Empowerment

The internet gives us an amazing ability to quickly and effectively influence people, friends and businesses. From blogs to message boards and from Yelp to Facebook, the power of user-driven, or “grassroots” content (I’m not a big fan of the term “netroots”), has never been greater.

I’m exited about this year’s election because it is our first real intersection of this power with politics. Sure, Howard Dean first used the internet to raise money, but now we’re seeing mass text-messaging, Facebook apps, Twitter feeds, YouTube uploads, Flickr albums, blog entries, etc.

There are so many innovative and interesting ways individuals can organize, evangelize, and campaign for the candidate of their choice. And so much of it’s driven by user-empowerment through social media.

Here’s an example of how the Obama campaign is equipping their supporters with web 2.0 tools as ways to organize and campaign.

"Here, YOU do it..."

So between now and November, who will have the most interesting example(s)? Who will be more effective? Will social media change politics forever? Or will politics help drive advancements in social media?

And ultimately, will it really matter on election night?