Zero-G Creative

The inauguration of a new era in social media

Jan 21 2009

Yesterday will certainly be remembered as Barack Obama’s day but something else changed as well… Marketers, tech junkies and newshounds will also remember yesterday as the day that social media — the real-time interaction, participation and sharing between people via online tools — truly came of age and took on a profound new relevance.

If you ask me where I was at the moment President Obama was inaugurated, I might tell you I was at my desk in my office just like always. But more likely, I’d say I was on Twitter. Keith and I watched the proceedings live via streaming video online. And while it was going on, we were both watching the simultaneous commentary on Twitter as people shared their feelings, emotions and discussed the most minute details of the proceedings. We contributed as well, typing our thoughts as the new President delivered his inaugural address.

But what’s most remarkable is that our experience connected us in a very tangible way with millions of others around the country and the world. People watching from their homes, offices or in coffee shops, people in the mall in Washington and people from across the ocean. People posted their takes on the speech, their hopes for America and their photos and videos throughout the day. If you search for “obama inauguration” on Flickr, you will get more then 43,000 results. On YouTube you’d find 34,000+.

Another remarkable thing to take note of was how the “legit” news media leveraged the online chatter in their coverage. It seems appropriate that yesterday would mark a new high-water-mark in the usage of social media by the press since those tools played such a huge role in getting Obama elected in the first place. Social media was actually integrated almost seamlessly into yesterday’s coverage. CNN’s video stream featured a live feed from Facebook, featuring users’ status updates as the inauguration happened.

CNN also gets kudos for compiling this 3D photo montage of “the moment” Obama was inaugurated — from thousands of photos, mostly user-submitted. The power of that image is magnified when you realize that this implementation of social networking has changed the very definition of photography, i.e., one photographer, one lens, one experience. “The moment” allows us to experience the inaguration through the crowd’s collective “lens.”

Another significant event in the history of social media that occurred just after the inauguration was the launch of the new WhiteHouse.Gov, which demonstrates President Obama’s continued commitment to social media. The site includes a blog and you can also follow the White House on Twitter, a tool Obama used throughout the campaign.

I think it’s safe to say that as of yesterday, the so-called “information age” has truly evolved into something new and incredible.

Photo by Alex Barth

Published by Erik Wolf under Viral Marketing,Web/Interactive