Much has already been said and written about what went so right for the Obama campaign and the people responsible for its success. Along with being a landmark event in American history, the win should have lasting effects for communications professionals. One could even argue that the social web changed history.
So what should we expect now?
Will we see more in the way of social media strategies from the next administration or as Josh Bernoff puts it, "Barack Obama, will you tap into the groundswell?" Bernoff even goes so far as to call for quite possibly the coolest Presidential appointment (at least to professional communicators):
I call on president-elect Obama to create a community of committed Americans to discuss the solutions to the problems that face us. I call on him to designate a US Community Manager, with a small staff, to moderate and harvest those discussions to solve the country's problems. Forget polls. With a few million people in my.america.gov, Obama will be able to tap into the world's largest focus group. Communities are cheap, compared to most of what the government does. Create a space for the brightest people you know; use them to attract the best ideas. And better yet, use this energized community to sell those ideas to America.We even have someone ready to jump in and take the job (he's a local guy, so I'd support him.)
I sincerely hope we see more tactical uses of social media integration from government officials. I think this would be the beginnings to real change. Strategic integration of social media strategies aid in telling a transparent story. Besides, it would be a shame to let the social networks go to waste when so much could be done with them.
In my opinion, they are off to a good start with Change.gov site to help tell the story of the transition.
(Photo credit: joyepurser)
