A new president. A new web site. A blog. Changes are happening online at Whitehouse.gov. How much change will occur in the rest of the government is something we’ll have to reserve judgement on.
If you listen to the marketers, you’ll learn that social media and networking got this president elected. In many ways, it was a perfect storm; the Internet and in particular social media/networking penetration combined with low-cost digital tools empowered the Obama campaign and each and every supporter to personalize the message and engage in a truly grassroots effort to effect change.
Even as Obama fights to keep his BlackBerry, his staff has been busy getting a new White House website up – which includes, for the first time ever, a blog and a “briefing room”, where President Obama will give a weekly video address (guess YouTube wasn’t good enough now that he’s president).
In the first post on the White House Blog (timestamped 1 minute after Obama officially took office), Director of New Media, Macon Phillips, outlined the administration’s new media priorities: Communication, Transparency and Participation. Originally a campaign promise, all non-emergency legislation will be posted on the website for five days, allowing the public to review and comment before the Presidents signs. (I wonder if there’s a place for my mom to write in her wish that Obama ban all phone calls while driving…)
You can sign up for the blog’s RSS feed and even email updates from the President on the whitehouse.gov site. What we’ll also have much interest in tracking – how many new government agency blogs will crop up and how quickly. And of course, we’ll survey government IT workers on Web 2.0 adoption/importance at FOSE again this year and see just how much things have really changed.
