The 2008 United States election was a historic event in all accounts. It was a promotion of change. It presented an opportunity for the youth to reestablish themselves as a powerful voice in the electoral process. It also provided the chance for an African American president to live in the White House. The progression of media from the first televised debate to the most recent 2008 election has brought a vast amount of new age technology. Most notably, that technology has to be the internet and the use of social networking.
The use of social networking in politics truly took off during the republican campaign of Howard Dean. Chronicled in Jenkins Photoshop for Democracy, Dean was running for the republican ballot and his campaign manager, Joe Trippi, found it essential to promote his candidate through the “grass roots” system. His campaign team used several online strategies such as “blogging to create a more intimate, real-time relationship with his supporters.” Additionally their use of “Meetup.com” enabled them the ability “to quickly launch rallies, drawing together thousands of people at a time,” clearly actively engaging supporters through an immediate online connection. This, as Trippi explains, is “where the politics of television gave way to the politics of the internet,” a tactic used mightily in the election of the 44th president, Barack Obama.
Obama’s campaign, according to e-poltics, had four key moments where the usage of online networking willed him into the United States presidency. First, Barack’s ability to fundraise online, allowed “the political professionals to take notice”. His ability to out fundraise his main democratic opponent, Hilary Clinton, turned the eyes of many. It vaulted Obama, helping him create “the network of grassroots organizers that would see him through the next pivotal time.” The networking increased as he gained supporters and momentum. Through his online organizations and via email to his supporters, Obama progressed through stage after stage, winning democratic caucuses due in large part to the online support. His campaign team organized the “MyBarackObama tool kit”, used by his key supporters. The “MyBarackObama tools were vital, since they let volunteers create the initial supporter networks” thus spring boarding him even more as he gained the name on the Democratic ballot. The volunteer organization “essentially built the campaign a structure in places where it didn’t exist”. Without this coupled with the continued online donations Barack could have frizzled out rather quickly.
As election time neared Obama’s campaign continued to progress, actively receiving donations and gaining numerous supporters. When eventually he had won the election, experts looked back at how each candidates teams help promote their respective candidate. Statistics came back saying that Barack’s campaign contacted 27 percent of the voters, whereas McCain’s contacted roughly 19 percent. This, with great reason, was legitimately a result of email-forwarders, Facebook-status-changers” along with the millions of online donations used to fund the online organizations. Essentially, without the use of the internet and its social networking, Obama may have never won his caucuses, let alone out fund Hilary Clinton. The use of the internet and networking defiantly created a new chapter into the array of politics and its progression of campaigning.
So is how Obama used the internet the main reason for his success? I mean, obviously he had other qualities that caused people to vote for him, but was this secondary to his use of the internet? Clearly being able to out fund Hilary Clinton is impressive so that must be something. But if using the internet is the main key to success how much will it be used in the next presidential election?
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