Barack Obama and the Facebook Election
The president-elect was far ahead online, Matthew Fraser and Soumitra Dutta write
The presidential election of 2008 will go down in history for an obvious symbolic reason that will inspire future generations. Yet while pundits were focused on Barack Obama's race, another largely overlooked factor in his success was his powerful techno-demographic appeal.
We know that Obama's landmark victory was due, in part, to a groundswell of support among young Americans. Early in his campaign, political pollsters were observing that Obama was "rocking the youth vote." This proved true: Exit polls revealed that Obama had won nearly 70 percent of the vote among Americans under age 25—the highest percentage since U.S. exit polling began in 1976.
Obama enjoyed a groundswell of support among, for lack of a better term, the Facebook generation. He will be the first occupant of the White House to have won a presidential election on the Web.
This election was the first in which all candidates—presidential and congressional—attempted to connect directly with American voters via online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. It has even been called the "Facebook election." It is no coincidence that one of Obama's key strategists was 24-year-old Chris Hughes, a Facebook cofounder. It was Hughes who masterminded the Obama campaign's highly effective Web blitzkrieg—everything from social networking sites to podcasting and mobile messaging.
Facebook was not unaware of its suddenly powerful role in American electoral politics. During the presidential campaign, the site launched its own forum to encourage online debates about issues. Facebook also teamed up with ABC for election coverage and political forums. And CNN teamed up with YouTube to hold presidential debates.
Obama's masterful leveraging of Web 2.0 platforms marks a major E-ruption in electoral politics—in America and elsewhere—as campaigning shifts from old-style political machines toward the horizontal dynamics of online social networks. The Web, a perfect medium for genuine grass-roots political movements, is transforming the power dynamics of politics. There are no barriers to entry on sites like Facebook and YouTube. Power is diffused because everybody can participate. The Web is being leveraged not only for vote-getting but—as the Obama campaign demonstrated—for grass-roots fundraising, too. The Web can be a formidable electoral money-pump.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, nearly half— 46 percent—of Americans used the Web, E-mail, or text messaging for news about the presidential campaign, to contribute to the debate, or to mobilize others. Some 35 percent of Americans said they'd watched online political videos—three times as many as during the 2004 presidential election. And roughly 10 percent said they'd logged on to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to engage in the election.
Obama, who was often seen thumbing messages on his BlackBerry during the campaign, is a new-generation politician who shrewdly understands the electoral power of the Web. Pulling out all the Web 2.0 stops, the Obama campaign used not only Facebook and YouTube but also MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, BlackPlanet, LinkedIn, AsianAve, MiGente, Glee, and others.
Obama was by a long stretch the most effective online politician during the presidential campaign—not only against John McCain but also against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. For the past two years, Facebook has overwhelmingly been pro-Obama virtual territory. Some have attributed Obama's victory to a "Facebook effect."
Obama is a natural Facebook politician. On his personal Facebook profile—which featured his "Our Moment Is Now" motto—Obama named his favorite musicians as Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Bob Dylan and listed his pastimes as basketball, writing, and "loafing w/kids" (note the hip shorthand aimed at appealing to young voters). The 72-year-old John McCain, by contrast, never managed to connect on Facebook. He gave one of his pastimes as "fishing" and listed Letters F rom Iwo Jima among his favorite movies. McCain even got "punked" by a Facebook prankster who posted a phony policy announcement right on McCain's online profile: "Dear supporters, today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage ... particularly marriage between two passionate females."
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Reader Comments
Do Not Underestimate Potential Lies
Mr. Murray, I agree with your notion that the Internet will change accountability and what messages get across to voters, but I disagree that attacking with "outright lies and distortions without having the truth posted right along with the lies" will become impossible. People are still people, and the Internet is a tool. While the Internet allows for a greater variety of voices, ability to use the Internet and expertise in technology will also determine who and what are convincing. I hope that what you say is true, but as Christine L. Borgman writes, “History shows that, time and time again, new technologies have supplemented, rather than supplanted, old ways of doing things.”
[Christine L. Borgman, From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000), x.]
Election campaigns are changed forever
This was the last campaign that pitted the political methods of the past against the wave of the future. With the internet, it will no longer be possible to attack with outright lies and distortions without having the truth posted right along with the lies. And with YouTube, Jon Stewart, and bloggers adding to the discussion, the public will no longer be as easily targeted and swayed.
It is likely that 2008 was the last election in the old model, and that future contests will be much more internet based, and pols less focused on the traditional media.
The Republicans were at a disadvantage since their leadership is still uncomfortable with the web and its rapidly expanding world.
Too bad that so few young people are interested in what they have been selling these past few years.
internet
As many people know that the internet is the fastest growing resources. As with obama girl and this face book page we know that obama had reached the computers of many young and old voters. Would mcain had won if he had done the same thing? I doubt it. The reason he won was most likly the fact that he had discussed what he was going to do instead of focusing on what his counter runner had done. That was probaly his one major helper. If the presidents focused what they would have done instead of what they were going to do, they would have a better chance of winning then if they found out the person went to rehab for a month. Wich would be more useful do you?! If you have a comment please write a comment and i will try to reply.
By. The young one
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