Nations (n.d.) firmly believes that a firm grasp and understanding of the future trends of media and communication are huge advantages in a politician's arsenal. For Franklin D. Roosevelt, there was the radio; for John F. Kennedy, it was the television, and for Barack Obama, it was Web 2.0 tools like YouTube.
Youtube, more known for snippets of TV shows, music videos and parodies, was one of the key reasons Barack Obama won the race to become the first African-American President of the United States last year. When controversial pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright was first linked to President Obama early last year, the press had a field day as Wright's inflammatory sermons were making waves on YouTube (Schwab 2008).
It was make-or-break for Obama's campaign team, especially Chris Hughes, who as the co-founder of Facebook knew a thing or two about Web 2.0. What they did next changed the complexion of the presidential race, they turned to YouTube. Obama's campaign team responded by posting their candidate's 37-minute speech on race on YouTube, and after more than 6 million views on that video, the backlash receded.
John McCain, Obama's Republican counterpart, was brushed aside in the YouTube game and ultimately in the Elections. Obama's campaign team understood that victory would come with the youth voters, and armed with YouTube and other social networking websites which play a huge role in youths' daily lives, Obama won nearly 70 percent of the vote amongst Americans under the age of 25 during the exit polls - the highest percentage since U.S. exit polls began in 1976 (Fraser & Dutta 2008).
Obama's understanding and knowledge of his audience and new media publishing trends were monumental in him getting the message through to potential voters and garnering a groundswell of support among the American youth.
References:
Fraser, M & Dutta, S 2008, Barack Obama and the Facebook election, U.S. News, viewed 27 May 2009, http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2008/11/19/barack-obama-and-the-facebook-election.html?PageNr=1.
Schwab, N 2008, In Obama-McCain Race, YouTube became a serious battleground for presidential politics, U.S. News, viewed 27 May 2009, http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/11/07/in-obama-mccain-race-youtube-became-a-serious-battleground-for-presidential-politics.html?PageNr=1.
Nations, D n.d., How Barack Obama is using Web 2.0 to run for President, About.com, viewed 1 June 2009, http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/obama-web.htm.
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