Were it not for the Internet, Singaporeans across the globe would not have been rejoicing with The United States of America when Barack Obama was voted as President.
The internet has led to the rapid widespread of news that Barack Obama has been nominated President and that many Americans have their hopes placed n his shoulders.
The internet has helped Barack Obama to win this campaign. But how did he do across such a large country when he was only one person?
He used The Internet.
As we all know campaigns need money, and if you aren't filthy rich you did have to get the money from somewhere. Well, Obama used the Internet to raise small amounts of money from hundreds of thousands of people. The ability to spread such a message across to so many people in the shortest time, the use of Web 2.0 tools definitely changed Obama's campaign. Imagine every person that donates at least 2 dollars. That would have amounted to $200,000 if Obama's campaign reached 100,000 US citizens. With the use of the Internet, Obama's campaign was able to organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents in the cheapest and shortest amount of time.
The earth shaking Internet interfaces such as Youtube has provided Obama with free advertising. And as stated in my earlier posts, New Yorkers state that it is much more convenient to surf the internet. Videos online are not like television which get interuppted by advertisements, as a result, YouTube videos have proven to be a much more effective method of advertising.
To buy advertising hours on television networks cost a bomb, and why pay for it when you can do it for free online and the effect is greater. Mr Trippi, who was in charge of Howard Dean's campaign in 2004 stated: To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV s $47 million.
That's a lot of money!
YouTube does not only help the campaign in delivering uninteruppted advertisements, but also, fellow citizens are able to use YouTube to do fact-checking. The YouTube and the internet can be used to find past speeches, dirty secrets, etc and use the internet to alert others around them. The word of mouth is a very powerful tool and can either help you or bring you to the pits of hell.
The Internet also allows citizens and people across the globe to listen to the speeches on repeat mode. The more people listen to it, the more people are persuaded and convinced that Obama is the man for the seat in the White House. According to Mr. Huffington of the Huffington Post, 6.7 million people have watched Mr Obama's speech about race on YouTube.
Adding on, the Internet allows Obama to make connections with the people and strengthens it as well. The way most of the population in America communicates using the Internet, and by connecting with them via the way that is most convenient to them and the way they most care about, Obama could easily talk to the people of America with no worry. It's kind of like establishing a common interest/mode of communication.
Soon enough Obama will start a website by the name of MyWhiteHouse.gov to talk to his fellow Americans about issues that the country is and will face in time to come.
As you can see, the Internet has definitely shaped Politics. Barack Obama won the campaign and is now the President of the United States of America. The use of the internet to reach so many thousands of people has played a huge role in his winning of this Presidency.
Let us hope Obama will continue to use the internet to stay connected with his fellow citizens and of course, the World as well.
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