Obama and Wikipedia

When thinking about the Obama campaign, the first thing that stood out to me is that the people played perhaps the largest role. By people, of course, I refer to the general population, his supporters. Unlike virtually every other campaign in history, Obama's grassroots campaign was run much like wikipedia is run: by the community. Without the community, Wikipedia would have virtually none of its entries, it would be unnoticed and unappreciated, and probably wouldn't be even thought about today.

Obama's campaign relied on its community to fund it, as well as spread its message. Through the small, though numerous donations, Obama really didn't have to worry about the cost. Additionally, a large part of the campaign was done by the community itself, which is of course, free. The ability to utilize youtube, blogs, internet news sites, social networks, and the rest that web 2.0 has to offer revolutionized Obama's campaign.

In response to the second question, I believe that Obama can use sites like Myspace and Facebook, blogs, youtube, and the like to hear the voice of the people. Listening to the people and identifying with them is one of the things that helped Obama the most this election. If he can use these tools to get a grasp of the public's opinion, I think he can really help the public shape the country. Additionally Obama can use these tools to reach the public as well. In an age that is growing further away from the TV set and newspapers, the traditional media of the past, the internet will arguably be Obama's greatest tool during his term.