In today's world the internet is changing everything, including politics, and this Barack Obama's presidential campaign was an excellent example of this. To begin with, the presidential candidate has a constantly-updated profiles in nearly every social networking website known to man on top of having a separate dedicated web site (pictured above). This made it possible to effectively reach an audience that is seldom given priority in presidential elections, young voters like me. After all, what do most college students do almost every day? Log on to Myspace or Facebook (I know I do!). Ultimately, the Senator was able to directly speak to hundreds of thousands of young energetic people that were more than willing to come together and support something they believed in.
Another benefit that Obama gained from using the internet was fact-checking, and on a campaign where rumors were liable to blow up to epic proportions, this was absolutely invaluable. As a matter of fact, Obama dedicates an entire page on his website to fact-checking alone, comparing claims made by his opponents to real evidence. It made it so that a person like me could quickly check whether John McCain's claims about Obama were actually true or not. Even outside of the candidates own web site (which admittedly has a vested interest in their own candidate), facts could quickly be checked on Youtube or other sites by comparing claims to previous speeches or quotes.
In the end, were it not for the power of the internet, Barack Obama might not have brought up the amazing number of young votes that ultimately won him the election. Furthermore, he has already started a website dedicated to informing the people of the actions of his administration (change.gov).
Just another way the world has been truly changed by the internet.
