The Change Revolution with Phil Cooke
Dispatches from the front lines of media, faith, and culture

Obama Gets Technology. Leaders, Do You?

Return to the home page
November 27, 2008

Anyone in leadership – or who is trying to find their voice in the culture – needs to become a student of the way Barack Obama used technology to get his message heard by millions of people.  His digitally savvy campaign was adept at connecting to and activating key audiences, and that strategy could also be applied to religious organizations, churches, non-profits, and business.  Obama’s speed at responding through technologies like Twitter, rapid-rebuttal microsites like fightthesmears.com, and the deployment of a wide range of iPhone applications, online video, and search, make it a model and strategy worth following.   Because of that influence, some experts are saying that he’ll have more influence on corporate boardrooms than any president since Ronald Reagan.   His strengths are a clear message, persuasive rhetoric, and a sharp use of media tools to engage the culture. 

Remember - today, your audience isn’t just in the church or on your mailing list – they’re in the media.  They’re using Facebook, Twitter, online content, and more.  That’s the same vast audience Obama was talking to throughout the campaign.  In a few weeks, I’ll be announcing the publication of my new book that is focused on this media revolution.  The world is changing, and it’s time religious leaders understood that change and started acting on it.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button AddThis Feed Button

by 210 Leadership (not verified) on December 1, 2008 - 10:05am

Great thoughts Phil.

I have to add, that I do think the reason for Obama's campaign success was not because of his online 2.0 tech tools - but his message. His vision. The web tools were just conduits for the vision. after all, it's the vision that makes the mesaage not the medium. I know, the cliche is "the medium is the message" but in this case I think the message - the inspiring and hopeful vision - made the medium.

I think more than anything Barack Obama's success shows us the power of vision.

Cheers,

210leadership[dot]com

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <p> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li>
  • Web and e-mail addresses are automatically converted into links.
More information about formatting options Captcha Image: you will need to recognize the text in it.
Please type in the letters/numbers that are shown in the image above.
Your written comments on philcooke.com are the property of Phil Cooke and/or Cooke Pictures and can be published on this blog, books by Phil Cooke, or any other publication in existence now or in the future. You writing a post on this blog assigns us your permission and all rights to your comments.