Using Obama's Social Network

A group of more than 20,000 supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama have used his official social network to organize an online protest against his stance on legislation set to be taken up by the U.S. Senate tomorrow.

The users of the social network My.BarackObama.com have organized a grass-roots protest online that opposes Obama's support of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act.

Jeff Jarvis, a blogger and associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York, noted in a blog post that the protest could mark an important moment in "participatory, self-organized online politics," especially since Obama's campaign has built itself on the support of various grass-roots efforts.

"When it's a grassroots organization that makes you — rather than a party — and you say you're beholden to them not to special interests and big money and lobbyists, well, then you really are beholden to them," Jarvis noted. "If they rise up from within to tell you that they don't like what you're doing — when they use your own organizational tools to do that — then I'd say you ignore them at your peril. Live by the crowd, die by the crowd."

Jarvis added that it will be interesting to see what type of power these self-organized groups wield if Obama ascends to the White House.

Use the above link to view the protest and join the network if you want to take part in this new venture.

Michael H. Drucker
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