Communication is key especially when you are involved in a political party. It is of upmost importance that you are constantly connected with the people of your nation, to be able to hear and be updated of what the citizens want. This importance is further being stressed when the General/Presidential Elections occur because the future politician/president is determined by the people. In addition, people will only vote for a candidate that is trustworthy, credible and lastly, secure. However, the most important trait he/she should possess is none other than being able to "Communicate" effectively across all demographics.
Indeed, utilising various methods such as television broadcast, radio broadcast or advertisements on billboards may increase likability, but such methods do not necessarily work anymore. In today's context, it is the future of communication that wins the battle. An extremely good living example would be American President, Barack Obama. Obama has undertook his campaigns into future communication methods by embracing the Internet, using it as a platform for his presidential campaign. Obama has navigated social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to multimedia social networks such as Youtube during the presidential campaigns.
Firstly, starting up a blog or Twitter account is simple. But making yourself known is another factor altogether. However, lucky for Obama, he was able to make himself known to the public with his social media platforms. Having over 1.5 MILLION friends on MySpace and Facebook and over 45,000 followers on Twitter, Obama is able to communicate with the people 24/7, sending live post every minute, updating his followers about what there is to expect during the presidential campaign.
Because Youtube videos have no time limit to them, it is possible to upload a full hour clip on it and further enhanced the quality with High Definition. In addition, the popularity of Youtube amongst the population has risen greatly and because Youtube videos are made public, it gives access to any person who wishes to watch the video. Obama has also made sure that his video qualities look good and sound as good as the ones that is being aired on television so that his speeches would be able to resonate with the people watching them. More than often, the bulk of the citizens that uses Youtube or Twitter would be the Young adults and because these group of demographics are heavy uses of the Web 2.0, Obama has indeed done his homework to tap on these social networking sites to connect with these young adults through the use of Youtube and Twitter.
(Obama's weekly address found on Youtube)
Barack Obama is constantly in search of doing his best in communicating and connecting with his people. By initiating a website to connect with the people, the site has to be user-friendly in order for all demographics to use with ease and needless to say, Obama delivered. He created a website known as the "My.BarackObama.com" The websites allows users to log onto the site by creating their own profile, join groups, participate in fundraising and arrange events which are all similar to what you see on Facebook and MySpace.
Ultimately, Obama has changed the way people look at America and he has definitely changed the way YOUNG adults view political and presidential campaigns. With the use of social networking sites, Obama is just a "click" of a button away from his people and with that, they are constantly updated 24/7 with news occurring at any point in time. Also, with the use of the Web 2.0, not only does Obama has a voice in his presidential campaigns and weekly addresses, the people too are able to have a say on these platforms, thus creating interactivity between the people and Obama.
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