The speeches, the debates, the long road of Presidential politics...it all contributed to Barack Obama's massive win two weeks ago. Yet the engine of his campaign was more online than ever and the facts prove it. His massive fundraising, social networking and internet-based action enabled millions of people to get involved and it propelled Obama over the finish line like no one has seen before.
From The Washington Post:
The massive amount of money raised online gave Obama unlimited access to fund media campaigns and hit his targeted demographics overwhelmingly more than McCain could. The small donor revolution blew even the organizers of the online operation away. Yet as great as the money is, the connections made online were even more valuable. Volunteers made millions of calls, tons of door knocks and the text messaging system helped bring supporters to the polls. That goes especially for young voters that came out nearly two to one for Obama.
In an exclusive interview with The Post, members of the vaunted Triple O, Obama's online operation, broke down the numbers: 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.[...]In September, his single biggest month of fundraising, Obama amassed more than 65 percent of his record-shattering haul -- $100 million of the $150 million -- from online donations, aides said. After Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin dismissed the value of community organizing in her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3 -- "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities," she said to applause -- Obama raised $10 million within 24 hours.
Linnie Frank Bailey, a 52-year-old mother of two in Riverside, Calif., is such a donor. In the past two years, she gave a total of $120.40, mostly in $10 increments. She made her last $10 online donation two days before the election.
The campaign's use of e-mail, text messages and social networking sites, also called "socnets," has been closely watched by technocrats, strategists and OPOs -- the online political operatives who stand to benefit from Obama's unprecedented online success.
Now the key is for Obama's online army to stay together and help fight the governing battles coming up next year and beyond. Winning an election is important, but enacting the policies behind the campaign speeches is what it's all about. Even with a Democratic Congress, not everyone there is thrilled to change the status quo and give power back to the people. Their hesitation is irrelevant though, as long as we stick together and let them know who got them into office in the first place.
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