1. Politics and Social Media
How the Internet and Social Media
Changed the Way Politicians Do
Business
Victor Lee Fall 2010

2. Outline
• The Rise of Social Media
• Politics and Social Media
• Sarah Palin
• Howard Dean
• Barack Obama

3. What is Social Media?
• Social media are works of user-created video,
audio, text or multimedia that are published
and shared in a social environment, such as a
blog, wiki or video hosting site.
www.capilanou.ca/help/login-page/active-
cms/glossary.html

4. Social Media
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Digg
• Reddit

5. Politics and Social Media
• Sarah Palin
– 2,481,142
People Like This (Facebook)
– 316,575 followers on
Twitter

6. Sarah Palin
• Mama Grizzlies
• http://www.sarahpac.com/

7. Howard Dean
• 2004 Campaign used
internet to raise
money
• Meetup.com

8. Howard Dean
The Dean Scream

9. Barack Obama
• 2008 Campaign
• My.barackobama.com
• Change.gov
• Whitehouse.gov
• Recovery.gov

10. Barack Obama
• He was able to use
others to campaign for
him
• The Hope Poster
– By Frank Shepard Fairey
– Obama campaign had no
involvement

11. Barack Obama
• Yes We Can
• 21,678,632 views
• No involvement
from Obama
Campaign
• Numerous
Cameos from
celebrities

12. Conclusions
• The internet and social media are powerful
forces that can connect groups of people with
no concern over distance or time.
• The Internet / Social Media is a tool that can
be used to convey messages and hear
messages.

13. References / Sources
• Carpenter, Cheris A.(2010) 'The Obamachine: Technopolitics
2.0', Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7: 2, 216 —
225
• “Master of the Internet: How Barack Obama Harnessed New
Tools and Old Lessons to Connect, Communicate and
Campaign his Way to the White House” Richard M. Barron
(2008)
• “How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power” David Carr
New York Times (2008)
• “How the Internet Invented Howard Dean” Gary Wolf,
wired.com (2004)