A Modest Proposal for the Obama Administration

Now that Barack Obama achieved the first stepping stone in the overall goal of providing the change this country needs, one must not forget about the avenues that aided in this success. I am referring to the aggressive strategy employed to communicate with millions via the Internet.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Obama plans to broadcast the traditional “Fireside Chats” on YouTube. It was about time! Ever since FDR began the weekly address it was only distributed through the radio airwaves. I am glad someone realized we have the ability to transmit video as well but more importantly making the video readily available for years to come.

This made me ponder for a bit and I came to the realization that just because the election is over … it does not mean that Obama should cease to use the same social networks and marketing strategies that made him successful.

The website Change.gov is a great example of what the administration should pursue these next four years. Brian Solis of TechCrunch also entertained this idea and he has some suggestions. From a Digg like setup to vote for or against policy to social network, which I am not sure how it would work exactly or why anyone would be compelled to join. Either way, it is a start!

Solis claims, “There’s an extraordinary opportunity here for the White House to leverage these new and influential channels of conversation to embrace and cultivate voters as if they were customers, winning market share, one person at a time.”
This is correct strategy in my opinion. The campaign should not treat us like a captive audience that has no choice in what we are being told. Instead,

we are consumers that get to choose the candidate (like a product) every four years. That means that our government must be open to dialogue with its people.

The possibilities are endless and the Obama campaign knows how to reach their audience. The challenge now is to implement some of those changes that folks so desperately seek and deserve.