Still waiting for that Obama moment

As we go to the polls today I was reflecting about the relatively low impact that Social Media seems to have made in this campaign. There seems to be something of a flurry of tweets, a last minute chatter about – well the referendum more than anything else – but overall the Scottish Executive elections seem hardly to have figured. This is a far cry from the sophistication of the Obama campaign. Of course the crowdfunding aspect of the Obama campaign was perhaps its most extraordinary feature and we don’t typically resource our politics like that in the UK.  But in the Obama case it did flow through into viral campaigning and converted in turnout and demographic participation.

Here, apart form the odd tweet from politicians, and the chatter today, I can’t think it has really impacted me at all. Surely if it needs you to go and look for it then it is not particularly effective as you will simply be preaching to the converted? Not much of a call to action is it?

Why is that? Are our politicians simply not good at using Social Media or are we the electorate not engaged digitally? or is there some other reason? What do you think?

Image courtesy of www.photos8.com