A conservative group called American Crossroads thinks Barack Obama has been too busy being cool. Dubbing him the “Celebrity President”, they’ve released a video documenting the last four years of the President’s moves and grooves – from hanging out on Jimmy Fallon’s show, to dancing with Ellen DeGeneres, chugging a Guinness, crooning a little Al Green and dismissing Kanye West as a “jackass”. About the only thing missing from the video aimed at convincing younger voters that cool ain’t gonna pay the rent (or your student loans) was this week’s viral Instagram snap (shown here).
Yep, our first social media President has done it again. Keeping pace with the online chatter about the importance of photos in any and all narratives, this week Obama posed for an Instagram photo with the exact type of voter the American Crossroads group was trying to convince to vote against him in November. University of Colorado junior Madalyn Starkey bumped into Obama on a campaign stop in a Boulder bar. Her boyfriend snapped her with the Celebrity President making a “wow factor” face and posted to Instagram. Typical viral activity ensued for the next 24 hours, with Starkey being dubbed “Dive Bar Girl”. We know pictures speak a thousand words. We think this one will probably translate into a thousand votes. Only six-and-a-half months and a couple of million more Instagrams to go until Election Day.
What else has people talking?
- Social media does more than determine elections, it can also ruin your relationship. Why not prevent that happening with a social media pre-nup?
- The Internet Hall of Fame inducted an inaugural round of 33 hyper-wired types, including former Vice President Al Gore, who, at times has both taken credit for – and been accused of – inventing the Internet.
- The five types of political friends you probably have on Facebook.
- Is the digital world killing our creativity?
- The Kony 2012 campaign is being exposed as the biggest social media failure ever. How come no one cares?
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
