Newspapers: Meet Barack Obama's web design tea
By now, you should know that the single greatest way to increase web traffic is virally. Say something interesting, deliver your message in a compelling way, and...here's the most important part...make it damn easy for other people to share your content with others.
And so I present to you the newest features on Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's website. They went live yesterday: BarackTV and My.BarackObama.com.
ObamaTV offers an archive of videos - stump speeches, citizen testimonials - the standard campaign hoo-ha that we've all come to expect. But it also makes it achingly easy for an Obama supporter (or detractor, even) to embed that video within his or her personal website. A toolbar below the video allows you to email the clip, link it, or get the code to copy and paste:
This is very, very smart. And I've tried it out below. [NOTE: The Obama site isn't feeding the original video I had posted anymore, so I've removed it.]
I also like the My.BarackObama.com, which is a newly-constructed social network based only on his campaign. Users can create a profile (a la MySpace and Facebook), raise money (hints of Fundable.org), plan and attend events (Google calendar), blog about Obama and even hook up with other supporters (O-Date anyone?).
I would love to see traditional media get out of the business of just blogging. On the norgs listserv over the weekend, we've been discussing the fallout from the Inquirer yanking the blinq blog and what that indicates for the future of philly.com. Carl Lavin, one of the deputy managing editors wrote that, to the contrary, the Inquirer actually launched two new blogs:
"For example, let's look at two blogs that started this month: http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/weather and http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/roadwarrior. Are these blogs perfect? No. But it's more evidence that the Inquirer newsroom is moving forward, not backward, to embrace the possibilities available in 2007. We have expertise in many areas, including weather and transportation, and we are determined to make the most of that expertise in every format possible."
I guess that what I'd really like to know is why so many newspapers are forging ahead to develop new blogs or even Podcasts. Who's even more desperately competing for an audience than newspapers? Politicians! Even they realize that the best way to build a constituency and to engender support among an audience is to take charge of the technology that's currently available - and to make it simple as hell to get others involved.
I'd really love to see a newspaper develop a widget or stand-alone app on its website that helps users to find headlines that they're interested in, connect and share with others, blog about featured stories, share their own personal histories, publish video and photos on their personal sites...
MyObama definitely has my vote for targeted content delivery and design.