What do barrack Obama and Helen Zille have in common? Online clout. Especially Barrack.
Duncan McLeod (Financial Mail), please take the mike:
Obama's bid to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for the 2008 US presidential ticket has been notable for more than just his oratorical skills. His campaign will be remembered for something else: its exceptional use of technology, especially the Internet, to get younger audiences excited about politics.
The campaign's website is making extensive use of blogs, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, video streaming, and Twitter, the fast-growing texting and micro-blogging service.
Though the Clinton campaign is also making use of the Web, her popularity online is tiny next to Obama's. Obama has 730 000 "friends" on Facebook, compared with Clinton's 141 000. Republican John McCain trails with about 100 000 "friends". On Twitter, Obama has almost 20 000 people following his updates; Clinton has fewer than 2 500.
Obama's website also has a section encouraging supporters to blog, arrange fundraising events and create groups to connect with other supporters. Voters are using the Internet to talk directly to the Obama and Clinton campaigns in online forums.
Our politicians have a lot to learn.
NVDL: Indeed. This exerpt is from a fascinating and excellent article titled: A Web of politics .
Meanwhile here's more:
Clinton Haters Outpace Obama Backers on Facebook
Facebook was deliberately designed to limit mass communication by its group organizers, so that its users cannot be spammed and then turned off by the service. That's one of the reasons the Obama campaign built its own social-networking tool, which ended up stealing momentum away from the growth of his Facebook group, Sifry says.
Talking change
Clinton denies Obama electability remark
From Yahoo News: Obama currently leads in the delegate count, 1,634-1,500, according to The Associated Press. Because of the way Democrats apportion delegates, Clinton is not projected to catch Obama even if she has a strong showing in the remaining 10 contests.
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