Obama vs supporter MySpace fracas
p2pnet.net news:- The ‘us’ versus ‘them’ online struggle gained new prominence when a group of political campaigners’ desire to “control their message” found themselves up against “the power of voter-generated material”.
And in this instance, ‘they’ won.
It was US presidential hopeful Barack Obama versus, “Los Angeles paralegal Joe Anthony” a, “one-time supporter who started the Obama MySpace page” and, “became such a concern for the Illinois senator that he personally tried to smooth things over,” says Associated Press.
As the site “exploded in popularity,” Obama and his handlers started worrying, “about an outsider controlling the content and responses going out under Obama’s name”. So they’ve taken it over.
In March, another supporter posted a video featuring Obama rival Hilary Clinton as a female athlete with Obama on her track vest. Then, Obama and crew pulled back.
But this time around, Obama told Anthony to relinquish MySpace, says AP, going on:
In this new frontier of online campaigning, it’s hard to determine the value of 160,000 MySpace friends – about four times what any other official campaign MySpace page had amassed. But the Obama campaign decided they wouldn’t pay $39,000, which is what Anthony said he proposed for his extensive work on the site, plus some additional fees up to $10,000.
MySpace reluctantly stepped in to settle the dispute and decided that Obama should have the rights to control http://www.myspace.com/barackobama as of Monday night. Anthony had the right to take all the friends who signed up while he was in control, and that includes the right to tell them how he feels about the Obama campaign – although he said he was still locked out of the page with his contacts as of Wednesday.
Anthony posted he was heartbroken that the Obama campaign was “bullying” him out of the page he built.
Also citing the “user revolt” on Digg, “the Anthony-Obama fracas seems to illustrate, again, the power that regular citizens wield online,” says Media Post, adding:
“Digg execs Tuesday decided to stop trying to delete information about how to get around digital rights management software on DVDs, after users overwhelmed the site with such information; the company that depended on the collective wisdom of the masses realized that it needed its users’ support to survive.
“In the Obama-Anthony situation, a regular user was able to amass a 160,000-person-strong fan base for Obama on one site alone. But, now that the professionals have taken over the page, it’s not clear how many MySpace members will return to it.”
Also See:
Associated Press – Obama takes control of MySpace page from former supporter, May 5, 2007
track vest – Hilary Clinton YouTube video, March 20, 2007
Media Post – Obama-MySpace Flap Shows Power Of Average Folks Online, May 3, 2007
Digg execs – DRM crew targets Digg posters, May 5, 2007
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
May 4th, 2007 at 10:10 am
nothing but an ‘Oreo’ Clinton wannabe rhetorician. He’s _NOT_ fit to lead this Country because he’s more interested in *winning a political “race”* than he is interested in his [future] Constituency. He is _NOT_ at all interested in correcting the wrongs done to the people of this Country andor others around the World by the preceding administration(s).
Mr. Gravel on the other hand has the experience, clearness of thought, incisive & succinct expression, concern for the Citizenry of this Country and the World, concern for what has been done to shred the Constitution/Bill of Rights, etc, etc, etc to get the job done and done correctly this FIRST time with _NO_ steaming pile of political rhetoric attached!!!