Politics 2.0

With the advent and universal spread of modern digital technologies, many fields of work and average daily activities were affected at large. Particularly, methods and marketing strategies in terms of political campaigns were forced to change with the times and address and meet the needs of the grassroots masses and voters. It is interesting to observe Barack Obama’s campaign and success in terms of his revolutionary use of technology to reach and connect with millions of voters. Barack Obama’s campaign defines the concept of “Politics 2.0” and the necessary actions that now must be considered a standard to follow in order to succeed politically. In class, we first discusses the differences between campaign strategies in the U.S. and in Spain, where things remain simpler but are changing with the time as well. Most notably the differences in Spain include that in the U.S., minutes on TV are not regulated but rather purchased, that the internet is used to collect money and to advertise, that campaigns are run by professionals rather than members of political parties, that points of views on topics like abortion reign more important than an election manifesto, that US politicians microtarget based on several factors, and that campaigns cost much more. Obama’s campaign taught the general public several interesting facts about political campaigns today. First of all, people are self interested rather than politically motivated, that every factor must be addressed towards private individuals rather than generalizing amongst groups,and that public forums must be used to contact and understand the needs of voters (the Y generation is less interested in political debates and speeches), and Obama raised much more money than ever before specifically through private donations garnered by addressing individual needs and making each person feel “special.” His website allowed viewers to share opinions, which could be polled and addressed. Thus, although Obama employed traditional political strategies, it would be ignorant to avoid the particular importance the internet played in this campaign specifically. For example, Facebook  allows politicians to seem transparent, mobilizes people virally, communicates important events and message, humanizes, and allows for microtargetting.Obama used twitter to respond to followers, used SMS feeds to spread ringtones and programs, and addressed blog questions, making each voter feel important. Obama’s “Brand” focused on keeping in touch, and users knew it would be a permanent installment because he could not just bail out after winning.  Thus, the internet can be used to essentially win a campaign in the following ways: to inform (upload to youtube), to connect millions of people,  to ask voters to be involved, and to talk with people to address concerns, and to give all relevant information virally. Most importantly, microtargetting becomes possible as voters can be classified based on hundreds of defining factors. Thus, the internet is a permanent tool in the arena of politics since Obama’s revolutionary use of modern technologies.