CNNs Rick Sanchez reported today on the new Rolling Stone article on the success of Barack Obamas campaign. I havent read the article myself yet but it reveals the secret to Obamas successful grass roots campaign is due to social networking online.
Sure, Howard Dean did reach the people online in his last presidential candidacy but whats the difference with Obama? Its 2008, social media has evolved tremendously and the Obama campaign KNOWS and UNDERSTANDS how to use social networking to recruit followers.
Sites such as Myspace and Facebook, more than any other source of media helped Obama generate buzz for his campaign and generate a loyal following. So much buzz and followers, he made his own social network site. Barack Obama has over 315k friends on Myspace (not a lot but thats only his official profile, there are many others.) You can now follow Barak Obama on Twitter!
Where else has the Obama campaign gone to promote his candidacy?
- Myspace
- Youtube
- PartyBuilder
- Gather
- MyGrito (Latin Networking)
- Linked In
It is estimated Obama raised $55 million dollars online. We can also make a case for Ron Paul (Digg was out of control) and his candidacy was promoted (very well I may say for the most part) purely online. It has never been easier for political figures or candidates to communicate with young audience as it is today.
