Obama's online route to the masses

Well, it's shaping up to be another great year for you.

First, you were Time magazine's Person of the Year for the things you've accomplished through YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace and other participatory online ventures. And now, in large part via the Web, you're the first to know about the plans of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to run for president.

"I wanted to tell you first that I'll be filing papers today to create a presidential exploratory committee," Obama said in a video posted on his Web site.

Obama also reportedly signed a deal with Web video company Brightcove to develop campaign videos and a syndication feature that would allow bloggers and others to publish clips.

Now, don't you feel special?

Blog community response:

"Pretty savvy move, actually, on Obama's part, with the obvious bounty of media coverage to come (never mind in the lead up), to say nothing of the suddern traffic possibilities on his website (if he slaps Google ads up there quick he can totally rake it in!)."
--Huffington Post

"Senator Obama may be a politician before his time, but his use of social media is right on track. He is showing that he understands the power of video and the technical tools available are already allowing him to leap ahead in the race with the likes of John Edwards as he too understands the power of the tools available."
--Blog the Campaign in 08

"The 2008 presidential campaign is still in its infancy, and yet, as we can see with this development, the role of the Internet in the election is already ramping up to surpass even the potent impact of the web during the mid-term congressional elections."
--IP & Democracy