Obama's digital Presidency

21-01-2009

by Ralph Averbuch

Not long ago we mentioned how effective the new US President Barack Obama’s digital strategy had been in reaching out directly to voters and getting them involved in his election campaign. Well it seems that this strategy will likely continue now he’s firmly ensconced in the White House. To illustrate just how quick off the mark the new administration is, by noon on the 20th January, the Director of New Media, Macon Phillips, had posted to the Whitehouse.gov blog, stating, “A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.” So while Barack Obama may be forced to curtail his use of Twitter and his Blackberry, we’re still going to see this Presidency making full use of digital media in an effort to connect with a range of constituencies – domestic and international. What makes this particularly interesting is whether the new-media approach will allow this President to short-circuit existing media and take each message directly to the people. And if it works, what does that mean for old-school news in the new media world, a world that’s perhaps only now coming of age?

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