Internet and the rise of Obama

Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington post once said, “Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee.”
It is very true. Obama competed with candidates who were seemingly way more promising. Those nominees were of higher social status and power, and of course, not to forget, they were white.
But the significant role of the Internet has indeed greatly aided him in his way to presidency. At the same time, what Arianna Huffington had said also proved Barack Obama to be an expert in this form of media, as it is definitely not as easy as it seemed to be to work with the new media with his level of efficiency. Moreover, it was not as if the other candidates had no access to the Internet.
So, how exactly did Mister President do it?
Well, that you got to ask him yourself! It’s not that I am unable to analyze what and how he had effectively made use of the Internet, but I simply believe that putting it down in words is not enough. In simple words, he was able to reach out to the online community, which consists of many young people, and eventually captured their hearts. Just like how former president John. F. Kennedy did with the television then.



Well, I am able to let you (and myself) have a glimpse of how Obama extensively used the Internet. Not only that he took advantage of YouTube for free advertis let ing, where it was argued that the videos were more effective as viewers chose to watch them themselves instead of having their television shows interrupted, he even started a website called MyWhiteHouse.gov to talk to the citizens.
We all know that he was successful in capturing the attention of voters via the Internet, but do we know how successful? Let me give you a glimpse of that too!
His campaign’s official video on YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours! (That would have cost $47 million on the TV.)
And of course, he made use of social networking sites as well!
Below is the list showing some facts of how Obama was "all over the place" in social media during his campaign:
• Obama has gained 5 million supporters in third party social networks.
• Obama maintained a profile in more than 15 online communities, including BlackPlanet, a MySpace for African Americans, and Eons, a Facebook for baby boomers.
• On Facebook, where about 3.2 million (during the campaign) signed up as his supporters.
And Facebook users did vote: On Facebook's Election 2008 page, which listed an 800 number to call for voting problems, more than 5.4 million users clicked on an "I Voted" button to let their Facebook friends know that they made it to the polls!
• About 200,000 offline events were planned
• About 400,000 blog posts were written
And more than 35,000 volunteer groups were created - at least 1,000 of them on Feb. 10, 2007, the day Obama announced his candidacy.

Are you impressed now?
You can even go and take a look at the full presentation here
All these facts also showed a substantial amount of efforts by him during his election period too.















Barack Obama on his blackberry during his election period, possibly working out something for his campaign via the Internet.


Last but not least, feel free to take a look at his YouTube channel! And you can go be one of the 202898 subscribers.