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Posts Tagged ‘us election’

The Internet generation takes office Thursday, November 6th, 2008

The world has breathed a sigh of relief as the US has agreed with the rest of the world that Barack Obama has the best shot at getting America out of the mess it is in and engaging with the global community.

Politics aside, this election marks the triumph of the Internet and Web 2.0. Obama used skills honed as a community action group leader in Chicago in his younger days to build a powerful network of supporters, both financial and physical, through the Internet. His team collected a record amount of donations via the long tail of the Internet - a few dollars from a huge amount of people - and used email, SMS and YouTube to great effect. Nice to see someone of Obama’s advanced age (47) recognised the critical importance of online, particularly in organising youth support. A lot of businesses could learn from this example - I’m sure someone will write a book about it and make a squillion - I’d probably buy a copy.


A TV show that gets new media Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

One of the big talking points of the US presidential election campaign, even in far-flung Australia, has been comedian Tina Fey’s razor-sharp portrayal of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the venerable NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Due to the wonders of YouTube, etc. people all over the world have been able to see the same things that are making them laugh in the US.

What’s now emerging is that this new media availability is just as important in SNL’s home market. I read today that only one-third of people in the US first watched those skit on the TV show itself. Instead of trying to limit the clips as most TV networks have been doing, NBC is happily pasting video links all over the Internet in a bid to get more people to watch the show.

And it’s working. When Sarah Palin herself appeared on the show over the weekend, SNL had its highest ratings in 14 years as people warmed to the thought of duelling Palins on the screen. As an expatriate American (from Joe the Plumber’s hometown) who, like most people living outside the US, is backing Obama, I have to admit Palin did a good job on the show. And how do I know this? Because the clips have been posted online.