Blackenterprise.com - Barack Obama’s Lesson in Social Media

blackenterprise.com - Barack Obama’s Lesson in Social Media: "June 18, 2008 -- With Sen. Barack Obama being recognized as the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, he can make history if he becomes our next president. Not only by being the nation’s first African American president, but he is also being referred to as potentially the first customer relationship management (CRM) president. You also may even consider him to be the first social media president based on his campaign’s savvy use of the Web.

Helge: The first CRM president...Hmm.

Those who view him in this light suggest that Obama’s approach to the use of social tools such as Twitter (www.twitter.com) was an important factor in his victory over Sen. Hillary Clinton. Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that allows you to send out short messages using up to 140 characters. People can follow your messages, or tweets, and you can follow theirs. Users can receive your tweets via text message at Twitter.com, or even from within Microsoft Outlook by using a free service such as OutTwit (www.techhit.com/OutTwit).

Helge: I understand the value of social tools such as Twitter.

The Obama campaign’s use of Twitter serves as a good lesson for those trying to understand the importance of social media in business. While it is not nearly as popular as e-mail, instant messaging, and other important business tools, its influence is growing rapidly. As of March 2008, there were more than 1 million users on Twitter, with 200,000 active weekly users, according to popular industry site TechCrunch (www.techcrunch.com). Tweets from Twitter can drive significant Web traffic. Twitter power user Jason Calacanis, CEO of the human-powered search site Mahalo.com (www.mahalo.com), recently noted that Twitter is sending more than 20,000 people per month to the site."

Helge: I need to do some more tweeting myself.