obama's mythe (en)

www.chrisaalberts.nlNew media and the United States

New media as a political tool?

Myths about Obama’s success

Chris Aalberts

Chris Aalberts

• Researcher and lecturer in political communication

Books• Young people (2006)• European Union (2008)• Spin doctoring (2010)

In preparation• Politics 2.0 • Right wing populists


Some trends…

• Decline of political parties as mass organizations

• Citizens have become ‘floating voters’• Competitive media environment• More human interest and entertainment news• Popularisation and personalisation of politics

• New strategies of parties and individual politicians to reach their voters

• Internet has become a major strategy


Internet strategy

• Internet as a tool since ± 1998• Web 2.0 as a tool since ± 2006

Some advantages for politicians• Control over media content• Costs of web sites• Better image: modern, human, etc.• Options for contact, feedback and mobilization


Internet, the first ten years

Main trends1. An enormous growth in internet access…

But many citizens still did not have access2. Political activities online became more important

But they were only carried out by small groups3. Internet gave citizens many interactive options…

But party websites were not interactive at all


Web 2.0

Claims about Web 2.0• Web 2.0 renewed the internet• Facts about Web 1.0 have become obsolete• Everyone has internet access now• Politics online has become a mass

phenomenon• Politicians have learned how to use the

internet


Some examples

• Obama mobilized millions of people during his election campaign

• Many politicians are present on online social networks such as Facebook, Hyves and MySpace

• Twitter plays an important role in student protests in Tehran against the Iranian government

• Massive protests in the Netherlands were initiated through instant messaging and online networks


The Obama story

• Obama became a brand: ‘change’• Obama created a movement of campaigners• Online tools were essential to realise this

– Social networking– Incentives to become active– Interactive campaign

• This campaign was the basis of his success


Some numbers

• 750.000.000 dollar donations• 13.000.000 email addresses• 2.900.000 citizens received sms messages• 200.000 local meetings• 35.000 online groups


• What are the effects of such a campaign? • Campaign effects are largely unclear• Problems identifying ‘effects of policy plans’

and ‘effects of social media’• No academic proof


• Why would people become active?• Research in other contexts shows citizens do

not become active, just because of the media• Obama created an extra platform• But he probably did not make inactive citizens

active


• Social media made this specific group more active?

• It made these activities visible• These groups were already easy to mobilise• In the past, mobilization was less efficient


• Did the interactive campaign work?• There was no interactive campaign• Some media moments between Obama and fans• Practically impossible to be interactive with fans


• Are these numbers impressive?• Enthusiasm about numbers is uninformed• Compare with other political activities• Numbers tell us something about American

political culture, not about new media


Lessons from Obama

• Social media provide efficient platforms for the mobilization of committed supporters

• These platforms make activities more transparant than before

• These platforms will probably stimulate more online activity than offline activity

• It is unlikely that these platforms will stimulate more political activity in general

• Even committed supporters have limited time


obama's mythe (en)

News & Politics