I found this article about how President Obama is taking social media into the white house. I came across this article on The Wall Street Journal's website and thought it looked interesting enough to take a look at. The article basically talks about how even the President of the United States is using Facebook, Twitter, and now LinkedIn to target and accommodate younger people with the news and giving them more opportunities to get involved with things that are going on in the world without having to watch hours of the news.
I think that this is a great idea for President Obama to take control of. Social media is getting more popular than news and its a way that most people find out what is going on in the world. As for some of the younger generation, this is their only way of knowing what's going on in the country and world and what better way to reach them than to be on their level of communication. This also shows that even our president is recognizing the change in the social media world and that he's encouraging us to use these tools as well. Of course Facebook and Twitter have been huge factors in the social media world for a while now, but LinkedIn is still kind of new technology to most and this really shows that the leader of our country is tuned into what is going on in the world as well. Most people check their Facebook and Twitter accounts many times per day and post comments and opinions by the second. This is also a great way for the president and press to know what the American people are thinking and how they are feeling about all sorts of different topics and discussions. Some of the people that commented on this article were also glad to see that the president is taking matters into his own hands and finding ways to reach out to people. I also think that this is awesome that President Obama is finding ways to reach the younger generation because, after all, these people are the future leaders of the United States and the people that will be and using and updating these new technologies along the way!
Source:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/09/20/obamas-next-social-media-stop-linkedin/?mod=google_news_blog
I agree, this is a great way to meet younger generations on their level and bridge the social gap. It is true that some people only get their news and world updates from facebook or twitter, this may encourage them to click on a link that goes to an article or get them more interested in getting involved.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the reasons Obama connected so much with younger voters initially in the Presidential campaign. He was one of the first to use social media--of course, now every candidate does. Google/Youtube is even creating a new political candidate marketing toolkit.
ReplyDelete(http://mashable.com/2010/06/03/google-campaign-toolkits/)
It will be very interesting to see how much more social media political usage occurs during the next year as the race for 2012 heats up.
I agree with you all that this is a great way for presidential candidates to get in touch with the younger generations of voters. I think that Obama has set the standard pretty high for what needs to be done to accomplish good interaction between young voters for elections. I think the tone for the 2012 race will be unlike any previous race. Social media will be a prominent presence for both candidates I am sure and this is something that society has never seen before. In my opinion maybe the only thing Obama has done successfully in his presidency is good social media interaction. I did not know about the Google/YouTube political marketing toolkit, that will definitely be interesting to see come into play in the 2012 election!
ReplyDeleteObama was probably the first politician to heavily rely on social media to gain popularity and support, and therefore votes. I highly doubt that social media will play as big of a role in the 2012 election, as Obama has less need to market who he is because he is in the news multiple times a week. His brand is already established and his performance is out there for everyone to evaluate. From there it is back to the campaign trail that we have seen walked by politicians for decades.
ReplyDelete