Barack Obamas Presidential Campaign in 2008 - Essay Example

?Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign in 2008 and Web 2.0 Introduction Web 2.0 specifies a fundamental change in how individuals use the Internet. Itcan be considered as a shift towards a more social, collaborative, interactive and responsive web, which have changed the philosophy of web developers and the philosophy of the society as whole. Today we are not using web as a tool, instead we are becoming part of it. Although individuals interrelated with a network of computers may seem like the bad plot of a pulp science fiction novel, it is a clear and evident indication of what we are experiencing today. The concept Politics 2.0 can be identified as the ideology that social networking and e-participation technologies can be used for modernising the public in seeking, reacting, and influencing political campaigns. As Daniel Nations points out, clearly understanding the communication techniques is the centre of a politician’s arsenal, whereas anticipating the future communication techniques can be the furtive sword for them to win the battle; and “for Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was radio, for John F. Kennedy, it was television, and for Barack Obama, it was social media” (about.com, n.d.). Politics 2.0 Today the society is highly fused with the network of computers and it has further changed the way one interacts with the Internet. In other words, the time people spent on Internet has significantly changed, and instead of gathering information dumped to them, they reach out to the rest of the world to listen what others have to say on any subject. In the opinion of Kreiss and Howard (2010), Obama has changed the face of politics in America, and as he used Web 2.0 in his presidential campaign, he gave the American people a voice in politics (1032-35). The ideology of politics 2.0 was first used during the political operatives of 2004 US presidential elections, when the enthusiasts of the Draft Clark campaign and of Vermont Governor Howard Dean made use of it. The most recent intervention of the politics 2.0 was seen during the trials of Obama’s campaign. Before launching his campaign, Barack Obama had a firm view that a fundamental understanding of communication had always been the prime tool of a successful politician’s arsenal and having a clear idea on the future of communication is the secret weapon that fights the battle (FC Barcelona). Obama's own social network had turned out to stage a protest of his attitude on a federal wiretapping bill, proving that social networking can cut both ways. Obama was able to shift the campaign from the classical methods into the digital age by exploiting the advantages of Web 2.0, utilising it as the prime podium of his presidential campaign. He was efficient in turning the Web 2.0 into a major force behind his campaign, diversifying it through YouTube, blogging, and Social networking. Barack Obama and the ‘New Media’ The official website The official website, BarakObama.com was designed efficiently that any user could navigate through the site easily. The presentation and the layout of the website were surprisingly eye-catching with lots of information and continuous updates, which included links to articles, videos and gallery of Barak Obama (BarakObama.com). Moreover, the website did not remain just as a presentation, instead it was a multifaceted platform where the viewers could make calls in supporting Obama, volunteer programmes, or donate to the fundraising events. In the same way, the ‘My.BarakObama.Com’ section of the website enhanced a special platform for the youngsters who are already on the social sites, allowing them to create their own blogs or groups within the website with access to photos and videos. Social Media Social media can be considered as the living environment or necessary tool for the youth, where a lot of marketing strategies seem working. From the records (Guido, 2011), the social media network created by the campaign team contained about 3,500,000 friends for Obama, besides having the huge online subscriptions on YouTube, and about 3,000,000 supporters on Facebook. Obama portrayed an intelligent face to the citizens, with the campaigns highly tech-savvy, and so the supports tirelessly provided information about him creating a positive attitude within the Americans. There were days, when people used to write speeches to capture a ten second sound bite on one of the afternoon news. Those days are over as the popularity of YouTube is giving the public the opportunity to view the entire speech. In the opinion of Stirland (2008), Obama had made a great effort to make sure that the public got enough chances to listen to his entire speech on YouTube rather than the usual clippings on the evening news. He did a great job in creating a strong presence on the website gambling on its audience. According to Nations (n.d.), when one tries to find out the ace up Obama’s sleeve, one would find Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook who knew a thing or two about social networking; and Obama’s wooing of the social networking whiz has contributed a lot in his success in the presidential elections. However, he was not the first one to make use of social networking in tread for presidency. For instance, Howard Dean took the advantage of Meetup.com to turn out to be a solemn candidate for his party’s nomination in 2004. Obviously, it is clear that the fundamental rule for any great technological application is to pack a great punch while it is simple to use. And that is exactly what My.BarackObama.Com does. As a full-fledged social network, this site enhances the users with functional interface that is simple to use. It is identical to those of Facebook and MySpace, and allows users to create their personal blogs and profiles with a personalised description. They can also manage friends list, join in groups, participate in fund raising programs, and attend and arrange events. The basic principle of social media marketing is to put the individual and his product out into the global market, using various methods like active blogging, appearing on the major social networks, and adopting modern forms of communication. It was just what Obama could succeed in doing, moving from social networking to personal blogs and “Fight the Smears” campaign, and making his Web 2.0 presence famous. Obama holds more than 1.5 million friends on MySpace and Facebook and has 45,000 presently following him on Twitter (FC Barcelona), (Fagel, 2010). Such communicative personal activities through modern media and various social networks popularised him across the globe and helped him with the advantage of quickly passing his words out across multiple platforms. The campaign team of Obama carried out the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) activities so successfully and professionally that when someone searched the words “Barak” or “Obama” in any of the search engines, one would see the search results with the campaign website of Obama as the first in the list. The Splash page welcomed the visitor to the website and directed towards the page where details to be filled in, that was used to send e-mails relating to Obama’s campaign. In the same way, blogging is another measure used by promoters of internet marketing strategy in order to reach the global community. The official blog of Obama was effectively integrated with the website and has gained much popularity among the youth. Some of the blogs in them became highly popular, just like about 325 comments within one hour, and it shows how the social interworking blogs can affect the life of an individual. Therefore, as Sheilds (2008) commented, it shows that Obama turned out to be the choice of the people and this choice was marketed well through the internet. So there is no doubt that the campaign changed the utility of the internet. The concept of social media is centred on the idea that it provides everyone a voice, and hence the proficient social media policy is to make one’s customers talk so one can listen. The technique of social media cannot work unless it can accommodate people. One should be able to engage, listen, and connect with others so as to endow the power and beauty of making new use of the social media. However, it does not imply that it should be expensive to be successful in social media camping because today social media campaign can be carried out without much cost, and moreover, there is no such thing called social media expert. Anyone can just create or blog a social media page and the rest rely upon his ability to attract maximum viewers. Since it is all about how one implements the technique, even a politician with a small budget can adopt social media campaigns. The presidential election of Obama was historic not only politically but the way how he used internet to enhance awareness and form loyal followers, whom he thought could turn out to be voters in the awaited election. It was history when Obama made his way to the White House; and youth vote contributed a major part into that landslide triumph. Evidently, internet, the living space of the youth played a great role in his success, starting with small personal blogs to endless stream of articles. Barak Obama faced a difficult challenger in Hillary Clinton throughout the democratic primaries, and when the campaign got stronger, social media quickly took the side of supporting Obama. However, he was victorious in realising, releasing, and capitalising the correct potentials of the Internet, which he thought to be much more appealing than appearing occasionally on television screens. From there on, there was no looking back for him as his campaigns beat Hillary hallo. The lesson learned by the Democrats and Republicans after Obama’s great triumph in coordinating the young and first-time voters was that no further campaign would work out without top-class internet marketing strategy. His web campaign strategy discovered the idea that other than public appearances or rallies and stump speech, it is equally necessary to connect with the people of America through an effective medium, and that is internet. In fact, no other presidential candidates in the history have made such a radical use of the potentials of Internet. As Singh commented, “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” (Singh, 2011). Conclusion Evidently, Obama’s internet campaign changed the US politics. Obama clearly identified that his major task was to solve the problems faced by voters, while realising that they did not care about products and services provided to them, instead they cared about themselves and about solving their problems. He was able to transform himself into a most tuned in candidate while his opponents discussed a hell of a lot more than he did. Obama was aware of the necessity to precisely articulate what he wanted the people to believe. His strategy was all about a “change”, a transformation of the country, and the word “change” was heard and seen everywhere in his campaign. References BarakObama.com 2011, ‘Dinner with Barack & Michelle’, Viewed 07 December 2011, Guido 2011, ‘Convert visitors to buyers like Barack Obama’, Expandeer, Viewed 07 December 2011, Fagel, M 2010, ‘Obama, Social Media, and Presidential Advances in Communication Technology’, Politics Daily, Viewed 07 December 2011, FC Barcelona Experiences 2011, ‘Politics 2.0’, Viewed 07 December 2011, Kreiss, D & Howard, PN 2010, ‘New challenges to political privacy: Lessons from the first U.S. presidential race in the web 2.0 era’, International Journal of Communication, vol.4, pp.1032–1050. Nations, D n.d, ‘How Barack Obama is using web 2.0 to run for president: Barack Obama's web strategy is at the center of his campaign’, About.com, Viewed 07 December 2011, < http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/obama-web.htm> Singh, I 2011, ‘Virtual events and election 2012-3 ways virtual events may help America to pick its next president’, Virtual Events, Viewed 07 December 2011, Stirland, SL 2008, ‘Obama campaign floods the zone on YouTube too’, Wired.com, Viewed 07 December 2011, Shields, L 2008, ‘Best integrated marketing communications campaign in 2008: Obama’, Marketing Communications- Term Paper. Read More