It doesn’t matter if your candidate won or lost the United States election. If you are a fan, supporter or evangelist of new or social media, you also won. Those of us on the edge have been gathering case studies supporting new media for a while. We realized that at 11PM (EST) on Nov. 4, 2008 the projected election of Barack Obama was the ultimate case study. It was the instant, among many important symbolic moments, where the power was placed back in to the people’s hands. The ultimate victory.
The foundation of new and social media is the democratization of everything. Every voice has the opportunity to make an impact on the opinion of friends, family, society and the world. If people, small business, large corporations, media and government don’t get it now, they will fail.
Obama’s campaign used social media the way Bill Clinton used the Fax in 1992 and it changed everything. It was the formation of a continuously growing community. It was the instant response and communication. Large amounts of money and support were raised through and by individuals. Supporters felt like they were part of something big.
Opinions were formed by reviewing the actual speech, the gaffe, or Saturday Night Live skit on YouTube. People wanted to see what really happened. New information was disseminated instantly on twitter and in-depth analysis was shared on blogs, podcasts and videocasts all over the world.
Stretching the truth doesn’t work so well any more. Negative only works if supported by facts. The true information can be found quickly with the press of a button. Yes, people believed the garbage about both McCain and Obama that circulated on the Internet. But, that was because they wanted to. The truth was always just a few clicks away.
The world is becoming more transparent. This, of course, raises different issues. But, as the world becomes more connected though current and future technologies to come, the people will continue to be important again. The mass media domination anomaly of the 20th century is coming to a close.
It doesn’t matter your party affiliation. You won.
Rosh
