Richard Branson will have to cross President Obama and the White House off of his short list of places to score some good weed. According to the Business savvy celebrity, they don’t keep any on hand. Branson attended a dinner for British Prime Minister, David Cameron at the White House on Wednesday and commented on the event on Thursday to an anxious crowd outside an Atlantic office in Washington.
Branson made an appearance at the Atlantic alongside Atlantic’s Washington Editor-At-Large Steve Clemons and Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance to promote a panel discussion titled, “Benchmarching the War on Drugs”. Though he only jokes about asking for a joint at the White House, he is an avid marijuana smoker and hopes to play an instrumental role in legalizing the plant.
The trio’s presentation on marijuana speaks to common sense aspect of legalizing the plant, addressing issues like the non-toxic nature of the drug and prison overcrowding. They present some interesting arguments for legalization and they specifically mention the initiative in Latin America to decriminalize marijuana.
Here’s a video of the Atlantic event featuring Branson:
Rush Limbaugh, rested from a charity golf outing and a day off from his own radio program yesterday, took to the golden EIB microphone to assure his listeners that he was still relevant, still here, and still their El Rushbo.
Flush with the release of polling numbers that indicate President Obama’s rating is down to 41%, Limbaugh took the opportunity to correlate the two for his listeners. While experts are still musing over the causes and ramifications of the drop in the president’s approval, Limbaugh knows why. In a segment where he called NOW President Terry O’Neill the “Head NAG“, Limbaugh said:
“That has to be worse than it was under Carter, folks. And what the women of America want is jobs. They want an expanding economy, so we don’t have to beg the government for their birth control pills.”
While cheering over the drop in approval rating, Limbaugh is not impressed with other recently-released numbers showing growth in jobs.
“The employment numbers being released are not legit. They’re not true. They’re not real. They’re fabricated; they’re massaged.”
Even though news just hit today that Limbaugh’s own syndicator has instructed affiliate stations to remove their barter spots while they deal with departing advertisers, he still claims this as a victory. In fact, he sees a correlation between his own controversy and the drop for Obama.
“Rush Limbaugh, EIB’s gift to Barack Obama. And with a few more “gifts” like this, try to imagine how low Obama’s approval numbers will be then.”
According to the latest opinion poll released by The Washington Post-ABC News, President Obama’s approval rating is sinking.
“In the new poll, 46 per cent approve of the way Mr. Obama is handling his job, while 50 per cent disapprove. That’s a mirror image of his 50 to 46 positive split in early February.”
Some are speculating that this is because of rising gas prices, which Newt Gingrich has pushed to tie to Obama. Others say it is because of the mandate to pay for birth control in insurance plans. They theorize that women are turning against Obama because of that.
Whatever the cause, the numbers are in and some people are celebrating. A cursory perusal of Twitter reactions takes the temperature of the right.
President Obama today named Todd Park as the next U.S. Chief Technology Officer, bumping him up from his current CTO position with the Department of Health and Human Services.
While CTO at HSS, Park was tasked with bringing the health care industry into the 21st Century era of technology and transparency. One of his notable achievements was the creation of the website HealthCare.gov, which was the first website to offer consumers a “comprehensive inventory of public and private health insurance plans.” The user-friendly website allowed consumers to find and research available health insurance plans specific to their zip code.
The appointment of Park harks back to the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government that President Obama signed during his first official day in office. The initiative aimed to “bridge the gap between the American people and their government” by pushing agencies to provide the public with access to their copious amounts of data. As a means to get the ball rolling on that initiative, the Obama Administration offered Park the position of CTO at HSS. While his official job title was that of a Chief Technology Officer, the common understanding was that Park would be HSS’s “entrepreneur in residence.” Such a designation propelled Park to arguably become the poster boy for President Obama’s initiative to use technology as a means to empower citizens.
Park replaces the first CTO, Aneesh Chopra, who stepped down last month after spending three years at the position.
Park’s profile on HHS’s website hasn’t been updated to reflect his new appointment, nor has Park updated his bio on his Twitter account, @todd_park.
If you’re not familiar with Todd Park, check out the video below of a talk Park gave at the Gov 2.0 Expo in 2010, “How Open Data Can Improve American’s Health.”
The Obama campaign isn’t waiting for any mandatory push, as they have officially switched the President’s page to the new Timeline. And as you can see from the image above, the team is using to new design as a prominent campaign ad for the last four years under Obama.
It appears as though the team has done their work on the Timeline, cleaning it up and adding various life achievements and milestones. For instance, if you go to “2004” on the President’s Timeline, you’ll find events have been created for his election to the Senate in November, as well as when he and the First Lady made their final student loan payment in January.
Scrolling down, you’ll find other big events like the birth of his first daughter Malia on July 4th, 1998. as well as his marriage to Michelle on October 3rd, 1992.
The Obama campaign has added a bit of humor to the Timeline as well. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom, for the entry on the President’s birth, you’ll see this:
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the Obama team is keeping up with the times when it comes to social media. Obama has always put the effort into joining and participating in various forms of social media. He recently joined Google+ and promptly hosted a Hangout right after the State of the Union Address. Last year, the President joined Foursquare, Instagram, and Tumblr.
As of right now, Obama’s new Timeline page is being debuted to over 25.4 million people who like him on the site.
President Obama is going to spend a good part of 2012 on the campaign trail, and every speech he makes at every rally he stages needs music. Campaign music is always meticulously selected for both awesomeness and message and whether it succeeds (think Clinton’s “Don’t Stop” thinkin’ about tomorrow) or fails (think Reagan’s misinterpretation of “Born in the USA), the music choices that campaigns make always leave a lasting impression.
With that, the Obama campaign has made his 2012 playlist public on Spotify so that you can save it and share it with your Spotify pals.
The playlist features “picks by the campaign staff – including a few of President Obama’s favorites.” And it seems to stretch across a few musical genres – country, soul, indie rock, folk. Some of the songs’ titles seem to be on-message, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “We Take Care of our Own” and REO Speedwagon’s “Roll With The Changes.”
Indie rockers Arcade Fire make an appearance on the playlist with their track “We Used To Wait” from last year’s album The Suburbs. Country is well represented with tracks from Sugarland, Montgomery Gentry, and Dierks Bentley.
As you might expect, Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” is one of the 28 songs on the list. I’m sure you remember the significance of that one:
This writer is particularly happy to see some E.L.O. love on the mix, as the campaign included the timeless classic “Mr. Blue Sky.”
Of course, none of the tracks were specifically written for a political campaign – but the lyrics of many are strategic to the Obama campaign. Although originally written with a lover in mind, U2’s “Even Better Than The Real Thing” starts out by saying “Give me one more chance, and you’ll be satisfied.”
In other campaign music news, Newt Gingrich was recently sued by the band Survivor for his use of their famous song “Eye of the Tiger” at his rallies.
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, via social media, sharing sites, or good ‘ole email. Everyday we highlight some of the best that are currently viral and some that are trending that way.
Today’s videos feature BYU sharing its Black History Month knowledge, a Skyrim battle that rivals Braveheart & Lord of the Rings, Go-Go Juice, and a Courtney Stodden mermaid.
My favorite thing about this video is that it has, quite possibly, produced the greatest presidential photo ever taken (see above).
God bless the machinima community, without them we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the absolute pieces of art they construct for free.
CNN attempting to win over the 13 year old teenager market – Santorum Wins South Dakota…WTFBBQ. Keep it coming Blitzer, your Jeopardy performance starts to make sense.
Baby sounds make the internet go round, and round…
Some amazing effects in this video, and if you’re into a trippy experience then I highly recommend it.
In all my years treating the internet like a playground and looking at all the weird stuff I could, I didn’t think I could be shocked…I’m not always right. I have nothing to say…
Go-Go Juice, a mixture of Mountain Dew and Red Bull; what every growing girl needs to compete on the beauty pageant circuit.
A wonderful, and imaginative animated movie about a cat trying to survive in a world filled with water.
This video is causing some controversy, for good reason. It’s very eye-opening, and it makes you wonder how these people got to college without knowing these things. The host of the special certainly went with the controversial route as well.
Isn’t she (Courtney Stodden) only 16 years old? Oh well, time to go check my credit score…
A painting by artist John McNaughton caused quite of bit of controversy last week, and now he’s saying that sales of the much-talked-about work are through the roof.
You might have seen the painting, entitled “The Forgotten Man,” circulating around Facebook and other social networks. And the commentary provided was probably either laudatory or derisive, depending on the sharer’s political leanings.
The controversy, as you can see, arose from the imagery used in the forefront. It depicts President Obama trampling on the U.S. Constitution.
Apparently, all of the controversy has led to a boom in business. McNaughton tells CBS Las Vegas that he sold “in one day, what we would sell in three months.” After the painting went viral, he says that traffic to his site increased at such a pace that it crashed it. It took four attempts before the site was functioning again.
It’s probably not surprising that many people said that the painting was inherently racist. A group of former presidents (of course, all white) look on with amazement and derision as the first black president steps on the nation’s most important document.
McNaughton responds to this criticism by saying that “this is not a racial painting – it is about the vanishing of the American dream.”
The only exception to the disapproving faces is the handful of historical democrats – Clinton, F.D.R. – that seem to applaud the action. However, McNaughton also says that the painting isn’t partisan. “I take no favoritism of Republicans of Democrats. Both parties are guilty,” he says.
The painting itself is more than a year old, but it seems to have hit a resurgence after it appeared on the popular blog of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.
Apparently, McNaughton isn’t planning on calling it quits on painting controversial political subjects. His next painting is called “One Nation, Under Socialism.”
Dad pants be damned because President Obama’s working to get his groove back with voters today as he will be participating in a live Google+ Hangout on YouTube this afternoon. The President will be answering questions (over 133,000 were submitted but don’t expect Obama to answer all of them – get real, he’s got a world to run) submitted by YouTubers over the past week since the State of the Union. While people have been able to submit and vote for questions that have been posed, a select few whose questions were accepted will be invited to participate in the live Hangout with the President.
The Hangout will be streaming live today at 2:30PM on the White House YouTube Channel and while it’s too late at this point to submit a question, you can head on over to the page now and get a preview of some of the questions that have received votes thus far. Interestingly, of the ten questions that appear on the top of the page, eight of them are focused on the (de)criminalization of marijuana. I wish I could say it’d be exciting to see the President answer any of those questions candidly – YouTube notes that Obama and the White House will not have access to the questions asked prior to the interview – but even a question about something as divisive as marijuana legalization will still stubbornly illicit a canned response. Obama and his team have been at this whole politics things for a while and you don’t go charging into a less moderated medium like YouTube without having all of your ducks in a row beforehand. Additionally, I expect several of the topics will be drawn from the SOTU last week, such as college tuition and the snail-paced job growth. Who knows, though, with the President’s penchant for being able to seamlessly combine stately professionalism with refreshingly human animation, he’ll likely have more than a couple of entertaining responses.
Anyways. If you’ve got an hour to kill and want to cram before the POTUS has his Hangout+ session, re-watch parts (or all) of last week’s State of the Union address. If you do watch it, I recommend not partaking in the drinking game that many like to enjoy while watching the SOTU – it’s still a bit early in the day for that.
Move over SOPA, tell ACTA the news? Or is this more of a case of “move over SOPA, it’s ACTA time?” Or does, “Stop! ACTA time!” work? For me, it’s “just when you thought it was safe to go back on the web, ACTA happens.” That’s right folks, while SOPA/PIPA were being placed in the ditch as smoldering husks, President Obama signed the ACTA “treaty,” which is, at its most elementary, a multinational agreement that addresses intellectual property enforcement.
There are many issues involved with President Obama’s signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — which occurred in September 2011 — and whether or not it should be treated as an executive agreement or an actual treaty between the agreeing countries. With an executive agreement, the President does not require the approval of the Senate, whereas, with a treaty, Senate approval is required. That, however, is not the issue, especially when you consider the initial zeal with which the both houses of the U.S. Government supported SOPA and PIPA.
As for ACTA, there hasn’t been a great deal of push back from the Senate concerning President Obama’s signature, although, perhaps there should be. As TechDirt points out:
The law is clear that the only things that can be covered by executive agreements are things that involve items that are solely under the President’s mandate. That is, you can’t sign an executive agreement that impacts the things Congress has control over. But here’s the thing: intellectual property, in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, is an issue given to Congress, not the President.
Does this mean President Obama overstepped his boundaries by signing ACTA? If you follow the letter of the law, as laid out by TechDirt, then yes, yes he did.
Perhaps that what explains one of the latest White House petitions, asking for ACTA to be submitted to the Senate for “Ratification as Required by the Constitution for Trade Agreements.” As you can see, the petition takes the position that ACTA is indeed a treaty and because of that, President Obama’s signature is not enough for the United States to be apart of. From the petition’s page:
The Administration has opposed SOPA and PIPA due to the damage these laws could do to the Internet. But many view the Anti-Counterfeiting Trace Agreement (ACTA) to be far worse.
This Administration supported the negotiation of ACTA in secret with a selected group of nations and with input from many corporate interests. The public and consumers were excluded from this process. FOIA requests were denied because of “National Security” concerns.
We object to the Administration’s negotiation of ACTA in secret, and approval of ACTA by Executive Agreement.
Considering the White House’s stance on both SOPA and PIPA, not to mention, Vice President Biden’s own words about regulating the Internet, which are available in the following video:
…The fact that President Obama signed such an inflammatory piece of legislation is disheartening. Does this mean the only reason the White House spoke out against the infamous acts was because the backlash was so loud? Does this also mean that because the American public, or, at least, those who “reside” on the Internet, is still largely silent concerning ACTA and the potential damage it can do, President Obama didn’t see the harm in signing it?
Of course, if ACTA does have to go to the Senate before its ratified, will it meet any resistance? Any at all?
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama talked a lot about jobs. And during a segment about jobs, he mentioned another important job(s) – Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
After finishing a point about immigration reform, Obama went into a bit about innovation and entrepreneurs. He said that the country should get behind everyone out there trying to become the next Steve Jobs. Here’s the full segment, for context:
You see, an economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work. It means we should support everyone who’s willing to work; and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.
After all, innovation is what America has always been about. Most new jobs are created in startups and small businesses, so let’s pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing they need to grow. Expand tax relief to small businesses that are raising wages and creating good jobs. Both parties agree on these ideas – so put them in a bill and get it on my desk this year
During this shoutout, the camera remained fixed on Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve’s widow. She was one of the handful of guests invited personally by First Lady Michelle Obama to join her in the balcony. Check out the moment below (video will start at the relevant segment).
Tonight, President Obama will give the annual State of the Union address, and the White House wants this year’s SOTU to stand out in one specific way: increased interaction.
As we approach the 2012 Election, Obama’s team has made a social media push that involves expanding into outlets that are a bit off the beaten path. Of course, the administration’s presence on both Twitter and Facebook is well documented and fierce. Both the official Barack Obama and White House Twitter accounts have millions of followers and have used strategies in the past to engage citizen participation. But they have moved into other networks in the past few months. In August 2011, the President joined Foursquare and the next month he joined Tumblr. Earlier this month, the campaign team joined photo-filtering social network Instagram. And last week, the White House finally joined the Google+ party.
With social media obviously such a key part of the Obama team’s strategy, it should come as no shock that they are hoping to involve viewers of the SOTU via relevant channels.
Social SOTU:
The White House is asking that SOTU viewers participate in the discussion on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Users are being directed to used the #SOTU hashtag on Twitter, and Facebook users can join the discussion on the official White House page – where they can also RSVP to watch the address.
There are also plans for a post-SOTU discussion panel. Senior Obama advisors will sit down and answer questions after the speech, and the questions will come from submissions on the White House site as well as ones posted to Twitter using the hashtag #WHChat.
And in just under a week after the SOTU address, President Obama will sit down for a Google+ Hangout. The discussion during that event will be driven by top questions on YouTube. Some lucky YouTubers will be asked to take part in the live conversation on January 30th.
Enhanced Broadcast:
Whitehouse.gov is advertising an enhanced livestream of the President’s speech starting Tuesday at 9pm EST.
There, the address will stream right next to accompanying charts, figures, and other graphics that support topics that the president is discussing in the speech. For instance, if Obama is talking about the gap between CEO and Worker salary in America, you might see a pie chart or other relevant graphic on the side.
People that don’t want to deal with the enhanced broadcast can also watch the standard broadcast on the site.
Host or Find a State of the Union Watch Party
If you want to make watching the SOTU a real-life social event, you can create your own Watch Party event on barackobama.com. If you don’t feel like hosting, you can also search by zip code to find Watch Parties in your area.
For instance, in my area, the State Democratic Headquarters have advertised a Watch Party, saying: “Join us for some good old Democratic fellowship and discuss how you can help this hard working President! In the past, President Obama’s State of the Union address has been a plan for the year ahead — and the priorities outlined in those speeches have led to many of this administration’s accomplish…”
Will you be watching the President’s SOTU address? Will you participate using social media? Let us know in the comments.
Just a few days after joining Google+, President Obama isn’t wasting any time before interacting with the new social base. Monday morning, The White House announced that the President will be holding a special post-State of the Union Hangout, where he will answer user-submitted questions.
The State of the Union address is set for Tuesday, January 24th and the special Google+ Hangout will take place on January 30th.
In the first completely-virtual interview from the White House, President Obama will answer questions that have been submitted by Americans from across the country via YouTube. The virtual event with the President will happen through Google+ Hangouts, a live multi-person video chat.
On Monday, January 30, the President will join a special Google+ Hangout from the West Wing. He’ll be answering several of the most popular questions that have been submitted through YouTube, and some of the people who submitted questions will even be invited to join the President in the Hangout and take part in the live conversation
When the White House first joined Google+, they announced that staff members and experts would be answering user questions directly following the State of the Union, but the fact that this is all culminating with a Hangout with Obama himself is big news.
You now have one more way to follow the Obama administration’s day-to-day activities as The White House has officially joined Google+.
According to their first post, you can expect to find news, behind the scenes photos, videos, and discussion topics when you visit the new page:
Welcome to the White House on Google+! Here you’ll find news from the blog, behind-the-scenes photos and videos, plus chances to engage with administration officials. One feature we’re really excited about are Hangouts. On our Google+ page, we’ll host regular White House Hangouts with administration officials on topics ranging from the economy to technology. Some Google+ users will be invited to join the Hangout with the White House and have a conversation with policy experts. But the best part is that even if you’re not “in” the Hangout, you can watch the whole thing live on WhiteHouse.gov, on our Google+ page or on the White House YouTube channel.
So you probably won’t be hanging out with the President himself, but it looks like the administration wants to engage a new audience in policy discussions.
The White House has only posted twice today, but have already been added to over 7,000 circles. Their only other post is a video of Senior Advisor David Plouffe. Here, he discusses how you can interact with The White House on Google+ (and other social networks) following the upcoming State of the Union address:
The White House has already asked users what kind of discussion topics they would find most interesting. The latest comment asks “does the White House use plug in air fresheners of potpourri baskets,” so, yeah.
Already a presence on both Twitter and Facebook, the Obama administration has spent the last year trying to expand their social media reach through other channels. In August 2011, Obama joined Foursquare and in October he joined Tumblr. And earlier this month, the Obama campaign opened up an Instagram account, hoping to provide voters an inside look at the trail through photos.
As the campaign season heats up, President Obama is taking one more step to connect with the iOS culture – by joining Instagram.
The wildly popular photo filtering app is already on its way to becoming a consummate social network, as users’ photos are displayed on a news-feed-type stream complete with commenting and “liking” abilities. With Instagram, Obama, who already has the reputation of a tech-savvy president, looks to reach a social media-using crowd that is distinct, but not altogether different than the crowd he reaches via Twitter and Facebook.
We’re excited to welcome President Barack Obama to Instagram! We look forward to seeing how President Obama uses Instagram to give folks a visual sense of what happens in the everyday life of the President of the United States. In addition to sharing photos through the @barackobama Instagram account, the Obama 2012 staff is asking supporters to share their photos from the campaign trail with the tag #obama2012.
And this is the first photo uploaded to the Obama Instagram account:
Obama has already tackled the Twitter and Facebook landscapes, amassing over 11.7 million followers and 24.3 million likes respectively. And last year, the President spread his social reach even more by opening up a Foursquare account in August and joining Tumblr in October.
Like all of those social accounts, Obama’s campaign staff will be the ones actually uploading the content. But the Instagram account with give Obama fans, political junkies, or simply interested citizens a somewhat inside look into the campaign trail.
What can we learn about the 2012 Presidential Candidates from their Facebook presence? Although it’s probably not the most scientific way to predict an election, Facebook can give us some insight into how the candidates are reaching out to fans, and what kind of success they are having in the process.
Social analytics company SocialBakers has come up with a spiffy infographic that looks at the 2012 candidates and how they interact with their Facebook fans, and also looks at what content from their December 2011 postings made the biggest impact.
First off, President Obama is cleaning up when it comes to total fans and total interactions. Obama has nearly 25 million fans on Facebook, and the next closest candidate is Mitt Romney with a little over 1.25 million. Obama also owns 50% of all the social interactions among the 8 candidates, these interactions being described as “all likes and comments from a candidate’s posts plus all likes and comments from people’s posts on the page.”
Although Obama is way ahead in total fans, the fastest mover over the month of December was Rick Santorum. His fan base grew the most of all candidates, nearly 25% last month.
One interesting metric measured in the graphic is the Most Engaging Post, which details the posts from each candidate with the most likes and comments. Obama’s family portrait posted on December 15th swept this category with almost 87,000 likes and 16,000 comments.
Ron Paul’s most engaging post was a Merry Christmas wish while Michele Bachmann’s top post was a new photo album about Iowa added in early December.
Net neutrality, because of extreme corporate influence, has been a contentious issue ever since it was introduced. In fact, the subject has been completely muddied by a lack of understanding from various outspoken anti-Obama groups to the point where a large majority of people who oppose it have no idea what it is they are opposing.
Here’s a thought…maybe since obummer and the socialist have used the internet to over through governments, they want to use net neutrality to make sure they control the internet so nobody over throughs their nwo.
And:
Steve sure helped clarify Net Neuter for me. The traffic jam analogy was very good, and how EVIL corporations like Google that are *Okay for the libtarded to operate, potentially unhindered is now made crystal clear for me.
Help prove the abject ignorance that surrounds the topic. Yes, there are legitimate criticisms of how the FCC modeled their approach to net neutrality, but the concept is a vital one, especially for those of us who do not want to see Internet service provision become an offshoot of cable television packages.
With that in mind, the news that President Obama will veto any repeal of net neutrality should be welcomed with open arms from those of us who truly want a free and open Internet. Currently, a group of Republican senators are working hard to remove the bill from the books, following the lead of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The Hill explains:
The House approved a resolution to repeal the rules in April. The Senate version is sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and has an additional 42 Republican co-sponsors. It has no Democratic co-sponsors.
For an extended look at Hutchinson’s misguided approach to Internet legislation, take a look at this gem:
Once again, the utterly incorrect stance of “net neutrality stifles innovation” is used by Hutchinson, when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. Hutchinson says she’s against the government controlling the Internet, but she apparently has no issue with companies like AT&T, Verizon, Time-Warner, and Comcast assuming that role. Of course, if you take a quick look at the corporations that contributed to Hutchinson’s coffers, you’ll find AT&T, one of the companies that would lose control if the FCC’s version of net neutrality survives the legislative process.
And that’s where Obama’s veto hammer comes into play. The Hill has a quote from the White House, explaining their position quite clearly:
“The Administration strongly opposes Senate passage of S.J. Res. 6, which would undermine a fundamental part of the nation’s Open Internet and innovation strategy — an enforceable, effective but flexible policy for keeping the Internet free and open,” the White House said.
It should be noted that Obama’s list of donors include Time-Warner and he has rubbed shoulders both AT&T and Verizon. Nevertheless, at least in the case of net neutrality, Obama hasn’t let these companies influence his stance.
Now, in regards to PROTECT-IP and other related legislative pieces, perhaps, but not with net neutrality, something his veto talk should indicate quite clearly.
After the huge role that social media played in the election of Barack Obama in 2008, it was clear to strategists, politicians, and the general public that campaigns would never be the same. No longer were social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook optional – afterthoughts in the dissemination of information. It became necessary for everyone in office and everyone seeking public office to maintain a Facebook and Twitter account.
And while the level of participation and amount of influence exerted through social media varies from person to person, it’s a pretty well-received idea that the more candidates can interact via these channels, the better.
A new study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of brand agency Digitas shows just how important a strong social media presence really is to voters these days.
According to the research, 61% of social media users say that they expect candidates to have a social media presence.
That’s important information for candidates considering that the survey also found that 82% of U.S. adults are social media users – and 88% of those social media users are registered voters.
And the people are paying attention to what candidates are saying on social sites – the information is very important. 38% of the social media users said that the stuff they see on Twitter and Facebook will “help determine their voting choices as much as traditional media sources like TV or newspapers.” Info gathered on social media isn’t just a bonus for them, it’s as important as info gathered anywhere.
Here are some other interesting findings from the survey:
The younger the voter, the more they will use social media to make decisions about candidates. 62% of those aged 18-34 compared to 40% of those 55+. But really, that’s a significant chunk of the older population that will rely on social media.
51% of all those surveyed said that they will definitely use Facebook and Twitter to learn more about candidates in the 2012 elections.
The lower the household income, the more likely a voter will turn to social media to make their decisions on candidates: 47% for incomes $35,000 and below compared to 34% for incomes of $75,000+.
Having a child under 18 in the house makes adult voters more likely to turn to social media to learn about candidates.
“In at least the last two election cycles, digital media has taken a profound a role in determining our next president as TV did in earlier generations,” says Jordan Bitterman, SVP and Social Marketing Practice Director, Digitas. “But the results of this new research show that the extraordinary power of social networks to connect us and build relationships may have even greater impact on who wins in 2012. JFK is considered the first television President. Next year’s victor may well be determined by the impact of Facebook and Twitter.”
Do you follow President Obama and the GOP candidates on Twitter and Facebook? Who do you think has the best social media presence? Let us know in the comments.
Back in September, the White House launched an online petition platform that they said would “give all Americans a way to create and sign petitions on a range of issues affecting our nation.”
The platform, called We The People, is open to anyone 13 or older. Once you create a petition and submit it to the site, it’s your job to build momentum for your idea using social media and old-fashioned word of mouth. If a petition reaches 150 signatures in 30 days, it because logged and searchable within the database. If the petition reaches 25,000 signatures, it gets an official response from the White House.
The original threshold for a response was 5,000 signatures in 30 days, but it appears that the White House wasn’t going to be able to respond to all of the petitions that got that many signatures, so the limit was raised.
The first petition to merit a response from the White House has just gotten its response. The petition for the Obama administration to “Forgive Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy and Usher in a New Era of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Prosperity” currently has over 32K signatures on the We The People site.
Forgiving student loan debt would provide an immediate jolt to the economy by putting hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of extra dollars into the hands of people who WILL spend it – not just once, but each and every month thereafter – freeing them up to invest, buy homes, start businesses and families.
That’s what the petition’s creator, Robert A of Staten Island says about his proposal.
The White House’s special assistant to the President for Education Policy has responded, saying –
We agree that reducing the burden of student loans is an effective way to stimulate the economy and save taxpayer dollars. That’s why we’re excited to announce a new policy that speaks to the concerns expressed in this petition.
The response goes on to explain the situation of student debt in the country and then links to the official press release concerning Obama’s new plan to lower student debt payments. Here’s the crux of the plan –
The Administration is moving forward with a new “Pay As You Earn” proposal that will reduce monthly payments for more than one and a half million current college students and borrowers. Starting in 2014, borrowers will be able to reduce their monthly student loan payments to 10 percent of their discretionary income. But President Obama realizes that many students need relief sooner than that. The new “Pay As You Earn” proposal will allow about 1.6 million students the ability to cap their loan payments at 10 percent starting next year, and the plan will forgive the balance of their debt after 20 years of payments. Additionally, starting this January an estimated 6 million students and recent college graduates will be able to consolidate their loans and reduce their interest rates.
Current income-based plans allow students to cap their payments to 15% of discretionary income, with remaining debt forgiven after 25 years. The new plan expedites a plan enacted by Congress set to go into effect in 2014.
Obama also unveiled the plan while speaking at the University of Colorado in Denver this afternoon.
Whether you believe that this is a good use of the web and social media or you feel skeptical about the power of individuals to enact change in this way, you have to admit that it’s a pretty interesting coordination of online presence and domestic politics. Whether you believe in the plan or not, it is interesting that the President unveiled a plan, it seems, based on the most-signed online petition on We The People.
President Barack Obama, or more accurately the campaign of President Barack Obama, has jumped into another form of social media by joining popular blogging platform Tumblr on Monday afternoon.
In the first post, the Obama 2012 team explains that they want the Tumblr to become a collaborative effort, one where people from all over the country can submit their experiences working for the campaign or upload relevant photos like one they captured of someone wearing an Obama shirt.
They also said that the Obama 2012 Tumblr would consider reblogging other Tumblr posts.
The Obama campaign foresees some issues that could arise from their latest venture, but have addressed the “trolls” in this fashion:
There will be trolls among you: this we know. We ask only that you remember that we’re people—fairly nice ones—and that your mother would want you to be polite.
Thanks, Tumblr. We’re looking forward to getting to know you.
The importance of social media in the upcoming presidential campaign is not lost on Obama and his team, as they continue to work hard to keep Twitter and Facebook an integral part of communication with the internet community. With Tumblr, Obama looks to expand his social media presence into a space that is yet to be tapped by many others in the race.
I’m sure that he’d like to see the kind of support on Tumblr that he has on other social sites – for instance his 10.7 million Twitter followers and 23.7 million Facebook supporters.
Since creating the Tumblr blog, the Obama campaign has posted a photo of campaign staff packing up cellphones in Ohio and made a short post about the President’s jobs plan.
Were you ready for some football last night? Did you miss hearing Hank Williams Jr start off ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast with is familiar “All My Rowdy Friends” theme song? Did you even notice the song was missing? Has you may have heard, the Williams’ opening bit was pulled by ESPN last night for disparaging comments the singer made about President Obama on an episode of “Fox and Friends.”
The comments in question compared President Obama to Adolph Hitler, something ESPN clearly disapproved of, and so, they removed Williams’ opening. The Worldwide Leader even released a statement confirming their decision:
“While Hank Williams, Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize that he is closely linked to our company through the open to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result we have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”
As for the comments in question, someone captured the “Fox and Friends” segment and posted it to YouTube, where the video has already surpassed 700,000 views, even though it’s been live for less than 24 hours:
The story quickly made the football blogs, as well as the social media outlets. On Twitter, the subject is still part of the current batch of Twitter trends, and the reaction is about what you’d expect. Before that, however, did ESPN overstep their boundaries by nixing the opening or is it their right as a company to make such programming adjustments when a affiliated personality potentially offends? Considering the company has already gone through its Rush Limbaugh stage, ultimately parting ways with the outspoken host for statements made about Donovan McNabb.
So maybe this level of consistency I referred to isn’t so consistent after all.
Nevertheless, Hank Williams Jr. is the latest “victim” of ESPN’s politically correct agenda — when it suits them, apparently — and much of the speculation is focused on whether or not Williams’ song will be heard again. Considering Williams’ response, it sounds like the words of a man resigned to his fate, even though the response was prepared by a publicist:
Williams issued a statement through his publicist, saying: “Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme — but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me — how ludicrous that pairing was. They’re polar opposites and it made no sense. They don’t see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the president.”
So did Williams mean to compare Obama to Hitler or not? Seeing how his statement reads like a “taken out of context” reply, who knows? As indicated, the subject is a pretty popular Twitter trend right now, and while there are a lot of responses to the story, a few of them come from established personalities like Scott Ian and Richard Roeper.
@Scott_Ian Scott IanHank Williams Jr,a man utterly incapable of a non-retarded thought makes news for just being good ‘ol Hank. Are you ready for some GENOCIDE!13 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto
Interestingly enough, it takes a person of color to inject a little common sense into a conversation that we probably wouldn’t be having if President Obama wasn’t himself a person of color:
@roywoodjr Jimmy DirtbagYa’ll mad cuz Hank Williams Jr dont like Obama? You know how many of your favorite entertainers dont share your opinion? #Pointless11 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
That, however, does not represent the majority of the Twitter feedback, which hammered Williams for his “Fox and Friends” appearance:
@mrtimlong Tim LongComparing Obama to Hitler is almost as crazy as comparing Hank Williams Jr to his much, much more talented father.15 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
@jbigss1965 Jason Biggs@AmandaMarcotte Hank Williams Jr sez working-class ppl r “hurting” yet he supports the very policies & candidates that have caused the pain.45 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto
As of this article’s posting, Speaker Boehner still hasn’t responded Williams’ statements, nor the tweets aimed his direction. Speaking of politics, apparently, Williams is thinking of a bid for the Tennessee senate. Will his haberdashery choice come back to haunt him?
For those of you who missed Williams’ opening song during the Tampa Bay/Indianapolis game last night, here a couple of videos to tide you over, including a behind the scenes look:
What do you think? Have we seen the last of ole Hank on ESPN or was this just a one-time punishment?
