Saturdays at CPA Success are usually spent reviewing online tools that can help increase our productivity. Keep in mind that we do not endorse any of these services. We simply offer them up for your consideration. Do your own homework and find the service that best meets your needs.
If you’re still having trouble grasping the relevance of Web 2.0, look no further than the Nov. 4 elections. They served as Web 2.0’s coming-out party in the world of politics, and what a debut it was.
Both presidential candidates dove into the Web 2.0 waters by setting up pages on the major social networking sites, creating blogs and microblogs, and building channels on YouTube. One of them, though, did it much more enthusiastically, and with much greater results. Consider these stats, which are current as of Nov. 8:
- 2.9 million followers on Facebook
- 872,281 followers on MySpace
- 123,859 followers on Twitter (with 263 updates)
- 19.4 million channel views on YouTube
- 619,898 followers on Facebook
- 225,503 followers on MySpace
- 4,894 followers on Twitter (with 25 updates)
- 2.2 million channel views on YouTube
What does all this mean? It’s hard to say. Web 2.0 and social networking are used most frequently by younger Web users — the same folks who were most likely to vote for Obama. Voters under the age of 30 — some of the most entusiastic Web 2.0 users — sided with Obama by a 2-to-1 margin, according to The Nation.
Still, you can’t ignore the fact that Web 2.0 enthusiasts turned to Obama overwhelmingly — and that Obama used those tools to his advantage. Facebook updates, frequent “tweets” on Twitter, YouTube videos — Obama and his team embraced them all and used them to communicate with a new generation of voters.
You have to give credit to Obama for embracing Web 2.0 as enthusiastically as he did. An entire generation is using these tools to communicate. Heck, they expect to be able to communicate with you in these ways. If you’re not talking to them in their language, they will turn to someone who will. (Are you listening, John McCain?) So Obama gets points for understanding that fact and taking advantage of it.
This was truly the first Web 2.0 election — Election 2.0, if you will — and the results speak volumes. Candidates may have experimented with Web 2.0 this year, but in future elections, Web 2.0 will become the status quo. You won’t be able to run for office anymore without communicating via the social Web.
Change truly has come to America, in many significant ways.