Change Doesn't Come from Washington, Rather Ben Self Helped Bring It to Washington

Soapbox Media, a Cincinnati website and e-zine, held their anniversary party last week to celebrate their first year in business. Local journalists and the members of Soapbox mingled over drinks and appetizers, while the highlight of the night, Ben Self, gave an impressionable speech that hits home for these journalists.
Ben Self is a founding member of Blue State Digital, a firm that focuses on technology and media for companies, non-profit organizations, and politicians. He had a hand in revamping the online abilities of the DNC and its voter file. Self gave a speech on the impact technology and interactivity had in Barack Obama’s election. Blue State Digital was a dominant force behind the online grassroots organization and support of Barack Obama. The abilities given to the public by the websites allowed for involvement in the campaign and donations as well. He stressed the importance of the internet in today’s business and economic world, and how its communication developments can be used to produce results never thought possible.
“This was fundamentally different than any other campaign,” said Self. “$770 million was raised for the campaign, over half a million of that raised online,” he continued.
Online donations totaled about $500 million, and on average the donations were less than $100 each.
Self stressed that the online media in recent years has been used to spread false rumors about people, and that candidates were no exception to this. He focused on how these same tools can be used to promote candidates in a positive light and reach out to the public, voters specifically.
“Through websites like mybarackobama.com, you can form a local group, and even move the events offline,” said Self.
Ben Self focused on the point of making it easy for users to interact, and that email is one of the most underestimated and important part of not only communicating, but this campaign. To make it easy on users you must, “Be authentic, be transparent, talk to people regularly, and be relevant.”
René Brunelle is a recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati, and while studying, she interned for Soapbox Media. She now is a freelance writer for the ezine. Brunelle attended the anniversary party, and agrees with Ben Self’s ideas and attitude toward internet media.
“I would never have expected a website to have a big impact on an election, and quite frankly I think it’s pretty dynamic because the last election I didn’t think it played a big part at all,” said Brunelle.
Internet media is currently in the works to find its place as major source for news in the world, and Brunelle says that it’s incredibly important, especially when thinking of the viral markets and creations like blogs and Twitter.
She agrees with Ben Self’s points that people expect to interact with you, and these websites are not a place where you want the information to be heard, it’s where they can interact with it. She says it’s becoming a major staple in an industry dominated by print because it’s easy to communicate, it’s fast, and it’s astounding how many people turn to the internet for their news, and mostly because it makes their voice heard.
“Interactivity is incredibly important because it makes it easier for journalists to build on ideas supplied by their readers,” said Brunelle. “It’s not just journalists talking to journalists, it’s the general media as well,” she continued.
It’s safe to say that the success of the campaign was directly related to the support given by online users. Internet media is becoming more common by the day, and has become a staple in aspects of the media ranging from entertainment to politics, as the success of Ben Self’s technology and the campaign of Barack Obama have shown.
“I don’t say technology solves all of your problems as an organization, but it focuses passion. Technology can be used to take the passion and build to something bigger with more results than you ever thought possible, “said Self.

For more information on these organizations, you can visit Soapbox Media at soapboxmedia.com and Blue State Digital at bluestatedigital.com.