White House 2.0: Spreading its message / ISN

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for the US presidency was notable for its use of social media for organizing and fundraising. Supporters were able to keep track of the candidate through websites like Myspace and YouTube and were prompted to make cash contributions through mobile phone text messages.

The use of these Web 2.0 technologies - rich internet applications that encourage user collaboration, interaction and contribution - are being carried over to the Obama administration, in a number of areas. They are being used to elicit citizen responses in the administration's efforts to make the government more open and responsive and as part of White House and State Department public diplomacy programs.

The monumental case in point for the use of Web 2.0 as part of public diplomacy was in connection with Obama's groundbreaking speech to the Muslim world in Cairo on 4 June...