Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Online Identity - Barack Obama

The current sitting president of the United States has done something no other president has - used the Internet to cultivate an image of himself.  It is widely documented how his online campaign was invaluable to his election, and how his opponents' neglect of the internet all but assured their disadvantage.  Barack Obama managed to effectively convey, through the internet, his persona as a peoples' candidate.  He has given far less time to television broadcasts and newspapers than other presidents have, electing instead to focus on building an image of himself through his blogs, websites, twitter feeds and through other forms of social media.

However, this has left Obama in somewhat of a disadvantage among non-tech-saavy Americans.  If you poll certain age groups, you will notice a wide disparity between older Americans and younger ones when it comes to his approval rating, and whether or not they voted for him.  I firmly believe this is a direct result of his internet campaign focus.  While younger people were subject to his online image-building, the older crowds know nothing about him other than what his opponents on TV have said.  While Obama supporters do cross the airwaves, they are nowhere near as effective as his opponents at reaching these age groups, and nowhere near as effective as the president's own campaign team at cultivating a positive image.

As far as improvements to Obama's online identity, I believe there are very few that can be realistically made.  However, his online identity needs to be bridged with his OFFLINE persona in order to be truly effective at conveying his message.

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