YouTube

Obama had his own YouTube Channel during the 2008 elections, which he used to spread his message inexpensively rather than buying commerical airtime in every market.

One function of YouTube in Obama's campaign was to enable endorsements. For example, Orlando Bloom filmed a thirty second segment asking voters to support Obama, then posted it to Obama's channel where viewers could see it. This kind of endorsement uses popular figures from Hollywood to encourage fans to support Obama, just like their favorite celebrity does.

YouTube allows participation by enabling people, especially the younger and more technology-savvy generations, to spread their ideas effectively. They are able to create a viral message that can reach many more people than they could reach without technology. CNN and YouTube paired up to put on a debate between candidates for the Democratic primary that allowed “amateur media-makers” across the country to post video questions to be asked to the candidates. In this pairing, CNN represented a traditional media that gave validity to the debates while YouTube was a symbol of grassroots participation. These debates brought together the new and the old to allow regular people to access the candidates and to ask them questions directly. Those videos selected reached not only the YouTube audience, but also the candidates and the viewers of the television debate (taken from Jenkins' Convergence Culture). The CNN/YouTube Debates were one example of the convergence of the new and the old, and the democratizing effect the pairing had on elections.

One criticism of the CNN/YouTube Debates was that they took too much liberty with selecting videos that featured a snowman asking questions. Although perhaps the humor is not strictly political, it is memorable. The Snowman meme left a lasting impression that embittered some and delighted others. Such a lighthearted approach to serious questions is one way in which the New Literacies have encouraged participation and captured the attention of the world.

YouTube also means that politicians have to be more cognizant than ever of their image and mistakes. As we saw with George Allen's Virginia Senatorial campaign, trackers are being hired by the other campaign to record candidates and post the videos online. George Allen made racist comments about one of the people in his audience who was filming the speech, which the person them posted online, ruining Allen's reputation.

Finally, YouTube enables participation from outside sources in the form of viral videos. The Obama Girl meme was one especially popular video during the campaign that was less than political, but still spread the message by supporting Obama. This new form of political support is adding humor into the mix, gaining attention for the campaign without bringing up any issues. This type of humorous, playful campaiging is not harmful, and just encourages people to get involved in the campaign, but needs to be balanced with substative debates to make sure we don't forget why we are really having elections.

Another important viral video was the "Yes We Can" video that set Obama's words to will.i.am's music. This video took a more serious turn, setting a serious and inspiring tone rather than a humorous one. It also used Obama's words directly and showed many people of all ethnicities coming together to support Obama. This video was viewed more than 19,000,000 times. These voter made videos helped shape the campaign and gained much prominience on the web.