The Age of Internet Politics

Posting written by njacknis over 2 years ago.
Last comment over 2 years ago, 2 Comments.

This is a video of a panel discussion on the affect of the Internet on politics.  It's over an hour, but of interest -- http://fora.tv/2009/01/26/The_Age_of_Internet_Politics 

Comments

113_1356_medium Paul Johnston

yes, it is an interesting discussion (although it starts a bit slow). Highlights for me:

  • Obama beat McCain by 120 mln to 25 mln in terms of YouTube views, but much more importantly the official campaign videos were only 10% of all the YouTube videos that mentioned the election - they totalled 1.5 billion!!
  • Obama made particularly good use of targeted ads on Facebook - rather down to people with a particular education background, interests/hobbies etc
  • Data-driven canvassing - really maximising the use of data so that when you canvass someone you know exactly what they have done and not done in relation to the election
  • Making data on supporters more accessible so supporters can find other supporters who live near them and/or are like them and can potentially self-organise together.

posted over 2 years ago

Headshot_medium njacknis

Your last point encompasses what is perhaps the greatest innovation (and a marked change in management philosophy) of the campaign.  The data was made available to supporters, which implies a level of trust of field workers that has not been common in the past.  It also implies that this innovation is worth so much that the campaign was willing to risk letting the opposition see the same data.

posted over 2 years ago