Politics

Where To for Obama's E-Army of Online Footsoldiers?

By John Stauber

Ari Melber of The Nation adds his thoughts to growing speculation about the future role of Barack Obama's unprecedented army of linked-in netroots supporters. "More than a million people asked for campaign text messages on their cellphones. Two million joined MyBO, a website fusing social networking with volunteer work, while more than 5 million supported Obama's profile on social sites like Facebook. Most famously, 13 million voters signed up for regular e-mails, fundraising pitches and other communications. On election day, a staggering 25 percent of Obama voters were already directly linked to him -- and one another -- through these networks. Campaigns largely dissolve after elections, but this infrastructure remains intact. ... Since the election his aides have been experimenting with how to use the networks, for governance and for postcampaign politicking. ... After the election, half a million activists responded to an e-mail survey about the road ahead. The most popular goal was to help the administration 'pass legislation,' according to campaign manager David Plouffe." Other liberal online campaigners include MoveOn with an email list of millions that supported Obama's election and that is working to promote Obama's legislative agenda. (January 2009 update: see Organizing for America for new developments on this. )

Full post as published by PR Watch on December 25, 2008 (boomark / email).