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Obama: Does He Pass the Social Media Test?
He used social media and the web unlike any other presidential candidate in history. Barack Obama’s incredible online presence turned into a grassroots movement culminating in his election as the 44th President of the United States. He was all over YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere. But that was the campaign. Since then, he has promised to be one of the most transparent and accessible presidents in history, and social media was going to be central to achieving that goal. Now that it’s been a few months since his inauguration, we revisited his social media credentials. Not only that, but we put a letter grade on his usage of social tools. So how does the President’s social media usage rank since he took office? Does the leader of the free world earn a passing grade? During the campaign: President Obama was a prolific user of Twitter on the campaign trail. He joined Twitter all the way back in April 2007 and, up until the election, updated it about once a day with news, information, and videos. Post-inauguration: From November 4th to January 15th, the @BarackObama account was dormant. Now though, his Twitter use has picked up, with a tweet about every other day or so. He (or his campaign) also know how to use their hashtags. It would be nice if maybe he’d @reply a person or two though. Another note: the Obama team has been tweeting from @WhiteHouse, which is far more active than even Obama’s Twitter account. Conclusion: Despite the two month lull, his Twitter use is solid. Grade: A- Facebook, MySpace, and social networking During the campaign: Barack Obama made history with his Facebook usage. He used his Facebook Page and his MySpace Page to reach out to constituents. He started it early and used it often. Post-inauguration: While MySpace has fallen a bit by the wayside, his Facebook usage has been nothing but phenomenal. Not only has there been a nonstop news feed of videos, links, and pictures, but he is the #1 page on Facebook, beating out the likes of Vin Diesel and Michael Jackson (for now). The millions of users who watched Obama’s Inauguration on Facebook/CNN Live prove he’s a social networking rock star. Conclusion: This is one place where he upped his game. You can’t argue with being #1. Grade: A+ YouTube and Video During the campaign: YouTube addresses, touching stories, and looks behind the scenes were common during the campaign. His YouTube profile was very active. Post-inauguration: While he still uses his old YouTube account, really, you can find him over at The White House’s channel. Obama and his team post videos almost every day, with the most important one being his weekly video address, which is much more effective than a simple radio address. He’s also stepped up his social media video presence with multiple live video press conferences and town halls. Conclusion: How many other public figures are so accessible via video? Grade: A Blogging During the campaign: Both Barack Obama and John McCain had strong blogging presences. Barack also had My.BarackObama, which provided a lot of user-generated blog content, while John McCain was fortunate to have a prolific campaign blogger in his daughter, Meghan McCain. Post-inauguaration: Obama has two primary blogs, his Organizing for America blog and, yes, The White House Blog. Both are updated very frequently by his team – and are transparent in who is posting and when. Still, it’d be nice to see a post from Obama himself maybe once every month or two, but we understand that he has bigger fish to fry. Conclusion: Great blogging presence, but would love to see his name as the author just a tad more often. Grade: B+ Overall During the campaign: Social media and social networking were such a huge aspect of his campaign. It was central to his grassroots movement, and his my.barackobama initiative was a stunning success. Clearly the best use of the web in a political campaign (Ron Paul doesn’t count – he still lost). Post-inauguration: Let’s remember, this man is the leader of the free world. He has to worry about rogue states, nuclear missiles, CIA intelligence, broken economies, budget deficits, re-election, and probably things we don’t want to know about. Yet he has made reaching out and keeping constituents informed via social media a priority. It’s tough to argue that Obama isn’t the most accessible president in history, no matter your party affiliation. Conclusion: Obama has gone beyond the call of duty. Grade: A Reviews: Facebook, Michael Jackson, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube Tags: barack obama, facebook, myspace, obama, social media, twitter 
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7 Spectacular Fireworks Shows on YouTube
They sparkle, they shimmer, they explode, and they come out every 4th of July: fireworks! It’s the Independence Day holiday weekend here in the U.S., and the celebrations are about to begin. But if you can’t wait for the fireworks spectacular, or if you just love fireworks and aren’t from the U.S., then lucky for you, there’s everybody’s favorite social media video website, YouTube, to help fill in the gaps. Partially because it’s a holiday weekend but mostly because we’re attracted to sparklers and pretty lights, we’ve gathered seven of our favorite July 4th YouTube fireworks videos. Enjoy! 1. Walt Disney World, Florida, 2005 Disneyworld and Disneyland have great fireworks, but they go over-the-top for the 4th of July. 2. New York City, 2008 The video news and Internet culture vlog Rocketboom put up this popular fireworks display from the 2008 NYC festivities. They claim it’s the largest fireworks display in America, and from what we see, it’s tough to argue. 3. Cabazon, CA, 2007 According to the video, this is the last 24 inch Fireworks shell to ever be launched int he U.S. If you think that’s big, take a look at this 48 inch shell explosion. 4. Boston, 2006 Why does the east coast seem to have the best fireworks? 5. Port Richey, Florida, 2007 Lesson: Don’t leave all of your fireworks in one tent. Even if it is really, really, really awesome to behold. 6. World of Warcraft, 2006 Is it real? No. Is it unique? Yes. Is it nerdy? Absolutely. 7. Disneyland, California, 2007 We started with Disney, so it’s only appropriate we end with the same. The iconic castle reminds me of every classic Disney movie I’ve ever seen. The music and voiceovers are bonuses. Reviews: YouTube 
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Tweetmeme Retweets Become Elite Next Week
Retweeting, as we’ve mentioned before (see HOW TO: Retweet on Twitter), is an increasingly popular way to share content on the web. Twitter is such a powerful tool for sharing media, in fact, that the former market leaders are racing to keep up. News sharing site Digg recently added short URLs and attempted to append a toolbar to those short URL clicks (Diggbar was later scaled back), while serendipitous sharing site StumbleUpon also got into the short URL game. Both are under attack by new services like Tweetmeme, which provides blog buttons to help users retweet stories and provides a hub of the most shared content on Twitter. Earlier today the company announced a number of new features, all of which launch next week. The feature additions include: - New image-based button: Use the retweet button in your RSS feeds, emails or on blog platforms that don’t support javascript (eg. WordPress.com) - Retweet chicklets: Want to show off how many retweets you got this week? The new retweet chicklet will help you do just that, and post the numbers to your blog. - Analytics package: Tweetmeme aims to launch more advanced analytics next week to help content providers understand their metrics better. It’s a development that might one day lead to a business model for Tweetmeme…if Twitter doesn’t get there first. Tweetmeme has some tough competition: not only does it have multiple rivals, but bit.ly, the default short URL service on Twitter, has long been expected to launch something similar. In the meantime, you can catch up on everything retweet-related using the resources below. Retweeting Resources from Mashable 3. Repeets Tracks Twitter’s Hottest Retweets 4. DailyRT Ranks Twitter Retweets 5. DMfail Fails, Reborn as Re-Twit’d 6. The Retweeting Movement Adds Some Powerful New Tools 7. Retweet iPhone App for Twitter 8. Facebook Needs Its Own Version of the Twitter Retweet 
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