Posts Tagged ‘President Obama’

President Obama (almost) Six Months Later

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

barack-obama-22In terms of New Year’s Resolutions, no one had it worse than President Barack Obama.  With a laundry list of problems left behind by the prior administration and the pressure on in the court of public opinion, then President-Elect Obama had an awful lot of resolutions to keep–most of them made during his campaign. (See the funniest of them as promised by Barack Obama on the Late Show with David Letterman.)

Almost six months have gone by since Barack Obama took office….so how does the new President rate in keeping his New Year’s Resolutions?

Well, that depends on who you talk to.  It seems there’s a lot of debate as to how the President is keeping up with his campaign promises…but for a clear and (mostly) unbiased opinon, check out PolitiFact.com’s aptly named “Obamameter.”

To create the Obamameter, the political gurus at PolitiFact compiled 500 promises made by the Obama-Biden campaign. Politifact is tracking the development of each of these five hundred problems by breaking them down into six categories, including “Promise Kept,” “Promise Broken,” “Comprimise” and “In the Works.”  Politipicture-1Fact has categorized a whopping 398 promises as “No Action.”  But, don’t forget President Obama has four years to complete the full 500.

So, how accurate is the Obamameter? Well PolitiFact.com, the self-proclaimed “Truth-o-meter” created and maintained by the staff of the St. Petersburgh (FL) Times, did win the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting, which is no small feat.  Still not convinced? Check out a report conducted by PBS’  “The News Hour” that discusses the process behind the Obamameter.

So, is President Obama following through? I guess the best answer I can give you is read the facts, decide for yourself and leave comments here to get the conversation started.

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Why bother using Twitter?

Monday, May 18th, 2009

So, now you know what Twitter is and how to use it. Great!  But WHY should you use Twitter? Of all the social media platforms out there, why should Twitter be at the top of your list?

Here are three quick reasons why to use Twitter.

1. Twitter is Everywhere!twitter-international_web_traffic1

A common misconception is that social media is “an American fad” that holds no weight in the international community. Actually, the complete opposite is true. Sixty percent of Twitter web traffic comes from outside the United States. Countries like Japan, Spain, the UK and even Taiwan are large contributors to Twitter web traffic.  Twitter has become the newest way to cross international borders and create the proverbial “global village” online.

2. Everyone has Twitter!

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Everyone from President Obama to Ashton Kutcher to my next door neighbor is on Twitter.  Since 140-character bite-sized Tweets are the main form of Twitter communication, no one can say that they don’t have time to Tweet. Since everyone is using Twitter, having a large number of “followers” ensures that you have a large audience. And if you can communicate your brand message in 140 characters, you’ll have a captive audience.

 

3.  People visit Twitter

This may sound just like Reason #2 but there is a slight difference.  Often, social media will have a huge spike in membership at its launch, but the number of hits (or unique visitors to the website) will dwindle after the novelty has worn off.  With Twitter, the exact opposite has happened. Twitter has simply exploded since it was first introduced. In fact, a recent study has shown that Twitter.com has more visitors than the websites of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal! Twitter is even giving Google a run for its money!

The long and short of it is that Twitter is a unique and emerging platform that people are using. So, don’t be afraid to jump right in and have fun on Twitter!globalprojectshelpwebscom

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The White House Catches On: White House 2.0

Monday, May 4th, 2009

On May 1, President Obama made the speech that social media specialists have long been awaiting. He enlisted the Powers the Be to “reach beyond the halls of government” in order to connect citizens to the new Administration.

Social media quickly became the topic of conversation and the White House’s efforts to get with the times were specifically outlined. White House 2.0, as the project has become known, is the effort of the Obama administration to reach out to the people using the online channels that everyday Americans visit most.

You can now find the White House on:

Will other world leaders follow suit? Do you think social media will enter other “halls of government”?

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Moving Social Media into the White House

Monday, April 27th, 2009

obama-biden08smallThe Obama-Biden campaign was a clear confirmation that we as citizens hold a tremendous amount of power and, when we unite, that power creates change. Uniting an entire nation was no easy task, but the use of emerging social media in the campaign was the most effective way to connect a nation. By leveraging the power of the crowd, the Obama-Biden campaign took political awareness and civic engagement to new heights.

The Obama-Biden campaign was able to unite 5 million “friends” across 15 social media platforms, with 3 million “friends” on Facebook alone. When CNN and Facebook teamed together on Inauguration Day, the result was over 136 million page views by 3:30 PM! MyBarackObama.com was an incredible, user-centric tool to put the power into the hands of its 2 million users, while attracting 8.5 million monthly visitors.  The scope and scale of the Obama-Biden campaign is unmatched and it was the power of social media that made these results possible.

Now, the successful (and soon to be historic) campaign has come to a close.  The hard work of the campaign team team has paid off and the first, and most difficult, 100 days of the new administration have come to a close.

So, how can President Obama move social media into the White House?

The first and most logical step has already been taken: YouTube. The Obama Adminstration’s use of YouTube to directly address citizens about new developments of the economic crisis harkens back to Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats during the Great Depression.  The technology may be different, but the idea is still the same.

Upgrading the White House Twitter is a great way to increase civic engagement and interest, especially among voters 18-24 who make up the largest population of uncast votes.

Perhaps the President could open an account on Delicious, a social bookmarking tool? This could be utilized to bookmark any important press about what the Obama Administration is up to, as well as press about important legislation.

WhiteHouse.Gov has done a great job updating their website and blog.  But, the sad reality is, how many people check White House.gov on a regular basis? I would say not many.  The White House website could also benefit from using social media to reach out to the largest amount of Americans in the most efficient way.

Why wouldn’t President Obama leverage the power of  his cultural presence through social media to keep American citizens informed about what’s going on the world? His personality is the hook and social media is the platform. Isn’t it time for his message to be heard, loud and clear, through all possible media to all corners of the world?

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