and family.

We Did It! Yes, We Did! Now, Let’s Change The World! - President Elect Obama’s acceptance speech: “the true genius of America is that America can change.”

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Tagged as: Facebook, political technological model, politics, Thomas Friedman, Twitter, YouTube