Obama’s staff doesn’t take the president’s hipster status lightly. Besides being the first candidate to prop Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne, Obama was the first president to cary a smartphone, join various social networks and brew his own beer in the White House. Be it sincere or an essential part of their cynical attempt to hold onto the youth vote, throughout his tumultuous four years in office Obama and his team have remained (for lack of a better term) pretty cool.
With the campaign season now in full effect, Obama’s staff is continuing to grow his social media presence. This morning The Atlantic Wire reported that the President is now using the hip photo sharing app Instagram, which allows users to snap photos, choose from an array of vintage-to-pop looking filters, then easily share those photos via Twitter, Facebook or Flickr. This, arguably more than any of his forays in social media, should allow Obama’s supporters to tap into his campaign on a personal level.
While we can safely assume Obama won’t be the one taking the pics (just as he’s not actually helming his Twitter feed), presumably the photos will document the president, making his supporters feel involved and hopefully more compelled to share that involvement with others. As Instagram wrote on its site, “the Obama 2012 staff is asking supporters to share their photos from the campaign trail with the tag #obama2012.”
We’ve seen political coverage on Instagram increase as the 2012 US Presidential Election nears. News organizations such as NBC News, ABC World News and the Washington Post have been sharing behind-the-scenes photos at debates and town hall meetings across the country, offering a unique look into the 2012 elections. As election day nears, we look forward to seeing how campaigns, reporters and voters use Instagram to tell the story of the 2012 Presidential Election through photos.
As the Atlantic suggested, it will be interesting to see what social media outlet the President’s campaign will focus on next. I know I’d be interested to see what they’d do with the official Barack Obama Spotify account.
