A great article in Information Week about the transformation of politics by the Internet (duh!)
...a bigger change over the long term was the crowning of the Internet as the king of all political media. It was the end of the era of television presidency that started with JFK, and the beginning of the Internet presidency.
A few interesting facts about the Obama campaign:
- 3.2 million people donated to the campaign through the campaign Web site
- YouTube users alone spent 14.5 million hours watching official Barack Obama campaign videos
- Obama announced his selection for vice president over text message.
- Google Maps mashups were used to help volunteers find local campaign resources and people to contact and try to persuade
- A custom social networking site was created with the help of a Facebook co-founder to connect all volunteers
- Obama's Facebook page reached 2.6 million supporters
- The BarackObama Twitter account reached 123,000 followers
- A campaign headquarters was founded in Second Life
The article concludes that this campaign could be used as a lesson for business, but I think it emphasizes brand management too much. It is pretty obvious that the Internet has become a key ressource to manage a brand name. I personally would focus more on the use of the Internet to drive change within global organizations. What if senior executives started to use the Internet in a similar way to drive the business and energize people? Isn't it time to realize that
weasel words are history?
