When Barack Obama campaigned and won the US presidential election in 2008, one of the driving and deciding factors in his road to the White House was his use of social media. Obama’s campaign is one that has gone down in history for its innovation. He still had to uphold American campaigning traditions – kissing babies, shaking hands, attending rallies, holding fundraising dinners. But he also used social media and web-based technologies to reach a younger, “wired” generation – a strategic approach that John McCain, his Republican opponent, failed to take full advantage of. (more…)