17 April 2009
The E-Campaign: Rallying Volunteers and Voters
Podcast on use of online social networks in political campaigns
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In 2008, the U.S. presidential election showed how online social networks can be used to drive social change. The political campaign of Barack Obama made extensive use of the Web. Campaign members created simple online interfaces for supporters, who used the tools to organize themselves, donate money, raise awareness on specific issues and contact voters. The scale of Obama’s online campaign far exceeded what had been done in previous elections. The campaign strategy represented a natural evolution of community organization – taking advantage of the vast new interest in and accessibility of online social networks.
In recent years, hundreds of millions of people around the world have joined social networking Web sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and hi5. These sites allow users to set up profiles for free, and provide very powerful ways to connect with friends, organize groups, share hobbies, and join causes. Obama’s campaign created its own social networking site, called my.barackobama.com. During the presidential race, Obama’s campaign collected $500 million in online donations from more than 3 million people. But perhaps more importantly, the organizational power of the Web site allowed Obama’s campaign to recruit a vast number of online volunteers.
The reasons behind the campaign’s success with online social networks have received a lot of attention. One reason is simplicity. A constant theme on the campaign was action. To help volunteers take some kind of action to help the campaign, there were many simple options to choose from. Visitors could click a button to donate money. Another button helped people organize small parties at their homes and download campaign literature to hand out to friends and neighbors at the parties.
Along with simplicity, giving volunteers different options in how they participate was another important part of the campaign’s success. If someone didn’t want to host an event, they could find one nearby by looking on Google Maps. Volunteers could get even more deeply involved by creating their own fundraising efforts. Obama supporters’ self-directed fundraising activities raised $30 million from 70,000 people. This part of the campaign required virtually no effort from Obama campaign staff, meaning they were free to perform other tasks.
How will President Obama use all of these tools now that he has taken office? Thanks to all of the information gathered by Web-based volunteers, the Democratic Party now possesses 10 times more data on U.S. voters than it did just four years ago. This information can be used in future elections, to organize voters around specific issues, and to help engage ordinary Americans in support of new government policies. While it’s not yet clear what additional features the administration might add, Obama’s campaign promised to use the Web to provide information on government spending and other activities. More public meetings will be webcast. And Obama has already established the YouTube video address, in addition to the decades-old White House tradition of a weekly radio address.
Barack Obama’s victory showed that Web-based organizing can form groups of ordinary people into a force that rivals traditional institutions and power centers. It is unlikely that any future political campaign — or any other widespread campaign for social change or other cause — will ignore the lessons of 2008. Clearly, politics will never be the same.
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