Obama Conquers Modern Campaign

Monday, December 29th, 2008
by pathoran00

Obama 365, McCain173.  A smack down.  That’s exactly what this past election was.  Barack Obama beat John McCain in every aspect of the election.  Although there are many factors that might have led to this, there is one that stands out above the rest.

That would be the modern campaign that Obama ran in his journey to the White House.  Instead of following with the norm of the traditional campaigning, such as spending most of campaign money on rally’s and appearances, Obama used other tactics such as networking on the internet, podcasts, and Youtube videos.  Of course, Obama did not abandon the traditional campaign. As he held numerous rally’s across the country, in front of large and small crowds instead.  He combined new and old techniques in order to win the election.

First, He created an interactive website, following the popular website Facebook.  On his website people could create a personal account, become friend with other members, and join groups to support Obama, such as “Massachusetts 4 Obama” and “Lawyers for Obama”.  People in the groups had an easier time than in past campaign’s with setting up events in support of the Democratic candidate, raising money, or just blogging against John McCain.  By basing his website, mybarackobama.org, off the popular Facebook, Obama was able to accomplish some key goals in his campaigning and created the most modern campaign site to date.

Obama also used podcasts to help win the election.  The podcasts enabled people to be able to hear Obama’s thoughts and ideas on their iPods or computers.  Everyone these days uses iPods.  The podcasts were short, monthly episodes that would provide information on Obama’s campaign and the upcoming schedule.  This way people who maybe did not have time to go check the status of the campaign on television or online could listen to the podcasts whenever, whether they were working out, driving to work, or just missed the news.  The podcasts also reached out to younger voters, as they were the ones most involved in new technologies like the podcasts.  The podcasts that Barack Obama put online were very helpful in his modern campaign.

The third factor of the modern campaigning that helped Obama become elected, was the development of online videos, most notably on the popular site Youtube.  Many Barack Obama supporters used sites such as Youtube as a way of free advertisement.  When you search “Barack Obama” on Youtube, it says there are 68,900 like videos about the President Elect.  These videos were mostly put up by Obama supporters.  This modern technique of campaigning again helped to gain votes by the younger voting age bracket.  Youtube is one of the most visited sites online today, especially by people between 18-25.  This age bracket lives on this site and it would probably be very likely that they would see atleast one video supporting Obama everytime they checked the site.  Obama and his staff took advantage of this by having videos put up daily, everything from his press conferences, to his rallies, and even videos made by celebrities.  This free advertising helped to connect with young voters and grow their level of support.  Obama conquered Youtube, and in turn it helped to conquer the election.

Barack Obama used a modern campaign to capture the White House.  Obama stayed ahead of the curve and moved from old ways of campaigning to new modern ways.  By the using his website, podcasts, and  videos on Youtube, Obama was able to adapt to change in times and create a totally modern Campaign that helped him win the Election.  If Obama’s opponent, John McCain had tried to adapt to the modern campaigning then this election might not have been such a smack down.

Photo Credit: zyrcster

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