Recruiting for Power

So, I've always been interested in politics. Politicians (....or is that corporations...) have a huge influence and power over our lives. Being a world power, American elections are a huge affair with millions of pounds being pumped into campaigns to give candidates the edge and gain crucial votes. TV advertising spend I would imagine must be considerable.

Interestingly the following website is the central hub of Democrat candidate Barack Obama's campaign. Barack and his people understand the huge influence the Internet has today in how people communicate with each other. They have recognised that cleverly using the Internet is crucial to galvanising support and building a community of Obama supporters. They know the Internet facilitates dialogue with individuals and builds communities. There is a section named 'My.Barackobama.com - This Campaign is about You', where people can build their own profile, network with friends and create their own blog. Youtube video's are replicated on the site with buttons enabling people to share the Barack content with their myspace and facebook profiles. Registering to vote is made easy.....Will the Internet lead to more people taking part in the political/democratic process by making participation easier and more accessible?

Have a look at the site, it's a great example of 'Recruiting for Power' in practice and also demonstrates that recruiting people via the Internet for votes or anything else for that matter (note the fundraising options) is extremely effective.

http://www.barackobama.com/

Comments

[Matt]

An interesting footnote to this one.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2072364,00.html

Shows even the forward thinking can sometimes get a bit over traditionally minded!

[Sinead]

I recently read that 90% of Barack Obama's fundraising donations were of the value of less than $200! and in one month alone, 80% of his campaign donations came from the Internet. So his web 2.0, long tail friendly site above, without a doubt, had a huge impact on the success of his campaign and his nomination.

Interestingly he is also using twitter, updating his followers on his recent European tour and signing up to their tweets. His team continue to use the collaborative nature of the Internet beautifully.

It also says a lot about Alex's recent post about John McCain not being able to turn on a computer. I hope for McCains'sake his team fares better.