As I explore Twitter, I'm reminded of how we talked about how candidates were utilizing the internet to build a youth base. The youth vote has been talked about for years, but this election seems to be a turning point. Obama reached out to younger voters and let them know that he's different and has the best interest of the younger generation in mind.
So, how does a candidate reach out to the young? Well, it helps to be dramatically younger than your opponent, but one has to appear to be "of" or at least "connected to" the younger generation. Take Obama's Facebook page, for example. As I type this, he has over 3.2 million supporters, or friends, in Facebook lingo. 3.2 million people who can log onto Facebook every day and "Get exclusive content and interact with Barack Obama right from Facebook," according to the Google summary.
But how did he do it and how did it help? He (or his team) did it by employing Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. And, it doesn't hurt that he (or his team) filled out the Detailed Info:
Detailed Info
| Website: | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Relationship Status: | Married to Michelle Obama |
| Birthday: | August 4, 1961 |
| Religious Views: | Christian |
| Interests: | Basketball, writing, spending time w/ kids |
| Favorite Music: | Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees |
| Favorite Movies: | Casablanca, Godfather I & II, Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| Favorite Books: | Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), Moby Dick, Shakespeare's Tragedies, Parting the Waters, Gilead (Robinson), Self-Reliance (Emerson), The Bible, Lincoln's Collected Writings |
| Favorite TV Shows: | Sportscenter |
| Favorite Quotations: | "The Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." (MLK) |
How much more short and punchy, yet personal can you get? His favorite books, his favorite movies. This page shows a man who is able to comfortably cultivate intimacy through a medium that the younger generation actually uses.
How many twenty-somethings read Newsweek or Time every week? How many twenty-somethings look at Facebook every day? I can guarantee that the numbers for the latter are exponentially higher.
The next Presidential candidate will have to be able to comfortably use media much as Facebook or Twitter to communicate with younger voters. As more young people get their news from online sources, the internet will become the newest battleground state, and, arguably, the most important.
No comments:
Post a Comment