An important role in the 2008 U.S. Election was played by social media websites, and many said that this is the main reason why Barack Obama was elected President of the USA. Obama was everywhere on Digg, Reddit, FaceBook, Twitter, and all other social sites. It is clear that his team understood well the concept of social networking, and he adapted to our times which are (not) ruled by the Internet which is ruled by social media websites.
Now that Obama is at the White House it seems like he decided to skip many press conferences meaning that he prefers to make announcements via Twitter or FaceBook. It’s easier this way. There is a social-mania around here. Obama & Co noticed that it’s easier to keep people informed using the Internet rather than a notice to the public, but you’ve got to ask yourself “which public?” – we’re all here on the Internet and that is bad for our physical condition, but we’ll discuss about this later.
Press conferences and notices to the public are oldschool, and here is another reason in favor of social media – it is said that WHO is looking to rename the swine flu because not a single pig died from it, and it has been demonstrated that the H1N1 virus contains swine, avian, and human strains. Twitter allows only 140 characters per tweet, and “H1N1″ is shorter than “swine flu” therefore there is more room to write something else in a tweet. Also, it’s easier for Barack Obama to make a simple announcement on Twitter that the “swine flu” cannot be called the “swine flu” anymore.
Social media websites provide a “simpler” mean of communication as you can follow a single subject without many details. People will understand better if you say “This is what happened with the #swineflu. We’re gonna call it only #H1N1 from now on.” Easy to understand, right?
The list of the social media websites where you can find information about Barack Obama and the White House includes the White House Blog, the White House on Twitter, Barack Obama on Twitter, the White House on FaceBook, the White House and Barack Obama on Flickr.
