In early 2007, Chris Hughes, one of the four founders of Facebook, left the social networking world to work on Barack Obama's new media campaign. Ironically,
The New York Times says the change
brought him closer to, not farther away from, social networking. In fact, social networks like MySpace and Facebook have helped Obama's campaign revolutionize the use of the Web as a campaign
fundraising tool, as Obama raised more than two million donations of less than $200 each.
The center of that movement has been My.BarackObama.com, an interactive community site for
Obama supporters. As the candidate himself said in a statement, "One of my fundamental beliefs from my days as a community organizer is that real change comes from the bottom up, and there's no more
powerful tool for grass-roots organizing than the Internet." Added Hughes: "If we did not have online organizing tools, it would be much harder to be where we are now."
Peter Daou, NY
Senator Hillary Clinton's Internet director, recently described Obama's online reach as "amazing," adding that, "their use of social networks will guide the way for future campaigns." Now, team Obama
is applying the same strategies to win the general election, but this time,
The Times notes, they will need to expand beyond young, Internet-savvy supporters to reach the general public.
Read the whole story at The New York Times »