Yes We Did An Inside Look At How Social Media Built The Obama Brand

FOREWORD by Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital The Obama campaign’s mastery of social media for everything from fundraising to volunteer coordination has been widely reported. Until now, there hasn’t been an in-depth analysis of how they did it. In Yes We Did, new media strategist and campaign headquarters volunteer Rahaf Harfoush gives us a behind the-scenes look at the campaign’s use of technology, from its earliest days through election night. She reveals strategic insights organizations can apply to their own brands. Discover how unwavering strategic vision and collaborative technologies—email, blogs, social networks, Twitter, and SMS messaging—empowered a formidable online community to help elect the world’s first “digital” President.

American voters will be empowered by this revealing, behind-the-scene exposé of the marketing strategies and tactics political candidates use to win their hearts, minds, donations, and votes. Branding the Candidate: Marketing Strategies to Win Your Vote was written to empower voters to become sharper, more informed political consumers. It does that by taking a close look at political marketing strategies, especially those used by the Obama presidential campaign, which took marketing to a new level of sophistication. Specifically, the book discusses the creation of the Obama brand; how the Obama campaign used database-driven, political microtargeting and high-tech digital media to reach various market segments; and the campaign's development and implementation of new political fundraising techniques. The book also discusses how a candidate who is created as a "brand" must cope with the challenges of "brand management" once in power. Finally, the authors counsel voters on how to arm themselves against the branding and marketing techniques that will be employed by candidates in the 2012 election, and they reflect on what the widespread extension of these techniques to the political process means for American democracy.

The Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics explores how the rise of social media is altering politics both in the United States and in key moments, movements, and places around the world. Its scope encompasses the disruptive technologies and activities that are changing basic patterns in American politics and the amazing transformations that social media use is rendering in other political systems heretofore resistant to democratization and change. In a time when social media are revolutionizing and galvanizing politics in the United States and around the world, this encyclopedia is a must-have reference. It reflects the changing landscape of politics where old modes and methods of political communication from elites to the masses (top down) and from the masses to elites (bottom up) are being displaced rapidly by social media, and where activists are building new movements and protests using social media to alter mainstream political agendas. Key Features This three-volume A-to-Z encyclopedia set includes 600 short essays on high-interest topics that explore social media’s impact on politics, such as “Activists and Activism,” “Issues and Social Media,” “Politics and Social Media,” and “Popular Uprisings and Protest.” A stellar array of world renowned scholars have written entries in a clear and accessible style that invites readers to explore and reflect on the use of social media by political candidates in this country, as well as the use of social media in protests overseas Unique to this book is a detailed appendix with material unavailable anywhere else tracking and illustrating social media usage by U.S. Senators and Congressmen. This encyclopedia set is a must-have general, non-technical resource for students and researchers who seek to understand how the changes in social networking through social media are affecting politics, both in the United States and in selected countries or regions around the world.

With iLobby.eu, Caroline De Cock draws on extensive firsthand experience to present a thorough guide to lobbying the European Union using both traditional methods and social media tools. This practical handbook includes an introduction to lobbying, with tips and anecdotes, recommendations for the use of social media, comprehensive indices, and detailed examples of best and worst practices.

The study of the presidency—the power of the office, the evolution of the executive as an institution, the men who have served—has generated a great body of research and scholarship. What better way to get students to grapple with the ideas of the literature than through conflicting perspectives on some of the most pivotal issues facing the modern presidency? Richard Ellis and Michael Nelson have once again assembled a cadre of top scholars to offer a series of pro/con essays that will inspire spirited debate beyond the pages of the book. Each essay—written in the form of a debate resolution— offers a compelling yet concise view on the American executive.

Utilizing surveys of Obama, McCain, and Romney donors, the authors explore the question: who donates to presidential campaigns?

This book analyzes the image of the U.S. presidential administrations from 2001 to 2011 and their political image in foreign countries. The authors focus on the European perception of U.S. presidencies, specifically during the terms of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Political image is decisive in electoral victory and, more often, is central in the conquest and maintenance of political power. Political image is also highly relevant because of the credibility of the United States on the international stage, resulting in gained confidence and the celebration of profitable alliances. This study of political image has a crucial interdisciplinary framework fordisciplines such as communication, political science, and international relations.

Over the course of American political history, political elites and organizations have often updated their political communications strategies in order to achieve longstanding political communication goals in more efficient or effective ways. But why do successful innovations occur when they do, and what motivates political actors to make choices about how to innovate their communication tactics? Covering over 300 years of political communication innovations, Ben Epstein shows how this process of change happens and why. To do this, Epstein, following an interdisciplinary approach, proposes a new model called "the political communication cycle" that accounts for the technological, behavioral, and political factors that lead to revolutionary political communication changes over time. These changes (at least the successful ones) have been far from gradual, as long periods of relatively stable political communication activities have been disrupted by brief periods of dramatic and permanent transformation. These transformations are driven by political actors and organizations, and tend to follow predictable patterns. Epstein moves beyond the technological determinism that characterizes communication history scholarship and the medium-specific focus of much political communication work. The book identifies the political communication revolutions that have, in the United States, led to four, relatively stable political communication orders over history: the elite, mass, broadcast, and (the current) information orders. It identifies and tests three phases of each revolutionary cycle, ultimately sketching possible paths for the future. The Only Constant is Change offers readers and scholars a model and vocabulary to compare political communication changes across time and between different types of political organizations. This provides greater understanding of where we are currently in the recurring political communication cycle, and where we might be headed.