Guest post by Minter Dial @mdial on social, transparency and politics using the recent French Presidential election between Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande as a case study The paths of social media and politics would seem to be inextricably linked. Politics has proven, in many countries, to be a great way to “democratize” social media, or the other way around. During the Arab Spring, social media helped inspire a change in regime. In the US, social media clearly contributed to…
A Social Democracy: The White House learns to listen
We are now entering an era of sociopolitical influence, a framework for governments that influences and is influenced by its constituencies through real life interaction and now, new media. Some may say that this isn’t anything new. Certain governments over the years embraced the aspects of digital community in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Many also believe that President Obama is the first “Social Media” President. I, however, am a far more pragmatic optimist. While many governments and also President…
Twitter Report: BP and Obama Oil Spill Sentiment by the Numbers
This week BP successfully recapped its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Test results are favorable and show that oil and gas are, for the time being, confined. This news inspires cautious optimism in the hearts of residents and spectators alike. Online, however, the social effect continues to flow across social networks and social graphs, echoing anger, hope, and the demand for resolution and prevention from BP and the Obama administration. If we were to look back and…
Tracking the Obama Inauguration Across the Social Web: PeopleBrowsr Helps You Listen and Engage
Disclosure, I’m an adviser to PeopleBrowsr… In early December, we released a public alpha of PeopleBrowsr, an attention-centered dashboard for managing your online relationships, brand management, and communication in Twitter and across multiple social networks – all from one place. The public alpha is running incredibly well and thanks to everyone who contributed feedback, ideas, and recommendations, the public beta will be even more incredible. If you’re a brand manager, communications or customer service professional, community manager, or on the…
Barack Obama, The Social Web, and the Future of User-Generated Government
What follows is the unedited version of my latest post for TechCrunch, “Is Obama Ready To Be a Two-Way President. Barack Obama’s flickr stream Where there’s victory, there’s also opportunity… America voted while the entire world watched and listened. Whether you supported Obama or McCain, we equally shared the hope for positive change and a new beginning towards a brighter future. This Presidential election was the first in 50 years, in which there was no incumbent President or Vice President…
Al Gore on the Social Revolution for Change
While several posts have emerged recently crediting Social Networks (Social Media) with Obama’s victory, I’d like to inject another element into the discussion – people, sociology, and the communities and tools that bind them, us, together. Smart people intelligently and genuinely connected with other people to further a cause and a greater hope supreme. Social Media provided the channels to create, discover, inspire and share together…nothing less, nothing more. I attended the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco and we…
Chad Hurley on the Rise, Acquisition, and Future of YouTube
Social Media is our genre’s Industrial Revolution. It is the era of new influencers and the ability for everyday people to share their creativity, expertise, thoughts, ideas, and passions in order to participate in and build a community around common interests. People are taking their destiny into their own hands and evolving their online, personal or professional, persona and brands online. While there are many user-generated or people-driven social networks today, none generate the mainstream traffic or exposure possible at…
