President 2.0

Every time a new medium comes out that helps us communicate everyone needs to learn the new rules of the road for using it. There are many new rules in the age of the Internet and both presidential candidates fought hard to learn and then use them to their advantage. This article is not about one candidate or the other, it is about how the Internet is changing the way we interact with the world.

During the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 we saw the need to master new mediums. JFK mastered television and Nixon was still prepared for radio. This past election cycle we saw praticpitory Internet use (what is often calld Web 2.0) become a driving force in election message formation. Both candidates embraced new media but arguably one did it better and was able to rally 3,193,497 Facebook supporters, garner YouTube videos about them and various other users created content.

John C. Abell, Wired Magazine's New York City Bureau Chief, said in an interview on MSNBC that Obama "needs to facilitate the conversation not preach." Because individuals are given the means of production on the Internet they see themselves as being more powerful than they might without the Internet and these users who now proudly make up a new class called pro-sumers will not be preached to, especially over the Internet where they can go use Democracy Lab if they don't like the last email from the President's staff.

President Elect Obama and his transition team have launched Change.gov, the office of the President Elect. In order to try and play the game better and get their message out to more people, the president elect's weekly address is be hosted YouTube so that it can be found without having to go to Change.gov. Also on Change.gov is a place to submit your ideas on any number of topics.

The Obama administration will likely be the first to use the web to keep people informed and to communicate with the world. We may call Obama, President 2.0.