With Barack Obama a few months into his second term of Presidency, it is interesting to look back and see what strategies he used to win over the United States of America twice. Of course Obama being noticeably well-dressed at all times, well-spoken, intelligent and personable did not hurt his chances in the polls. But looking back, it seems as though social media played a big role in Obama’s victory.
To start off, during the 2012 campaign, Barack Obama had public accounts on nine separate social media platforms: Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Spotify and two different accounts on Twitter. (@BarackObama and @Obama2012). Meanwhile, Obama’s component Mitt Romney was only a member of five different platforms, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr Google+ and Twitter.
This had an effect on the election for the obvious reasons, Obama’s name was everywhere. Romney had accounts on the typical platforms that everyone is a part of, while Obama had accounts on everything from music to blogging. This meant that he had to ability to get in touch with all different types of people of all ages. More people could connect with him and he could listen to more people. Obama used social media to make his relationships with the people more personal than any candidate ever had before.
Obama went beyond just being a part of the social media world and created his own community: BarackObama.com. On BarackObama.com, users can create groups with other users and share their opinions on Obama’s point of views. This was yet another way that voters could get in contact with Obama and be recognized as an individual. One group that was created on the site was so critical towards Obama and one of his standpoints that he changed his position on the topic. This site exists now long after the election, which shows that Obama was listening then and is still listening now.
