And the next US vice-president is...

Iain Simons

Published 12 August 2008

The man who would be the next Democrat in the White House is set to announce his running mate and he's doing it in a savvy, theatrical manner...

Barack Obama is about to name his running mate, and in what’s being claimed as a political first he’s eschewing the usual media platforms by announcing it first by email and sms, directly to his subscribers.

It’s a savvy and theatrical move by one of the most socially networked political candidates in history. Already spread across facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and pretty much every other social network of any size this new move injects some real drama into the announcement.

Whilst it’s difficult to really believe that the major media outlets won’t have been briefed first, the sense of participating in (or at least witnessing) an ‘important moment’, as the sign-up page puts it -
will surely be tangible.

The use of ‘live’ new media to make an emotional reach out to voters is an interesting precedent - however, whilst largely powered by 'hope' you should be aware that standard
message rates still apply.

Post this article to

  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • newsvine
  • Reddit

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website

About the writer

Iain Simons

Iain Simons writes, talks and tweets about videogames and technology. His new book, Play Britannia, is to be published in 2009. He is the director of the GameCity festival at Nottingham Trent University.

Also by Iain Simons

Read More

Vote!

Was the government wrong to sack David Nutt?

Suggest a question

View comments

© New Statesman 1913 – 2009

Tracker