Verified Document

Use Of Technology In Politics Technology Essay

Technology: Use of Technology in Politics Use of Technology in Politics: Technology

Technology's Political Impact

Technology has changed the way we live our lives, influencing how we work, conduct business, and even interact with each other. Technology has also become an integral and indispensable part of our political processes. No individual perhaps demonstrates the significance of technology in the political arena better than President Barrack Obama. Obama is president today partly because of his aggressive use of social media and technology in his campaign processes. Obama's campaign in 2008 used technology, particularly social networks, online video, text messaging, and email advocacy to raise money and develop volunteers (Rospars et al., 2010). It sent out a billion emails, including unique campaign messages targeted at certain segments of the 13 million members (Rospars et al., 2010).

The campaign created a personalized social network (www.mybarrackobama.com) (MyBO), which allowed members to connect and interact with one another (Rospars et al., 2010). Through this network, volunteers were able to communicate with potential donors, with the platform in the end managing to raise $30 million from personal fund raising pages, and over $500 million from the corporate world (Rospars et al., 2010). Besides fundraising, the MyBO platform allowed volunteers and registered Obama supporters to increase their network by wooing undecided voters within their localities (Rospars et al., 2010). The Neighbor-to-Neighbor tool launched in September, 2008 allowed logged-in users and volunteers to view lists of undecided voters within their vicinity, and make toll-free calls to convince them to join the Barrack campaign. Alternatively, volunteers could conduct door-to-door visits to woo these undecided voters, and get...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

The 'Vote for Change' tool also gave logged-in MyBO users an opportunity to see which of their friends in battleground states were not registered, and to consequently talk to, and help them get registered.
Technology was also used to make voters aware of the location of their polling stations -- anyone who had given their zip code and email address received a reminder to vote, along with the hours and polling address (Rospars et al., 2010). Voters could also look up their polling addresses on the campaign website -- a user would enter their zip code, and the website would then list at least five people with the same polling place, and ask the user to get in touch with them (Rospars et al., 2010). On the day of the elections, the campaign used Twitter to post texting strings and toll-free numbers for finding polling locations (Rospars et al., 2010).

Whenever Obama came off a stage after speaking, a video of the entire event would be posted on YouTube, and supporters notified of the same through text messages or email. When Obama finally won, text messages were sent to all users and volunteers who had provided their contact details. The message read, "All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barrack" (Rospars et al., 2010).

Technology, therefore, played a huge role in Obama's victory, and his movement from a little-known senator to the presidency. His opponents did not run such a vigorous digital campaign -- McCain's followers on Twitter, for instance, were 23 times less than Obama's, and 50 million of Obama's supporters watched campaign-related videos online, compared to only…

Sources used in this document:
References

Couldry, N. (2012). Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice. Cambridge, Polity.

Rospars, J., Hughes, C., Graham-Felsen, S., Albright-Hanna, K., Goodstein, S., Grove, S., ... Bohnet, B. (2010). Obama and the Power of Social Media and Technology. The European Business Review. Retrieved from https://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/aaker/pages/documents/TEBRMay-June-Obama.pdf
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Technology and Project Management
Words: 912 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Technology and Project Management The Politics of Technology Technology today is such an integrated part of life that it has become inseparable from everyday activity. Indeed, it affects all areas of life, including general public life, professional life, schooling, and politics. In this regard, Cohen (2003) mentions that technology, when combined with politics, could become something of a double-edged sword. Terrorism, for example, could become particularly sophisticated. Enemies of the country, for example,

Technology and America's Global Power: America Is
Words: 1102 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Technology and America's Global Power: America is considered as the cradle of contemporary anti-imperialism and the pioneer of a mighty empire across the globe. The country's global position in the 21st Century is defined by tensions in its policies and public discourse (Hay, 2004). Consequently, the role of the United States as a sponsor of worldwide stability continues to raise concerns on whether an empire can function effectively on the basis

Technology -- Blessing or Curse
Words: 474 Length: 1 Document Type: Term Paper

Response Yes, technology generates problems, and it is shrewd and apt to point out that for every net gain to certain members of society via technology there is a net loss. The hand weavers of the 18th century were put out of business by 19th century factories that could manufacture clothing cheaply, computers have probably collectively caused the art of calligraphy to die, and made even professional writers overly reliant on

Feelings on Technology
Words: 1164 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Technology, Society & Politics The role of technology in society, politics and economics: Analysis of the works of Kuhn, Rhodes, Christensen, Levy and Toulmin The development of technology with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, capitalism, and modernism created significant changes in the culture and institutions of human societies. Where technology used to be associated with machinery and manufacturing, technology in the 20th century gradually became associated with computer technology. Scientific developments

Politics of Information Management the Art of
Words: 954 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Politics of Information Management The art of information management is widely known as the tactic of policy makers guiding the policy followers into doing so. Therein comes the practice of politics and it is known that politics portends power; consequently understanding power and its application to the art of information management is both appropriate and timely. Organizations now have been proliferated by computers to an extent that they control the entire

Politics There Were a Few Things That
Words: 1445 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Politics There were a few things that changed in American political culture between 2004 and 2012. The political culture became more polarized, as media and political rhetoric escalated significant following the 2008 election. The political landscape was change by the 2008 election, which saw an expansion of red states, and renewed interest in politics from African-Americans and Hispanics, two groups that traditionally vote Democrat. The heightened rhetoric can be seen as

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now