The US Election Via the Web

November 5, 2008 · Filed Under Web 

4 years ago, when the US last voted, there was no twitter. There was no YouTube. The whole of the web, and the way that we consume media has completely changed in those 4 years. Where have people talked about the election and the candidates?

Online. On the blogs, the websites, on twitter, using the power of online maps to see what is happening. Using the reach of the web, so that a Mum in Ohio can broadcast what she wants to say, just as easily as a multinational news channel can.

I’ve been using some great sites like perspctv.com to watch real time tweets, blog posts and poll results. What will be fascinating is whether the UK election will have so much online activity. Will the Labour Party and Conversatives take adavntage of the web and really leverage it, to communciate with the online population? This slideshow shows just some of the ways that the web has been used over the past few weeks and months: from the excellent Read Write Web and flickr user SarahinTampa:

If I was Gordon Brown, (and he needs all the help he can get). I would be appointing someone now to help him fight the election online. Someone who knows the web and what it can do. Focus groups and engaging the different age groups. The UK online environment, like what happened in the US, is going to be the real battle ground in our next election.

I want to personally say a huge congratulations to Brack Obama – I have rarely been moved by someone who speaks so brilliantly, is so obviously thoughtful, caring, intelligent, and has such incredible maturity and poise. The US can now start to repair its worldwide reputation, where so many Americans have been ashamed of their past President.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • NewsVine
  • Slashdot
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • TwitThis

Related posts:

  1. Sideline App – twitter trend monitoring
  2. Google Realtime search looks amazing

Tags: , , ,

Comments

4 Responses to “The US Election Via the Web”

  1. Simon on November 5th, 2008 9:45 pm

    You pitching for a job mate?!?!

    I completely agree on Obama’s use of new media to really energise (or should that be energize for our American friends?) parts of the electorate that are usually apathetic (or worse) when it comes to politics.

    Having said that, the single best piece of coverage of the election came from an old media outlet, the Boston Globe through their Big Picture section. Stunning imagery from Obama’s campaign. The Next President of the United States.

  2. Neil Crump on November 6th, 2008 12:06 pm

    According to PRWeek, the trade magazine for PR folk like me the battle is going to fought on the digital front. Number 10 certainly has a head of digital comms.

    Check out this brilliant piece of viral marketing in support of Barack to mobilise the vote. Not sure how they do it but it is BRILLIANT:
    http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=VqfgEKjTsZLTUnt8xJ8qpjEwMjYwOTI2&referred_by=14271776-ENfDFQx

    N:+)

  3. mossman on November 6th, 2008 12:43 pm

    Neil,

    That is superb ! :-D I saw something similar (may have mentioned it to you guys when I saw you) where there was a “new presidential candidate” and they had your name on the news and on taxis and buses in NY. VERY clever.

    I’m not sure how they actually do it, so perhaps one of you readers who knows about this could let us know!

    Best,

    Jon

  4. mossman on November 6th, 2008 12:46 pm

    Simon,

    Love the Big Picture for photos – my very favourite photography site at present. It does help that Barack takes a superb photo. Some really iconic moments captured.

    It will be interesting to see how “viral” any UK political stuff gets. I’m getting a few ideas about what could be done… ;-)

    Jon

Leave a Reply