How Does Technology Impact Politics?

The effects vacillate between troubling and inspiring but are always worth our attention

Technology has always played a role in politics — think of the impact that televised debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon had on that presidential race — but digital technology really rose in prominence during Barack Obama’s first campaign for U.S. president. Energized by young, tech-savvy staffers and volunteers, his campaign used digital technology in ways never before seen. The slew of digital tactics included releasing YouTube videos of the candidate, creating a Facebook page, sending text messages to 1 million subscribers, and deploying targeted emails to voters in key states.

Today, such tactics seem ho-hum, but at the time, they were revolutionary. While Obama was busy sending emails — 1 billion by the campaign’s end — the American public learned that his opponent John McCain never used email. And, by the fall of 2008, the little-known senator from Illinois had 2.5 million Facebook friends, nearly four times more than McCain, and 115,000+ Twitter followers to McCain’s approximately 5,000.

Then, there was Obama’s fundraising. Conducted almost entirely online, fundraising efforts focused on securing small donations, which amounted to almost $750 million by the campaign’s victorious end. It was a record-breaking amount, surpassing all fundraising totals for presidential candidates at that point.

Obama and his campaign team understood what no other candidate did at the time: Digital tools were and are really, really, really powerful — and cost-effective to boot. Posting videos on YouTube was free, and viewers watched Obama’s videos for a total of 14.5 million hours. Had the campaign purchased that same number of hours during primetime TV, it would’ve cost $47 million.

Using YouTube and other social networking sites also allowed the campaign to speak directly to the public. Obama’s messages could be delivered without the interference of mainstream media and gave viewers agency. Rather than interrupting beloved TV programs, the videos could be consumed by viewers whenever and wherever they chose and, more importantly, shared via email or social media. It was the same for the campaign’s emails and Obama’s social media posts and regularly updated website. All that digital content was eminently shareable and encouraged community, a value Obama, a former community organizer, elevated during his campaign.

As we now know, the reception was tremendous and the initiative timely. According to the Pew Research Center, the 2008 election was the first time that more than half of voting-age audiences used the Internet to connect to the political process. Obama’s efforts coincided with the emerging digitization of politics and resonated with digital natives aghast at McCain’s repudiation of email.

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