Now that the election is over we are all suffering from the the hangover of the last months. Things were certainly tense and last night Barack Obama won with a landslide of electoral votes, becoming the 44th president of the United States.
Obama was not the only winner in this election though. Social Media was also a winner. This election was a sort of coming of age for the budding technology sector. Voters used blogs, social networks, photo, instant messaging and video sharing sites to discuss candidates, to get people out to vote, to help spread the word about the candidates and to share their experiences about the whole process. On the right side of the page you can see what’s hot on Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service.
The candidates also harnessed social media tools to promote themselves. I was surprised to even see Obama’s ads on Hulu.com, a website that offers free, ad-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, FOX and many other networks and studios. Hulu
There’s a good article on Business Week that talks about all the different ways Social Media was used for the election: The Vote: A Victory for Social Media, Too
The election showed the power of Social Media and it looks like it is hear to stay.
