Introduction: YouTube Epiphany

I don’t pay much attention to email forwards. More often than not they contain amusing though useless content. When I received an email about an election-related video from a friend who had a particular fondness for forwarding photos of pets in costumes, I mentally filed it away in my “look at later” pile.

I reconsidered when I received a link to the same video from three different friends the following day and noticed the buzz on both Twitter and Facebook. And so, on a cold and frigid day in February 2008, I hunkered down in my Toronto apartment and headed over to YouTube to see what all the fuss was about. Shot in black and white, the video featured musical artist Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas accompanied by a slew of celebrities singing along to one of Senator Barack Obama’s speeches. It wasn’t the faces of the rich and famous that had me sitting up. It was the message of hope of and change coming from a man that until that moment I had only studied from a distance.

Woven around the refrain of “Yes We Can,” Obama’s concession speech from the New Hampshire primary had been put to music. I remember feeling a shiver as I watched that video. It moved me, and I shared it with all my family and friends. I was relatively unfamiliar with the Democratic candidates, with the exception of Hillary Clinton, but had been following the political race from afar as part of my research for Don Tapscott’s book, Grown Up Digital. Barack Obama was not well known to me; I had initially discounted him as another politician in a sea of contenders. That video was a wake-up call, the catalyst that would lead me to join one of the world’s most historic political campaigns.

This book isn’t meant to be a “how-to” for political campaign strategy, or a biographical account of everything that happened over the past two years. Instead, my perspective will capture the role that technology played in mobilizing people to achieve real and significant change. I have documented the campaign through the eyes of social media and will discuss some of the implications and strategic insights that organizations can apply to their own brands.

The Obama campaign marks a new age of innovation that could shift the way we approach democracy itself, especially within government institutions. The team’s brilliant use of technology to build relationships, transmit information, and organize offline action has redefined modern politics. Beyond that, it has permanently changed the nature of our interactions with politicians, a fact that is sure to have social and cultural implications as well.

For many organizations, this campaign has validated social media as a viable strategic tool. As new technologies continue to impact the way consumers engage with corporations, endless opportunities exist for smart executives who can leverage this new medium to create meaningful and authentic relationships. The campaign’s use of blogging, social networks, text messaging, email, and video heralds a new era of integrated digital communication that is simultaneously widespread and intimate.

As the Obama administration takes office, I am savoring the global feeling of hope and change that has been absent for the last eight years. For the first time in a long time, the world is once again looking at America with respect. In the wake of a financial crisis, a war on terror that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and an increasing urgency to address environmental issues, I take comfort in watching the new president’s weekly YouTube address and reading the White House blog. He taps into the pioneering spirit on which North America was built—a willingness to do one’s part and get to work.

We, the people, changed America. We ushered in a new age of multiculturalism, activism, and empowerment. The chorus, “Yes We Can” that struck me so deeply has become “Yes We Did.” Hopefully the momentum that has begun in America will inspire similar movements around the world, as people everywhere celebrate the accomplishments of a nation that fought for change—and won.