In an unprecedented move, on his first day in office, Obama took a strong stance on transparency and clarity not just to the United States but to the world. The new president wants to know what people are saying and he will be using social media tracking and analytic tools to tap into conversations and alert to trends.
Obama said in his opening speech, the way to make a government responsible is to hold it accountable… and transparent so that the American people can know what decisions are being made, how they are being made and whether their interests are being well served.
In order to achieve this level of transparency Obama has instructed public officials to draw on what citizens know. This means finding new ways of tapping into the knowledge and experience of ordinary citizens and involving them in shaping the policies that affect their lives.
It’s widely recognized through social media circles that candidates used the web and social media tools to connect to their followers and organize their campaigns. Some of the results for Obama in the leadup to his victory are astounding:
- Close to 500 million blog postings mentioned Obama
- 844,927 MySpace friends with 10,000 new friends on election day
- 144,000 followers on Twitter and following 168,314
Making sense of these numbers and drilling down to information which is useful calls for social media tracking tools such as Attentio, Nielsen-Online and BrandWatch. The need for such services is growing and in the coming year will become even more essential to any company or organization who has a need to know what people are saying. Another useful guide to reference isSocial Target to 63 companies who offer social media monitoring and analysis services worldwide.
PDF Tags: conversations, social media, social media tracking, storytelling
