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The first decade of the new millennium was a time when the dynamic development of digital technologies continued. It was also a time when the largest services, today called social media, were created. No one today denies that these services have a huge impact on our lives in every aspect. However, this was not so obvious 16 years ago.
The subject of this paper is the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2008. The goal of every democratic politician is to win the election, and in order to achieve it, he, together with his staff, undertakes a number of actions aimed at convincing voters to support his candidacy.
Campaigns and candidates use many tools for this purpose. From the point of view of this paper, the most interesting are those related to the media, and in particular to social media. The 2008 presidential campaign in the United States was the first presidential campaign in which they played a significant role. Barack Obama won 365 of 538 electoral votes in the election. Nationwide, 52.9% of voters voted for his candidacy. The author would like to find an answer to the question: why did Barack Obama in his campaign decide to put so much emphasis on communication via social media and the Internet, and what features of social media helped him win the election? A hypothesis was also put forward that the transfer of part of the campaign effort to the Internet was caused by changes taking place in traditional media, including their commercialization and other processes resulting from it.
The use of new media in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was a decisive moment that permanently changed the way political campaigns were conducted. The introduction of advanced digital tools and extensive voter mobilization via the Internet and social media platforms set new standards for effective communication with the electorate. Obama’s campaign not only harnessed the power of new media, but also demonstrated that digital technology can change the rules of the political game, influencing the way politicians reach voters, raise funds, and mobilize the public.
References
Baarda R., Luppicini R. (2014) Shaping digital democracy in the United States: My.barackobama.com and participatory democracy, Evolving Issues Surrounding Technoethics and Society in the Digital Age, IGI Global
Baumgartner J. C., Mackay J. B., Morris J. S., Otenyo E.E., Powell L., Smith M. M., ... Waite B. C. (2010) Communicator-in-chief: How Barack Obama used new media technology to win the White House, Lexington Books
Corrado A. (2018) Fundraising Strategies in the 2012 Presidential Campaign, Campaigns and Elections American Style, Routledge
| Keywords | Obama; campaign; digital technologies; election; |
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