Technology on the campaign trail

I had the good fortune to attend Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20th. It was an unprecedented event by many measures. The predictions that nearly 5 million people would flood into Washington D. C. for this historic were perhaps a bit overstated, but nevertheless it was the largest, most peaceful crown Washington has ever seen for an inauguration. 

Regardless of your politics, it is hard to argue that the Obama for America campaign exploited technology and in a way no politicial campaign ever has before. Its exploitation of the social networks that are so central to the way young Americans communicate is arguably one of the smartest campaign decisions Axelrod and his team made during this campaign. The availablity of information and the easy dissemination of this informaiton allowed Obama's team to reach a broader audience on a more personal level than any other candidate ever has. 

The effectiveness of this campaign was evident in Washington last weekend. Will.i.am alone made some bold new technological forays into the world of celebrity endorsement during the campaign. His YouTube video "Yes We Can" that has been viewed nearly 16 million times to-date and his hologram appearance on CNN on election night made him one of the biggest celebrity endorsers of the campaign, and a crowd favorite at the Lincoln Memorial inauguration concert on Sunday afternoon. 

The Obama campaign seems to have had a thorough understanding of all 5 rules of capitalizing on new markets and business models. 

#1 It was able to tap into the long tail of the youth vote. 

#2 It proved that the campaign's "customers" valued digital content.

#3 From Will.i.am's virtual appearance to house parties that brought constituents together via live feed to a teleconference, the campaign created virtual spaces in which voters could participate directly in the campaign.

#4 It trusted the network by putting content into the hands of the users and allowing users to distribute this information.

#5 The campaign truly embraced its "customers" by inviting them to participate and hearing their opinions.