Comments for Obama to Announce VP By SMS, Email

Obama to Announce VP By SMS, Email

2008-08-11T21:20:22Z

You know it's a new era when a US Presidential candidate plans to make a major announcement using a new technology. The campaign of Barack Obama has announced on the blog for its social network that it will be announcing Obama's Vice Presidential running mate first by mobile text message and email. John McCain doesn't even know how to use a computer.

]]> Is This Kitschy?

Yes. Is it cool, too, though? We think it is. This author signed up for the notification without a moment's hesitation. We learned about the announcement via the company blog of Kwiry, an SMS reminder service we've used in the past.

Will it Really Be First?

Surely there will be media trying to break the story before the official announcement. Will the public really find out first by SMS, as the campaign says? We'll be watching Memeorandum (the political sister site of TechMeme) as well and wonder where we'll find out first.

We expect that if many people do learn about the selection by SMS first, it will likely be an emotional moment that helps advance Obama's mindshare at the very least. Nothing is as immediate as SMS and we think it's a wise move politically to spend political capital like this, in a nod to the new generation of communicators.

Compare This to, Reportedly, The Next McCain Ad

From Politico.com, this apparently official McCain ad speaks for itself. This isn't for real, right?

Comment from Jacque Denise Yap on 2008-08-26

2008-08-26T19:35:16Z

well i just want to share a video that i recently saw in pollclash that Joe Biden has now been officially introduced as Barack Obama's Vice Presidential selection well you can see the video in http://pollclash.com

Comment from Scott on 2008-08-12

2008-08-13T01:37:01Z

As mentioned above, stick to technology and stay out of politics. All you're doing is annoying / alienating 50% of your audience by making political comments.

a) SMS isn't new or cutting edge
b) Knowing that, it makes this VP announcement a huge gimmick for Obama's campaign to get people's cell phone numbers for future SMS spam or "friendly" phone calls.
c) I don't like McCain, but I like Obama less. I think that goes for a lot of people, so that means we don't want to hear about politics when we're just looking for tech news / insights.

Comment from wack on 2008-08-12

2008-08-12T17:46:42Z

@Jon

this is NOT news. It's mindless PR, completely unrelated to anything that actually matters, like Obama's never ending lies, his flip flopping on every single key issue, etc...

RWW is clearly pro-Obama and definitely not ashamed to participate to the general Obama propaganda every time it gets a chance.

RWW: stick to what you're good at please, your insight in politics is well... not very insightful. It won't be missed.

And no I'm not a McCain supporter...

Comment from write about tach on 2008-08-12

2008-08-12T15:04:36Z

It's news if you tell us a candidate is using the technology. It's your political opinion when you make a negative comment about one but not both of the candidates. SMS was news 2 campaigns ago.

Comment from dave on 2008-08-12

2008-08-12T14:28:38Z

The tools don't matter. What matters is the message and the ability to reach the people. Obama owns on both. The McCain ad is pretty good until you think about how ridiculous it is. So what if some people (the people that the ad singled out) like Obama for being like Bono, etc ...? If that's what they're looking for, then he has reached them. If people want to see how much deeper of a hole the U.S. can dig for itself, then McCain can help with that. Personally, I want someone who can bring people together. I applaud Obama for that ability and curse the GOP for continuing to work against that.

Comment from Jens on 2008-08-12

2008-08-12T08:23:27Z

I think this is a case of great online marketing. Very nicely done, for several reasons that you can find here:

http://jenslapinski.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/great-online-marketing/

Comment from Jon on 2008-08-11

2008-08-12T04:00:11Z

Geez, the folks with the negative comments don't get that this is exactly what this blog has always been about?

It IS news that a candidate is using technology the way the Obama camp is using it... to death ( and admittedly to the point of gimmickry).

I'm not so impressed with Obama's use or McCain's lack of use of tech, but I am somewhat interested that this kind of tech is being used by those kinds of folks.

Thanks for the info. Blog on...

Comment from write about tach on 2008-08-11

2008-08-12T03:31:17Z

Stick to technology. If we wanted comments on politics we would read huffington.

Comment from guido on 2008-08-11

2008-08-12T02:40:42Z

Ok We know McCain doesnt know how to use a computer. But do we know if Obama does? And if so, how tech savy is the dude in the Armani or near facsmile?

And no this is not a stealth McCain campaign comment. Personally I cant stand either one of them.

Comment from Jeff Brown on 2008-08-11

2008-08-12T02:09:50Z

Wow. And I had begun to truly enjoy this blog. This post illustrates one of the major differences between true journalism and the blogging community. The latter not making any attempt to offer fair, unbiased analysis. Pity.

Comment from JB on 2008-08-11

2008-08-12T00:46:53Z

So Obama is unveiling his VP via text message. Wow. "Be one of the first 5 million people to learn of the choice." It's so exclusive, only those privileged few who have internet access and sign up at his website get to learn the pick, like 15 seconds before it is all over the news.

I heard that McCain is unveiling his VP choice via scavenger hunt.

Who cares.

Comment from Curt on 2008-08-11

2008-08-12T00:01:34Z

It really remains to be seen. It depends on what the word "first" means. For many organization it means, "right after the embargo ends on the press release" or "right after it is purposefully leaked to the journalist who's buttered us up." The proof of the pudding is in the mashed cluster.

Comment from John on 2008-08-11

2008-08-11T22:32:31Z

Obama continues to show that he's modern and up to date. It also continues to show how old and out of it McCain is.

In other words, Obama is the new hotness, and McCain is old and busted.

Comment from Fabrice Epelboin on 2008-08-11

2008-08-11T22:32:01Z

Isn't Obama 3 years older than JFK when he got elected?