It's the networks, stupid

Will Obama's strategic use of grass-roots networks lead to victory in the 2008 U.S. presidential race?

Roger Cohen, who wrote an Op-Ed piece in The NY Times, thinks so. I like the new term he uses: MAC = mutually assured connectivity.

Of course, the Dean campaign thought they understood the internet in 2004, but they really did not get "social networks". They made some breakthroughs in technology, but screwed up the sociology, and lost in a big way. Obama seems to be focusing first on the sociology of building networks and then supporting those social networks with technology -- the correct sequence of attention. The Obama campaign is successful because they know that sociology & technology properly mixed give a better result than either of them alone, or improperly mixed.

Will the social network analysis discussed in this white paper influence the outcome of the 2008 U.S. election?

We'll soon see.

Originally published May 27, 2008