Has the thought crossed your mind on the role social media played in the 2008 election? Not only did the Obama presidential campaign make history; he was able to accomplish this in a new way. Obama was the first African-American to be elected president. He was also the first presidential candidate to effectively use social media as a major campaign strategy. (Rutledge) This makes the most sense. Why not launch a campaign to reach all the places that voters check the most? The Obama campaign spent $47M on a digital campaign where $4.7M was only spent on the Romney campaign.
Currently 69% of American adults use social networks. Of this 69%, 39% of all
users are estimated to engage in political activism online. (Rutledge) Social media is shown to be the center point
of any presidential campaign. Just like when JFK was the first president who
appeared on TV for his campaign, and most believed this is was the main
reason he was elected to his presidency. Most say that social media was Obama’s
TV for his campaign. However, we all know how annoying those TV ads are during
the presidential election year.
Do you think it should be allowed for candidates to base
their campaigns on social media? Do you enjoy the influence that so many
politicians have on the political activism online?
Works Cited:
Rutledge, Pamela. "How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012 Presidential Campaign." Pamela Rutledge Media Psychology Blog.
The Media Psychology Bar, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
<http://mprcenter.org/blog/2013/01/25/how-obama-won-the-social-media-battle-in-the-2012-presidential-campaign/>.
