An Evolution of Electoral Communication : Participatory Interactive Media in the 2008 Barack Obama U.S. Presidential Campaign

埼玉県越谷市This paper investigates the emerging new style of electoral communication in the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign in the United States. We witnessed an evolution in the usage of the Internet in his presidential bid. Most notably, the Obama campaign launched its own proprietary social network site "mybarackobama.com" and made the most of it. The SNS invited supporters to create their profile, blog their opinions, plan and attend events, and find other supporters to rally for the candidate. Also, the site asks supporters for campaign donations. The number of less than $200 was unprecedented in the history of U.S. presidential campaigns. In addition, the campaign attempted to contact the supporters continuously by using text messaging. Obama is the first candidate who ran a fully-fledged Internet electoral campaign and maximized the participatory interactive nature of the new media