Social Media Changes “Politics as Usual”

Maddie Levine - February 3, 2010

As over 48 million people watched the President’s delivery of The State of The Union on television, it was simultaneously streamed on the web and accessible on a new White House developed iPhone app.

Once the speech began, last Wednesday evening, the White House opened a forum for an interactive exchange.  Viewers were encouraged to submit questions via Youtube.com/CitizensTube.  The format could be video or text.  Google Moderator, an application that allows you to pose questions and vote on your favorites was employed.  So far, over 11,000 questions have been submitted by 55,340 people.  In excess of 643,000 votes have been cast.  The White House will screen, sort and eventually choose 100 of the most popular submissions for the president’s response.  This too will be in the form of a live Q and A webcast delivered from the White House Library.

It is clear that these platforms are changing “politics as usual”.   Social Media now offers an opportunity for direct dialogue between the President and the Public. As we saw, it was also extremely instrumental during the recent political campaigns.  Should you be considering Social Media for your marketing campaigns?