Politics 2.0

Presidential elections have provided the fi rst signs of success for online campaigning and political participation. In what has been dubbed “poli-tics 2.0, ” politicians are using highly participa-tory and multimedia Web platforms for success-ful policy discussion, campaign advertising, voter mobilization, event announcement, and even more importantly, online donations. The highly visi-ble and successful Barack Obama campaign pro-vides a testament to the power of Web 2.0 and the youth-based grassroots political movement.1,2 For example, during the 2008 elections, the Obama campaign raised US$16.5 million in “micro ” contributions. Obama averaged $1 mil-lion per day for major parts of his campaign.