Tasks for Week 4
Here’s what we’ll be working on during our fourth week (Sept 11+13), which will focus on “The Facebook President: Barack Obama’s social media campaign.”
At class on Tuesday (Sept. 11), we’ll discuss how social media shaped the 2008 presidential campaign. I have three items for you to read before that class:
The Internet’s Role in Campaign 2008
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1192/internet-politics-campaign-2008
Barack Obama and the Facebook Election
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/11/19/barack-obama-and-the-facebook-election
How Barack Obama Beat John McCain With New Media
http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/2008/11/how-barack-obama-beat-john-mccain-with-new-media/
As you read those articles, think about these questions:
* What societal trends increased the impact of social media in 2008? What was happening in terms of demographics and technology, for example, that made social media a more important factor?
* Barack Obama won in 2008, of course — some people called him the “Facebook President.” Specifically, what did the Obama campaign do differently from the McCain campaign? Did Obama have more effective strategies and tactics for using social media? Why did Obama benefit more from social media?
Here are two more items for you to read by the end of the week:
Social Media and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election (by Dr. Emily Metzgar, Ph.D. and Albert Maruggi)
http://fralincm.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/socialmedia_08election.pdf
It’s Complicated: Facebook Users’ Political Participation in the 2008 Election (by Jessica Vitak, M.A., Paul Zube, M.A., Andrew Smock, MLS, Caleb T. Carr, M.A.,Nicole Ellison, Ph.D., and Cliff Lampe, Ph.D.)
http://umd.academia.edu/JessicaVitak/Papers/390884/Its_Complicated_Facebook_Users_Political_Participation_In_the_2008_Election
At Thursday’s class, we will continue our discussion of the 2008 election. The focus will be on how you can apply those lessons and tools to your social media campaign group projects.
Each group must submit a concept paper by Thursday, Sept. 20. (This will be a two-page paper with a summary of your campaign focus; an explanation of your target audience; a list of the tools and techniques you might use; and how you might measure the effectiveness of your campaign.)
Another task for this week, of course, is for you to continue tweeting on the election. I don’t think we have anyone scheduled to do a Storify for Tuesday; Caitlin Puffenberger is slated for Thursday.
Have a great weekend; we’ll see you Tuesday morning.
– Jeff South and Marcus Messner
