Barack Obama's use of social media

In 2008, Barack Obama achieved something no one else had done before him. He became the first president elected into office mainly through the use of the Internet. Obama marketed himself to 15 different social networking sites, but that's not even the half of it. He created his own website, had an e-mail list, sent out text messages to supporters and even called supporters four days before the election.

Obama's Facebook page

Obama's Twitter page

How Obama Tapped into Social Media's Power

The final numbers for Obama were:


1. E-mail- 13 million people on the e-mail list who received 7,000 variations of more than one billion e-mails

2. Donors- over three million online donors who contributed more than 6.5 million times

2. Social Networks- five million “friends” on more than 15 social networking sites; three million on Facebook alone

3. Web site- 8.5 million visitors to MyBarackObama.com (at peak) and two million profiles with 400,000 blog posts; 70,000 fundraising hubs that raised $30 million

4. Video- nearly 2,000 official YouTube videos watched more than 80 million times, with 135,000 people subscribing; 442,000 user-generated videos on YouTube

5. Mobile- three million people signed up for text messaging program, and they each received five to 20 messages per month; 3 million personal phone calls placed in the last four days of the campaign


Barack Obama knew his audience. His audience was looking for someone to lead the U.S. on a road to recovery. He exemplified "change" more than anyone from any party who ran against him. His version of "change" was brought out through his use of social media, showing that he was keeping up with the times. His campaign helped him not only win the vote of the younger generation, but it also helped him swing older voters to his side. Social media got Obama elected.

To this day, Obama still maintains his online presence. He has over 13 million followers on Facebook and over five million on Twitter. He posts daily to both websites, as they have become his main online resource.

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Steve Stadler LePoidevin Merge

"You have to know your audience."

That was the main message Steve Stadler gave us when he presented in front of our class. Stadler's company, LePoidevin Merge is a PR company that is starting to use Facebook and Twitter as a way of advertising for their clients.

Here's a bio on Steve:

http://www.lepoidevinmerge.com/steve-staedler

Steve does a lot of writing for LPM, and one of the companies they run public relations for is Lite Steel. Lite Steel is a small company which provides customers with a steel product that weighs less than normal steel.

What LPM and Steve did for Lite Steel is created a fan page on Facebook for them. They made it very hands off the people at Lite Steel, and set a goal for how many fans they would try to attract to the page. Within a few months, Lite Steel went from have 3 fans on Facebook to 431 fans.

Here's a link to Lite Steel's Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/LiteSteelbeam?ref=search

Facebook isn't the only work Steve does. He blogs on the LPM website, commenting on public relations and social events. Steve said he likes to blog about interesting things.

Here's a link to Steve's blog:

http://www.lepoidevinmerge.com/drop-and-give-me-300

I thought he was fun. He's obviously got a talent at speaking in front of people. One of the things he is good at is keeping the room loose. I was able to laugh at his stories and therefore, I listened more intently and was able to connect with him on a more personal level.

The part that I found most interesting and surprising was definitely the story he told about the camera. What I couldn't believe is that he was handed a faulty piece of equipment for the job which was supposedly really important to his client. And in the end, the client didn't even end up requesting the video.

Blog Post 1: Who Am I?

My name is Matt Gardner. I am a senior at UW-Whitewater. I am a journalism major and my minor is multimedia. This is my second time taking this class, as my head was in different places last semester. I did not get the grade I desired, so I'm back for another go-around.

Writing has taken over my life. I am the sports editor for the Royal Purple, so that takes up over 20 hours of my week. It's a great experience and I enjoy my work, but it does get very hectic at times and I've been nothing but busy this semester. I also am a correspondent for the Whitewater Register and I've done a lot of freelancing for other newspapers even though my career has been short.

Being a sportswriter is what I'd like to do in the future. I'm going to have to start out small, but I have big goals for my career. I really would like to end up at the Journal Sentinel, my hometown newspaper. Eventually, I want to be working for a big-time sports agency. CBS, NBC, ESPN, or Sports Illustrated are my desired destinations.

Other than writing, I try to enjoy myself. For fun, I do many different things. Hanging out with friends, going out to bars, attending concerts, playing sports, doing stuff with family. I'm kind of a random kid that does a lot of stuff and has fun doing whatever he's taking a part of.