VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

During the past few days I enjoyed the videos coming from the Obama campaign on YouTube. I really liked the style of these videos, being a Vlog-like series with Barack Obama taking directly to the camera. It feels very DIY, and definitely without the production quality of other videos from the Barack Obama channel. These videos feel real; the president talks directly to the camera, they are backstage and give a behind the scenes look into the campaign. These sort of videos give the opportunity for the YouTube campaign to become more real and Barack Obama to connect with voters using informal videos. In doing so the campaign utilises YouTube like a Vlog Platform, rather than just uploading TV ads. Below you can find a collection of them:

A Great initiative from the World Trade Organization! Maybe not so creative, since the  World Economic Forum  has been running Video Contests for the last Davos meetings, but still a great move from an organization that is one of the most important ones, globally. The video entry must be related to the WTO Public Forum's overall theme " Seeking Answers to Global trade Challenges ", and/or to any of the main topics that will be addressed at this year's forum. I might be entering the contest myself; it would be a great opportunity to go back to Geneva! I remember attending the WTO Public Forum in the past, and I must say that is definitely one of the most interesting fora. Also, given that WTO has started to have an active presence in Social Media, it would be rather interesting to see how people and the WTO will start interacting in this public forum. Maybe the WTO has a lot to learn from Davos in terms of Social Media engagement... however I know that is ha...

I have been paying close attention to the communications & multimedia campaign from the White House and I really enjoy the West Wing Week , a video diary that is produced by the White House communications staff. The series aims to be " your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. " You can watch the latest episode of West Wing Week (1/21/11 or "A Rather Large Painting") here: Browsing YouTube, I came across the CNN White House week in review. Which is basically the exact same weekly diary, but produced by professional journalists. You can watch the CNN piece here: I believe that the White House production is far more better, covers more issues, has access to the President that mainstream media journalists do not, and offers a view that was not previously offered from mainstream media. The White House West Wing Week came out yesterday, the 20th of January, and the CNN White House week in review, came out today, the 21st of Januar...

Ok, I know this is silly, but the above photo is a print-screen of the official YouTube account of the President (as of 30/12/2010). Notice that right next to his profile picture there is the series of subscribers, most of them beautiful girls, also including a user called "NaughtyVideosForYou"! You might say that Barack Obama is not responsible for the accounts that are subscribed to his YouTube channel, and yes I will agree, however, it shows as a really weird presence of the President of the United States on YouTube. The people that run the account can either block some users that might be spammers, or deactivate the subscribers from showing in the main channel page. I just think that it is really funny, and can definitely be picked up from a mainstream media reporter as a fun story.

I haven't stopped watching CNN for the the duration of the inauguration today... while micro blogging and updating facebook through CNN.com/LIVE and Twitter. Congrats to President Barack Obama!  Do check out the new whitehouse.gov and the new YouTube Channel ! PS> will try to write a post on my new ventures in Vienna Austria, for the time being you can visit the OSCE ...   

It is going to be the first YouTube election! An election that user generated content will play a role, not only in communications, but also in generating buzz and making the elections count, not only for the candidates, but for the people. Video Your Vote is an excellent tool to use in order to View early voting View notable Voters Voting perspectives from first time voters Watch voter Intimidation Report polling problems and Report registration Problems Be sure to also see some other very interesting websites on the theme of "Video the Vote": Election Protection BallotVox Video the Vote Wired's Threat Level New York Times Polling Place Photo Project YouTube's Video Your Vote   Our Vote Live MyFairElection.com Voter Suppression Wiki Twitter Vote Report The Role of Citizen Media in Ensuring Fair Elections Not all states permit to video your vote, with some of them not allowing to video the choice you make. Anyway, you can always upload a video stat...

Just take a look at the last 8 YouTube videos from the 2 campaigns... see anything interesting? McCain's videos (by far) are the most popular... Now, why is that, well first of all the McCain campaign has uploaded videos creating TV buzz (most interesting the Celeb & The One video), second, all of the McCain videos are fun, specific, and single issued, Thirdly, the Obama campaign continues to work very hard to create viral videos with Barack backstage, and with the campaign eating at a diner. Now is the time to attack! YouTube can be fun and creative, but, most importantly, it can carry your message. The McCain videos do just that, they carry the message, that it why the are popular.

Barack Obama is the only U.S. Presidential candidate to fundraise through his YouTube channel. Obama’s YouTube channel is the most popular one among the 2008 Presidential candidates. Given that a YouTube user spends 30 seconds to 5 minutes watching a video clip, during this time the button urges people to make a contribution to the campaign. By clicking on the button you are prompt with the following: No doubt can become a significant fundraising tool

Hilary Clinton needs to win the upcoming OHIO & TEXAS primaries to be in the race, she also needs money to do that... I was really surprised of this quote from a recent Hillary Email update: It's just so I Need Money... Then again she says thank you...

YouTube videos from the ‘08 presidential candidates can be distinguished in 5 categories: 1. Uploads of TV ads 2. Candidate appearances on TV shows 3. YouTube exclusive messages and videos 4. Viral videos of the candidates and their supporters 5. Political Infomercials Some latest Hillary videos have a distinct characteristic, they look like infomercials! I believe it is a rather sad outcome of lost creativity. The web gives the opportunity to create great looking viral videos with hand held cameras, while exploring editing opportunities previously not used in political campaigns. The Hillary Clinton campaign has created a series of videos of people talking about “The Hillary I know”. I don’t want to judge the messages presented, but I must say that they look made up, given the studio like production quality. YouTube gives the opportunity to candidates to look real; Hillary Clinton is trying to rebrand herself with old style infomercials. Video utilisatio...

The Internet engages people to look into how a voting procedure works and change their stance towards active participation. Let’s compare three YouTube videos in order to understand how candidates communicate the need to caucus with the citizens of Iowa . The YouTube videos make the procedure look real and cool; they explain the procedure as a user’s guide on how to caucus, while promoting the candidate at the same time. The YouTube Iowa Caucus Videos: Describe the caucus procedure, Make clear who can take part in one Clarify how does it work, and Justify why it is important to do all this for a candidate and the country. Will someone be enticed to caucus for a candidate depending on a caucus video? On the other hand, do these videos create awareness without follow through? It would be excellent to be able to measure the impact of these videos with caucus turnout numbers, and truncate the data with the final results.

Following on the footsteps of CNN, the Greek TV channel SKAI is introducing a YouTube Debate for the upcoming Greek Elections (16 Sep 2007). Hopefully this will add to a discussion that is focused around issues, rather than vague election promises.

The CNN YouTube Debate is over, the analysis of this groundbreaking debate is continuing on Youtube. Check put this preview and upload your views

Two weeks ago I asked Margaret Beckett (UK Foreign Secretary) a question: Vaspapeete (2 weeks ago) Marked as spam Dear Margaret Beckett: Do you believe that issues such as trade, economic development of least developed nations, and utilization of country specific advantages can be instruments for developing foreign policy? And if so, how? Thank you. ( Reply ) ( Spam ) And One Week ago she answered my Question! Watch it here:

Innovating political communication methods through Internet technology, gives the opportunity to connect people and provoke proactive policy development, by communicating and sharing strategies with key stakeholders. In line with the concept of political leadership, Internet communication strategies provide candidates and political parties a platform to showcase policy and strategy issues, and expand campaign financing. The content and qualitative analysis of the research revealed a progressive change in political campaigning, by the introduction of Internet Political Communications. As a medium of interaction, the Internet has shown signs of being a method of effective and efficient political Marketing and political campaigning tool. The Internet provides the opportunity to socially exchange ideas, plans, and policies with citizens and concerned organizations while asking voters for help, not just for their vote; it provides feedback, while creating an online constituency, in eng...