Internet Activists Aren't Done With Involvement

During his campaign, Obama managed to obtain a huge support base through the Internet. People self organized to support him on social networking sites. Now that the campaign is over, these individuals have not returned to their normal lifestyles. They want more. And Obama and his team are willing to give it to them. Obama has continued to post videos about the activities of his transition groups, while including speeches and other useful information. This is helpful because it counters the news media's 30 second sound bytes from his speeches and other addresses—Americans now have the opportunity to get the full story. And the involvement doesn't end there. Obama and his staff hope to direct this positive and hyperactive electorate energy in a positive direction. They have begun by conducting polls asking what type of involvement these activists are hoping for, along with what they feel are the most important goals for the “movement”. The general feeling about this public activism is that their energy will come from government meeting them “in the middle”. Mostly their goal for channeling this energy is to advance policy. If the electorate's Internet activism was so influential in Obama's election, hopefully their energy and influence will help his policy initiates. The hope is that there will be “a new campaign to help Barack win big changes—like health care and clean energy”. But ultimately, Obama's main purpose in his continued use of the Internet to connect with the electorate is in hopes of making government more transparent.

Has Obama already initiated the change he promised?—never before has the electorate been this excited and passionate about the possibility for reform and the capabilities of government.