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Terry Richardson/CPI Syndication

There's also another reason to expect a tech-driven presidency: Obama promised it. He said he would expand government transparency by putting more data up on the Web, streaming meetings live, and letting the public comment on most legislation for five days before he signs it. He said he would bring blogs, wikis, and social networking tools with him into the executive branch—all overseen by a new national chief technology officer.

The Obama campaign epitomizes the opportunities and threats posed by disruptive technology in its early market:



• The campaign was contending with established players that had far greater resources
• There were few alternatives to putting emerging social media technology and processes in the front lines of the contest (they were desperate)
• The campaign had little chance of success if it had only used legacy processes
• Obama was not on the radar screen at first because he didn’t look like a serious contender according to traditional metrics
• By using the technology, the Obama campaign was able to engage customers in fundamentally new ways
• Customers (voters) used the same technology to amplify the effect

Social media digitizes word of mouth, and people talk most about exceptions, what bothers them most or what inspires them. Think about ways that you can:

• Make it easier for people to talk by using social media to lower the cost for people to find others with their interests
• Help them communicate at a low cost (social networks are largely asynchronous, so they fit busy schedules)
• Act in remarkable ways, and give people tools to make it easy to talk about it. Participate in discussions, but enable stakeholders to own them.