Obama online: Now what?

If there is anyone out there who still doubts the power of the internet to shape public opinion and forge alliances; who still questions the...

OBAMA’S INTERNET PRESENCE WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY STRONG ROLE IN HIS PRESIDENCY

If there is anyone out there who still doubts the power of the internet to shape public opinion and forge alliances; who still questions the power of social media; who still wonders if the web tactics uemsed to help Barak Obama win the election will further be used to help him govern; today is your answer. Because today president-elect Obama launched his next web site CHANGE.gov.

Wasting no time, Obama has launched his new transition site to replace his campaign site. The new site lacks a few of the Web 2.0 bells and whistles of his campaign site, but demonstrates his commitment to continue using social media as a way to not only communicate with his constituency, but to engage, align and activate them.

“Change.gov provides resources to better understand the transition process and the decisions being made as part of it. It also offers an opportunity to be heard about the challenges our country faces and your ideas for tackling them.”  (source: change.gov)

As mentioned in my previous post Obama has a massive web presence. Throughout the campaign he made regular use of his mailing list of supporters that has been estimated to include as many as 7 million Americans. Now that the dust is settling, his presence on the web is being cited as one of the decisive  factors in his victory. Just as John Kennedy was credited as the first TV President I have a feeling we are going to see Barack Obama enter the White House as our first internet president.

Marketers would be wise to study the way he used social media in his bid for office. Even more exciting will be to seeing how he finds new uses of the internet to govern and lead America.

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