Comments on: Social Networks and Political Campaigns: A Web 2.0 Manifesto

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:49:00 +0000

The rise of social-networking sites is making the controlled, broadcast-style way of doling out political information totally obsolete. A wise man once said - “Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.” It looks like social networks are redefining the dexterity needed to use those objects.
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By: annie

annie — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 07:46:00 +0000

Some of the external social network connecting you’re hoping to see on Obama’s site may be something along the lines of what John Edwards is doing…

http://www.johnedwards.com/action/networking/

Personally, I think listing every social network known to man is spreading yourself a little thin, but at least he is trying to make those connections. Hell, he’s even in Second Life.

I just stumbled on techPresident.com earlier today and then saw that you joined their Facebook group :) It should be an interesting site to follow. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who thinks this whole technology thing may be an important part of the campaign in 2008…

By: Resilient Hawk

Resilient Hawk — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 02:05:00 +0000

That Obama's site is, on the face of it all, inoffensive, must be expected. When you consider the heat John Edwards took in when two of his staff's personal blogs showed to be exceeedingly offensive to one faith-group, Obama is taking the the right path.

In many ways, he is the antiHillary, despite an essentially similar platform. No one sees him as particularly offensive, while Hillary has a few detractors.

"The candidate they support is a lifestyle brand."

Well-put. It is image... not just Obama, but any party, any candidate. The look, the feel, all of that is there. The suit and tie Democrats will feel kinship to the very sophisticated-appearing Harvard Law School grad. George Bush appealed to a different flavor, Hillary to another, and Rudy, Newt and John Kerry to others.

While Kerry and Howard Dean did well with capturing the blogger democraphic initially, they could not maintain their interest long enough to get them to actually vote - at least, not enough so.

Barack Obama has had the advantage of looking at how Hillary drew in supporters, and how Dean and Kerry lost them. From blogs to YouTube to Facebook, his online presence becomes 'cool' beyond a boring, innocuous website without a terrible lot of effort or funding on his part.

Hillary Clinton for President: A Free Speech Blog