I don’t like to talk about politics publicly. People just get way too emotional about it. I voted and today we have a new President-elect. Those are facts.
What I find most interesting about the election of Barack Obama is how he engaged and motivated millions online. Chris Hughes, a Facebook alum, oversaw the my.barackobama.com social media outreach. This effort brought millions inside the campaign, allowed them to customize their election experience, and join others in their area to motivate people around their candidate.
Sure, chat rooms and Facebook could do a bit of that, but “MyBO” organized it and allowed the campaign the luxury of reaching millions of supporters instantly.
From the NYTimes,
While many candidates reach their supporters through the Web, the social networking features of MyBo allow supporters to reach one another.
I watched Obama’s acceptance speech last night while on the phone with a friend. She couldn’t understand why people were crying and passing out (like at a Michael Jackson concert.) I think the social networking strategy played a part in why.
Instead of the candidate speaking TO people and asking for their vote, MyBO allowed people to speak to each other and made the candidate a part of their lives. When you have ownership of something, a concept, a hope, you make it a part of yourself.
Companies can learn from this. True evangelists are born from ownership. When someone feels special, like she is a part of a special group, she will passionately spread that message to both validate her feelings and make others like her. That’s how the online world goes offline and how Barack Obama became our next President.
