Social Media within the election

There is a lot of talk that social media effects are heavily hurting Hillary's '08 campaign. The Clinton strategy is very traditional. They use the "push and spin" approach. This approach is usually used because its all about gaining and maintaining control. With this approach Hillary builds a relationship with the media which makes them more likely to listen to her when she wants to "push" certain points. Social media puts forth new forms of media that are available to everyone. Therefore, the traditional media that Hillary is focusing on is setting her up for failure. There is no control in social media. It gives everyone the opportunity to communicate their ideas and opinions. There is not a dominant voice, which is what Hillary is trying to achieve.

On the other hand, candidates that open up to social media can really benefit. Barack Obama has done a great job entering into social media. He has really took advantage of his blog and has posted twice as much as Hillary. This gives Obama the opportunity to communicate with the public and create two-communication versus Hillary's approach which only offers one-way communication and leaves her with the final say and the overall control. Some people say this will end up hurting Hillary, but maybe having so much information available to the public may hurt Obama.
It is also interesting that Obama, who is much younger than Hillary is diving into different types of social media, while Hillary is sticking to more traditional ways of running her campaign.