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VIRTUAL SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN

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ABSTRACT
VIRTUAL SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN
By

Kamahra Ewing

Barack Obama personalized his campaign through the Internet and television via
social capital. Obama was able to effectively respond to any type of attacks on his
character, campaign, or beliefs through utilizing online technologies. One of the most
effective ways Obama connected with American voters was through virtual social capital.
Social capital will be divided into three categories: membership, trust, and networks.
Social networking sites, including Obama’s primary campaign website, were one of his
strategies for maintaining contact with voters and enhancing social capital among his
supporters. The first section will examine various definitions of social capital and
demonstrate how it was generated by the Obama campaign. The second section will
focus on how Obama’s website as well as social networking sites were the conduit for
maintaining or creating networks, membership, and trust both on and offline. The last
section will discuss how Obama’s life story enabled him to tap into various types of
social capital that were already present within modern day culture in order to impeccably

implement one of the best grass roots campaigns in American history.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1
DEFINING SOCIAL CAPITAL ............................................... .. 2

INTERNET AND SOCIAL CAPITAL ...................................................................... I3
SOCIAL NETWORK SITES .................................................................................... 18
MEMBERSHIP ON OBAMA'S PERSONAL WEBSITE ......................................... 27
GENERATIONAL ..................................................................................................... 43
SOCIAL MESSAGING SITES/TEXT MESSAGING .............................................. 45
NEWS MEDIA ........................................................................................................... 53
ADVERTISTING ....................................................................................................... 55
TRUST ....................................................................................................................... 58

OBAMA'S LIFE STORY ........................................................................................... 69
CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 7I

ENDNOTES ............................................................................................................... 73
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 84

iii

INTRODUCTION

Barack Obama as president elect had a few issues concerning technology, one of
them being letting go ofhis blackberry. Former presidents had to let go of their personal
email accounts. The blackberry is a combination between a telephone and email but less
intrusive. The government wanted to protect Obama’s online securityi. Obama was
eventually was able to gain the right to use a new high tech blackberry. This marked
Obama as the first high tech President in all respects. The use of the blackberry is to
keep in touch with friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. This example
demonstrates how Obama capitalizes off of the benefits of virtual technology to keep in
touch with his closest friends and family. During the campaign he maximized the use of
virtual technology and networking with the American public. The following thesis will

explore the various ways that Obama exploited virtual technology.

Barack Obama personalized his campaign through the Internet and television via
social capital. Obama was able to effectively respond to any type of attacks on his
character, campaign, or beliefs through utilizing online technologies. One of the most
effective ways Obama connected with American voters was through virtual social capital.
Social capital will be divided into three categories: membership, trust, and networks.
Social networking sites, including Obama’s primary campaign website, were one of his
strategies for maintaining contact with voters and enhancing social capital among his
supporters. The first section will examine various definitions of social capital and

demonstrate how it was generated by the Obama campaign. The second section will

focus on how Obama’s website as well as social networking sites were the conduit for
maintaining or creating networks, membership, and trust both on and offline. The last
section will discuss how Obama's life story enabled him to tap into various types of
social capital that were already present within modern day culture in order to impeccably

implement one of the best grass roots campaigns in American history.

Although a relative newcomer to the political scene, Obama was successfully able
to gain voter trust by the last months of the campaign. Membership, trust, and networks
allowed people to find their place in history and become involved in volunteering time
and money to help the Barack Obama campaign. This campaign especially social capital
strongly flowed in two directions from online to offline and vice versa. Many citizens
campaigned offline and online to recruit financial supporters for Obama. Text
messaging, infomercials, and blogs helped reinforce new virtual versions of social
capital.

DEFINING SOCIAL CAPITAL

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a
strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of
Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-
believers. We are shaped by every language and
culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and
because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war

and segregation, and emerged from that dark

chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help
but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass;
that the lines oftribe shall soon dissolve; that as the
world grows smaller, our common humanity shall
reveal itself; and that America must play its role in

ushering in a new era of peaceii.

The quote demonstrates Obama’s connectedness with the American public on multiple
levels. This is networking or uniting with people, also known as social capital. Various
definitions of social capital will be examined in this section beginning with Pierre
Bourdieu.

French scholar Pierre Bourdieu, a sociologist, defined social capital as resources
based on group membership and networks based on social supportiii. Assets of social
capital include cultural capital. Cultural capital is an invisible asset held by elites within
society who have money and power within the society. Agents who historically
maintain control known as the embodied state; a form that has long-lasting impressions in
the minds and bodies of the inhabitants of such societies use honor, prestige, or
recognition. In order to categorize class differences there are invisible indicators
established within society. The objectified state is a result of cultural goods such as
media, books, dictionaries, instruments, and machines. It can also be referred to as
familial ties, elite connections, such as Ivy League school alumni elite, or aristocracy, and

other forms of connections that bond elites together.

According to Bourdieu, the institutionalized. state is a form of objectification that
sets society apart because, as seen in the case of educational qualifications, it confers
properties on the cultural capital that is presumed to guarantee a privileged position

within society.

Bourdieu discusses capital as economic, cultural, or social in nature. Economic
capital is immediately and directly convertible into money may be institutionalized in the
form of property rightsiv. Cultural capital is convertible, in certain conditions, into
economic capital and may be institutionalized in the form of educational qualifications.
Social capital is convertible, in certain conditions, into economic capital and can be
institutionalized in the form of a title of nobilityv. The next section will more fully

discuss various assets of social capital.

Bourdieu argues that elites speak for the masses and sometimes create their own
version of reality since they have the power to speak for society. The rest of society
follows what the upper class covered in a false sense of entitlement dictates. This social
capital symbolic asset is also called habitus which “implies ‘a sense of ones place’ but
also ‘the sense of the place of others”’vi. Symbolic capital is an extra asset that the elite
have to use, as they desire. Bourdieu suggests that symbolic capital is a combination of
economic capital and educational capital. An example of symbolic capital is someone
who has a legal, professional, or educational title(s) that guarantees them a certain status

within society. Sometimes their status is based on familial ties, which benefit them

accordingly, and “rewards associated with the title tend to become autonomous with
regard to the rewards associated with the work the same work can receive different
remunerations depending on the titles and qualifications of the person doing it.”vii An
example of symbolic capital and educational capital is the K-12 education system in
Michigan, where there are many people who have bachelors or masters in multiple
subjects that are needed in the school system. Historically, elites in government and
administrators in charge of the educational school boards have created the educational
system and later a necessity of certification. Thus, qualified university alumni who could
teach science and math courses needed in inner city schools are denied the opportunity to
teach because they do not have the right certification or professional degree. Even with a
degree, potential teachers still have to pass another test to prove that they are qualified to
teach. The certification test costs money and is scheduled only a few times a year,
creating another obstacle. Later after teacher certification, they have to continue taking
courses to improve their teaching skills. This system was created to help students learn
from the best, but it is a false system according to Bourdieu that was created by the
administrators in higher positions, and normalized in American society. Thus, various

forms of symbolic capital would be a degree, certification, and passing a test.

Other ways elites create these divisions are among religious and ethnic groups so
that power is maintained as they desire and people are split accordingly. Historically,
societies have been set up in “dualist oppositions (masculine/feminine, high/low,

strong/weak, etc). [The elite] organize the perception of the social world and, under

certain conditions, can really organize the world itself.viii“ It is important to look at the
dualist classifications within American culture in order to understand how to reach
beyond them. Obama, for example, was a part of the elite class due to his educational
background at Harvard, even though he comes from a background that can be perceived
as middle class. He was able to reach audiences on both sides of this social structure of
lower and upper class. Bourdieu constructs social capital from a sociological perspective.
In the next section social capital will be examined through the lens of a political scientist.
Another often-quoted sociologist who works on social capital, Robert Putnam,
divides social capital in various ways: formal versus informal, weak ties versus strong
ties, and bridging versus bonding social capitalix. Putnam describes how society can
have both corrosive and healthy ways to build up social capital. For example, the Ku
Klux Klan treats social capital differently than a sewing club. In the 19505, bonded and
strong social capital is demonstrated in the Ku Klux Klan based on its membership’s
hatred of all ethnic groups outside of European descent. This group found ways to kill
and terrorize others within society in order to maintain social control. It exemplifies
bonded and strong social capital: whites had racial power within society, which was
connected, to powerful elites within educational and political institutions. Thus, they
were able to forge membership based on bonded social capital through a shared white
ethnic experience in American society. On the other hand, bonding and weak social
capital are exemplified in a sewing club, which is founded in the idea of gathering people

together based on a desire to sew. Sewing groups may have been segregated in the

fifties, but they were not founded to find ways to oppress other people who did not have
similar interests. Bonded social capital unites people based on ethnic affiliations, which

is the opposite of bridged social capital.

Bridging social capital occurs when a person or a group extends and reaches
beyond its social comfort zone. For example, a person from a Muslim background may
work with a person from a Christian background to create cultural diversity, unity, and
understanding amongst the two groups or they could join together to fight poverty. These
two groups could have stayed separate and used bonded social capital to fight for
poverty. Instead they expanded themselves beyond their own social networks and

broadened their network base in turn creating bridged social capital.

Putnam is one of the founders of term social capital, his arguments at times
appear to be dated since the majority ofhis work is before the year 2000. Although his
television, views appear to be narrow minded, other aspects of his definition can be
useful for studying social capital. Television culture could be viewed as creating bonded
or bridged social capital within global societies. Formally, Putnam views modernization
as bad for social capital; although other scholars disagree, arguing that it brings new ways
to create networks. Critics often single out television since it has made global societies
aspire for similar consumer goods, encouraged cultural homogeneity, and often led to

people not interacting with one another as in the past. As Putnam explains: “television

leads people to become disengaged from their communities directly and indirectly”x.

People become more socially disengaged through television and Internet entertainment.

Putnam puts the relationship between social capital and technology into a
historical perspective. He recently explained how the United States went through a
period from the 19503 until 9/ 11 of lower social capitalxi. After World War 11 Americans
bonded and became more patriotic since together they endured a stressful period in
American history. World Wars I and II fueled American patriotism, which increased a
sense of community and volunteerism. After the war, volunteerism decreased and
television watching increased. Instead of participating in local civic organizations,
people stayed home and watched television. Thus, television is blamed for the decrease
in political participation within society. Later, during harsh economic times, participation
in civic organizations increased. Putnam states that after 9/ 1 1 social capital has
especially increased and, younger people are more politically inclined than in previous

generations.

Despite the potentially de-energizing power of media forms like television after
9/ 11 people felt more patriotic and people pulled together increasing volunteerism in
America. Thus, after forty years of social capital decreasing in American society, after
9/11 social capital increased. Obama’s campaign took advantage of this situation and
amplified social capital through increased opportunities for volunteerism. Putnam refers

to Obama as “the first President to receive the benefits of the renewed social capital,

though he is not its creator”xii. An example of this social capital through volunteerism is
virtual campaigning as Nicole Ellison claims that eighty-six percent of college students
have Facebook and half of the students used it as a method of campaigning for their

candidate of choicexiii.

In his article, “Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social
Capital in America”, Putnam explains the influence of media forms on social capital.
Here, he defines social capital as “features of social life-networks, norms, and trust- that
enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives”xiv. He
explains the role of social capital in civic engagement as peoples’ interactions within
their community that are not solely based on politics: “Social trust is generated through
civic engagement: the more people connect with each other, the more they trust each

other”xv.

While Putnam perceives people living in modern American society as closed off
from communicating with others in a traditional sense of community, he says there are
new ways to utilize social capital. These may be found in new forms of media, such as
the Internet, which may or may not foster social capital. In the case of Obama’s
campaign, technology, including cell phones, websites, social network sites, and thirty-
minute television commercials as a tool to enhance social capital. These technologies
have allowed Obama to connect with the public, create familiarity, and motivate people

to gather together under the purpose of hope and change. In order to understand more

about social capital it is best to explore the process of modernization abroad as a telling
comparison.

Peter Hall explores social capital in Britain which is different than in America for
three reasons: 1) Change in the educational system after the 1950s; 2) Change in the class
system economically and politically in society; and 3) government-encouraged
volunteerism and provision of funding to create associationvai. As a result of the
changes to Britain’s educational system, education automatically increased social capital.
Hall asserts that educated people are known to volunteer more. This creates social
capital: thus, with an increase in education comes an. increase in social capital. During
the period of modernization, the British government properly promoted societal values
that they wished to maintain through education and opportunities for volunteerism. This
explains how positive social capital has continued strongly for the last fifty years in
Britain as people continue to stay involved in their community. The British government
continues to make concerted efforts to improve their society through volunteerism and
the provision of grants to help people continue this tradition. The opposite occurs when
an individualist government (one that is only concerned with its own interests or the
interests of a few people) pushes society to become similarly individualistic. That
ultimately sets the standard for the elites to favor themselves through policies that
provide no assistance for citizens to volunteer.

According to Hall, the education revolution was important in British society in

order to upgrade the level of education for all citizens, but with change came negative

10

consequences such as a breakdown of traditional family structures: higher divorce rates,
women working more, and an increase in the welfare statexvii. Television viewing
increased as well, but it did not have as much of an impact on associations and
membership in British society as it had in the United States. Due to British government
intervention in society, social capital has flourished more than in the United States.
Overall, most English benefit from positive social capital, but the elite receive more
benefits from bonded social capital since they have better connections and more powerful
resources. This power affords the elite to create an in and out group effect.

Over the later half of the twentieth century, members of Britain’s society lowered
their trust due to a shift from a collectivist society to a more individualistic society. Hall
claims younger people tend to be more individualistic and hold idealistic moral norms,
and have lower social political trust. Individualistic tendencies within societies may
encourage a people to hold idealistic views since they are not interacting with others in
society as much. Although Britain continues to move towards the individualistic side, it
still has a backbone of volunteerism that is missing in other capitalist societies. Some
scholars, such as Hall, feel that membership in a volunteer organization alone cannot help
political and social trust. Putnam would argue that membership is the key to social
capital. Britain proves Putnam’s point since the government was successful in

implementing social capital in the later half of the 2lst century, unlike the United States.

Peter Wuthnow discusses how American society before the 19605 had good social

group membership, even though these groups often excluded minoritievaiii. During pre-

11

Internet era people were more interactive and found different ways to bond within
communities or enjoy themselves with membership in clubs or associations. Now,
women and minorities are included but the process of social capital still has yet to
flourish in the American democratic society, as it should. In a democratic society social
and political memberships should normally result in high civic engagement. Wuthnow
wonders what would happen if general group memberships continued to die, and how
American society would have reinvigorated itself. From World War II to 9/11, people
were less involved in civic organizations. Because a shift in technology has changed the
way people meet, social capital is built on different activities outside of traditional

organizations.

Prior to the Obama campaign, volunteerism remained low in America until 9/11.
However, with the increase in social capital along with enthusiasm for change and
mistrust in the American political system, people voted in large numbers during the 2008
election because they felt that with the right leadership change was possible. Due to
harsh economic times and war, people had to pay four dollars for a gallon of gas. They
needed an outlet to express their anger and discontent with how society was crumbling in
front of their eyes with inflation, joblessness, and a war on terror. In a democratic
society, people are allowed to exercise their collective power to vote and overturn an
improperly functioning government. Many Americans channeled their urge for change

by using their power to vote and make history.

12

The first African-American President in United States history answered the call of
the people for direct change due to the power of social capital on and offline. The
media’s focus on race may overshadow the ingenious strategy of how he was able to
dominate American electoral maps. The American electoral map is normally divided in
red for Republicans and blue for Democrats. In the west normally the electoral map is
red and in major cities throughout the United States the map is blue. In the 2008
presidency, the United States map was observed from each voting precinct, both colors
were combined to create purple, even in rural America, which is traditionally known for
its red Republican voting tendencies. The well-organized Internet campaign allowed
people in rural areas to familiarize themselves with Obama’s plans. Obama was able to
gain people’s trust, and online networks supporting Obama gained membership. His
campaigning was done impeccably and Obama changed the face of campaigning. Voter
engagement and participation is a major factor in the Obama campaign. In the future
candidates will have to have technological skills, and know how to access YouTube,

Facebook, Twitter, and whatever future social network sites that will be created next.

INTERNET AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

“Together, we could open up government and invite citizens in,
while connecting all of America to let century broadband. We
could use technology to help achieve universal health care, to

reach for a clean energy future, and to ensure that young

13

Americans can compete — and win — in the global economy,”

Obama said at the Google meetingxix.

Internet is a fomi of technology that Obama concretely combined with social
networking during his campaign. This section will explore how the Internet was vital for
the flow of social capital from online to oflline activities. The following articles were
published in the early 20005 and technology Internet theory has quickly changed. The
following studies will indicate how scholars view social capital online. The first article,
demonstrates how some social scientists feel about modern technology. In, “The Internet
and Social Capital”, Eric M. Uslaner discusses the exaggerated view in social capital
studies that the Internet is unsafe and causes depression, social isolation, and stress.

Soc ial scientists who feel the Internet is used in a negative way tend to agree that users

should leave the net and associate with people face to face, “‘ [Online] friends’ are

fictional characters whom you will never be asked to help out”xx. The proponents of this

idea blame the Internet for many societal problems and the destruction of social capital.

This perception lacks awareness of what is done positively to increase social capital via

the Internet.

At the other end of the spectrum, some scholars have viewed the lntemet as a
romanticized virtual utopia where everything is possible and the world’s people are
getting to know each other better daily. Uslaner states, “The lntemet is a great leveler of
Class and race barriers — which have to be strong barriers to effective participation in

Am - . . . .
erl Can soc1ety”xxi. Computer users are able to access a Virtual soc1ety through email,

14

support groups, list serves, chat rooms, and many other sites and services that are being

created daily.

The Internet is a tool that can be used for both positive and negative purposes.
Uslaner holds a more balanced view ofthe relationship between social capital and the
lntemet: “The lntemet neither destroys nor creates social capital”xxii. Uslaner feels that
everything one can find online already exists in the modern world. What people do
onl ine they also do offline: shopping, bargaining, look at news and sports, gamble, get
vacation packages, cars. electronics, and maintain contact with people they know through
email or SNS. “The net is not a threat. But it is not Nirvana either”xxiii. This third
perspective on the lntemet is a balanced way to view it realizing that it is not a plague,
nor will it solve all of our problems. This article is correct in viewing the lntemet as a

neutral modem tool, and a person with the proper skills can enhance normal offline

activities as Obama did during the campaign.

In 2002, Wellman, Quan-Haase, Berry Wellman, James Witte, and Keith
H3111 pton examined the role of social capital online, conducting research on how often
People were in contact with friends and kin living locally and afar. They analyzed how
Ofien people used the phone, talked face to face, used email and wrote letters. They
belieVe that due to advancements in technology, traditional personal communication as

w . . . . .
e11 as somal capital has decreased. Nevertheless, data shows that sootal capital Via the

Int . . . . . . .
emet has Increased and that It IS transforming the ways In Wthh we communicate.

15

 

This study shows that social capital decreases when people have low self-esteem and

fewer face-to-face meetings. On the other hand, people with higher self-esteem have

more face to face gatherings and email usage. This aids us in understanding how we can
redefine social capital via the lntemet. The researchers found that previously known

local and distant relationships are maintained online, although meeting new people online
has decreased. The 2002, findings explain that global networks decreased and people are
now networking more locally. Prior to the year 2000, many people joined various chat
rooms to meet new people online. This study shows that by 2002 people no longer went
online as much to meet new people, rather they were connecting with previously familiar
friends and family online. Since the beginning of online communication there has been
another shift in how people interact. More people associate with friends and family

onl ine the less people associate with family and friends in their immediate surroundings
face to face. Wellman, Quan-Haase, et al, agree with Putnam, that television is a passive
engagement, more than the lntemet: “Both technologies draw people away from their
immediate environments, potentially alienating them from social interactions and civic
engagement”xxiv. When the use of email, telephone, and other communication between
peOple is high, people become more connected. A lower usage of email and telephone
also causes a downtrend in personal interactions. Trends in online users interactions with
media suggest, “the stronger the relationship the more media is used and the more types

0 ' . . , .
f Information 18 exchanged’ xxv. Therefore, because these technologies enhance

CO . .
mmllmcation between people, once people meet face to face they are able to have a

16

more enriched experience.

The Obama campaign was able to connect with people on and offline creating a
network base of volunteerism. Internet use is up and so is participation in volunteerism
in organizational and political organizations. The study of the Internet and social capital
may be broken down into three types of social capital: network capital, participation
capital and community commitment. Network capital is defined as “Relations with
friends, neighbors, relatives, and workmates that significantly provide companionship,
emotional aid, goods and services, information, and a sense of belonging”xxvi.
Participatory capital is defined as, “Involvement in politics and voluntary organizations
that afford opportunities for people to bond, create joint accomplishments, and aggregate

and articulate demands and desires, a concept enshrined in the American heritage by de

Tocqueville (I835). Lastly,

Community Commitment: Social capital consists of more than
going through the motions of interpersonal interaction and
organizational involvement. When people have a strong attitude
toward community — have a motivated, responsible sense of

belonging — they will mobilize their social capital more willingly

and effectively (McAdam, 1982)xxvii.

For example, Wellman, Quan-Haase, et al, found that interpersonal network contact was
a » . . . . . . .
ff‘ected by lntemet use. Organizational partICipation on the lntemet prOVIded a vehicle

for - . . . . . .
W111 ch involvement increased, making the relationship between interpersonal

17

networks and Internet positive. This explains how Obama’s campaign was able to take
advantage of the previously unutilized tool. Wellman, Quan-Haase, et al found that

I ntemet users are younger and people 40-65 years used the Internet to get politically
involved. While before 2002, older people were less likely to use the Internet, during the
Obama campaign; people of all ages took part in online discussions. Most discussions
started offline and continued online, “The more online participation in organizations and
politics, the more offline participation in organizations and politics”xxviii. This was
confirmed in the Obama campaign through the outstanding volunteerism, which is
fostered by the set up of his website. The lntemet clearly provides and extends offline
activities, which then continue again online. The more people engage in offline activities
the more their lntemet involvement increases. People no longer need to meet face to face

or talk on the telephone, since they can chat online, email, or send a text message.

SOCIAL NETWORK SITES

On Jan. 21, his first full day in office, Obama
signed an Executive Order calling for all

departments and agencies to “establish a system of

transparency, public participation and

collaboration.” At the same time, White House
lawyers, working with other federal agencies,

sought to create new “terms of use” agreements

with private companies that would allow

18

government to sign up for social networks like
MySpace, YouTube and Facebook as if they were
just another person. What was once the sole domain
of adventuresome government agencies and

officials soon became standard policyxxix.

The same way Obama connected. with voters during the campaign he is striving to
do in his presidency. Social network sites have transformed the way that people interact
along with the way it is used, politically. Virtual politics is changing as well to meet the
demands necessary for a high paced technologically advanced society. Obama’s
campaign adapted to the virtual community accordingly to meet the demands of a high-
tech society. This is an area where Obama excelled while other candidates lagged ten
years behind. The following section explores social capital on social network sites and
the habits of networking. The first section will explore how these sites connect people

from net acquaintances or friendships to a political tool that revolutionized the way to

campaign on and offline.

In the late nineties the SNS revolution was created. In the beginning of this

per iod, many people encountered new friends online, while they maintain previous
contfllets. Later the state of online use changed from meeting as many new people as
p OSSi ble to minimizing new friends and connecting with fi'iends and family. SNS users

w . . .
anted to meet new online users less. SNS prov1ded subscribers who were not able to

eet face to face With different ways to interact With each other online. In, ‘ Soc1al

19

Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship,” Danah Boyd and Nicole Ellison,
focus on the historical changes in Social Network Sites on the web. The authors explore
the Social Network Sites (SNS), which they describe as a “fantasy friend”. In 1997, the
first SNS was created, called SixDegrees.com soon after, Classmatescom followed.
SixDegrees.com allowed subscribers to invent their profile and list their friends. Later in

l 998, the site allowed people to view their friend’s list of friends. Following the first
SN 8 were AIM and ICQ, which hid net users buddy, lists from other friends. SNS are an
extended version of social capital or a tool to allow social capital to flow. Boyd and
Ellison listed three services that SNS provide for users to, “construct a public or semi-
public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they
share a connection and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by
others within the system”xxx. These are the basic functions of these sites. Face to face
communication involving body expressions have been replaced by a new type of virtual
Communication that may include reference to physical activities like online nudging and
thrOwing imaginary items at friends. They argued that people continue to behave as
befOI‘e, as they have adapted their activities to the web. However, they do not have as
much time for personal connections. Ellison and Boyd also mention issues with privacy;

mOSt people feel more comfortable with Facebook than MySpace because they reveal
per SOnal information only to a select audience.
SNS have evolved as people’s interests and software developments have shifted
a
nd Changed, for example from Friendster to MySpace, from MySpace to Facebook.

20

Obama’s website linked to around ten different ethnic SNS such as blackplanet and
batanga. Obama connected with millions of people online which is the power of online
social capital. On McCain’s website he only had F acebook listed as his social network

site, therefore he did not reach across the board in other ethnic group sites.

Most young college students are connected online and were a huge factor for
recruiting and gaining votes during the election campaign. Ellison continues the SNS
discussion by examining Michigan State University undergraduate students in, “The
Benefits of Facebook ‘Friends’: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online
Social Network Sites”. She found that around 90% of people surveyed used SNS to
mai ntain contact with high school friends. In 2007, Facebook had over 21 million
re gi stered members and 1.6 billion hits on the site daily. This demonstrates the power
that SNS’s have and how it impacts and connects student’s lives everyday. Ellison
states, “Social capital has been linked to a variety of positive social outcomes, such as
better public health, lower crime rates, and more efficient financial markets”xxxi. This

demonstrates potential networking how effective and influential these sites are to the

American public, more specifically young adults.

SNS has provided new avenues for social capital in a way that former uses of the
Interllet have not. The lntemet can be both positive and negative for building social
e ‘ . . .
apl tal - Ellison explains that from one perspective, “Internet use detracts from face-to-

fa - . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
Ce 131 me With others, which might diminish an indiv1dual’s somal capital xxxii.

21

However, some researchers claim that, “online interactions may supplement or replace
in-person interactions, mitigating any loss from time spent online”xxxiii. Social capital
has changed along with current technology. Due to geographical changes people may
lose face to face contact, an SNS can intervene. Her research concludes that there was no
connection between general Internet use and the building of social capital, but intensive
use of Facebook did increase social capital. Students used Facebook to strengthen weak
connections at Michigan State University and maintain a strong bond between friends.
These networks could lead to future connections. Thus, if the Internet website is

constructed in a user-friendly way, such as, Facebook, more social capital could be

created .

There are many positive benefits from using SNS sites such as strengthening
weak connections. In, “Social Network Sites and Society: Current Trends and future
Possibilities”, Ellison examines research performed with Michigan State University
students. They found that students on F acebook have the highest form of social
networking. People with low self-esteem could communicate in a relaxed, not engaged
face-to—face setting, received high levels of social capital. Many people that were online
for meeting people later made offline friends. The SNS are effective in bridging social

Capital between weak ties. Most Americans were not familiar with Obama, yet through

SNS and his website he was able to strengthen weak ties.

22

Facebook and SNS are always finding different ways to stay cutting edge. In the
article, “Changes in Use and Perception of F acebook”, Ellison and other authors discuss
Facebook as being the number one popular SNS site, which started based on a need to
connect with university students and their desire to reconnect with persons previously
known. The site is primarily used for group organizations, photo sharing and keeping in
touch with friends. Obama’s website does this effectively as well by including videos
and photos which are various ways to engage in volunteerism locally. This process

produces stronger ties amongst neighborhood supporters.

There were some examples of how Facebook may have negative impacts: users
were spending too much time, losing job opportunities due to content on their page and
fighting with ex-partneerxxiv. Overall, the changes in the perception of Facebook have
POSitiVBIy improved in comparison to other websites such as MySpace, where often
privacy is a major issue. Research analysis of student data in 2006-2008 showed no
drastic Changes in use of the site. More problems arose based on getting jobs or
embarrassing moments. News feeds features changed the way people maintained contact

with the public. Due to prior privacy issues, learned they had to watch what they say and

worry Whether or not a future employer would notice their website.

People use the Internet most because it is fast, cheap, and convenient. In their
Stud-V Ellison et al found that, the “Internet also does not appear to have radically

tr . . . . . . . .
ansformed CIVIC involvement in voluntary organizations and politics, although more

23

active groups use it extensively”xxxv. The Obama election demonstrated voluntary
political mobilization, which argues against this statement. The authors’ research is
outdated and demonstrates how quickly things can change on the lntemet “The hope that
the Internet would be especially useful in encouraging many people to join political
discussions has not been realized”xxxvi. The Obama campaign contradicted this
statement just by his collecting of dollars via his website. The authors realize that their
challenge is that the Internet moves rapidly and it is nearly impossible to predict changes
online. They conclude by stating that Internet adds to social capital, which is not
decreasing, contrary to what Putman claims,

The fact that people are not interacting in the visible
public spaces does not mean that they are in
isolation. lntemet makes it necessary to redefine
what social capital is interpersonal
transformation from “door-to-door” to “place-to-
place” and individualized “person-to-person”

networkaxxvii (] I).
This statement confirms how the lntemet has changed people’s communication;

naturally, the definitionof social capital should change as well to fit the modern way of

virtual social networking.

24

In the article, “Spatially Bounded Online Social Networks and Social Capital: The
Role of Facebook,” Nicole Ellison, Charles Stein field, and Cliff Lampe discuss how
social network systems provide necessary support to increase online and offline social
capital. This article explains that press coverage for Facebook has been negative. For
ninety percent of undergraduate students at Michigan State University use an SNS. Out
of people who meet strangers, the majority of people who talk online and later meet in
person most of the time tell the truth about themselves. In Ellison, et al.’s findings, white
students were more likely than other ethnic groups to have bridging social
capital. Facebook is a new way of virtual socializing with weak ties that can turn into
maintained contacts or deepened friendships, “This kind of social capital speaks most
clearly to the “strength of weak ties”xxxviii. This is why Facebook and MySpace, outside
of Obama’s website, did the most for virtual political campaigning online. The majority
of the American public has weak ties connected to Obama; due to these SNS these weak

ties became stronger.

Ellison’s study also shows that F acebook aides people with low self-esteem;
although they were less likely to take advantage of bridging networks, “low self-esteem
students who do use F acebook more intensely are just as likely to have bridging social
capital as their peers. However, low self-esteem students who don’t use Facebook
intensely do not score as highly on bridging the social capital measure. . .”xxxix. Thus,

we find the “poor get richer” instead of the “rich get richer” scenario via social capital on

25

F acebookxl. Similarly Obama was able to meet across the board with the haves and have-

nots socially.

Online communities have been seen as positive for social capital, the reason being
that it bonds people and communities together. Most literature has focused on the
negative effects of Internet use instead ofthe positive side. Obama demonstrates an
overall more positive side of this powerful grass roots effort, which mobilized, people
both on and offline. Putnam’s theory on social capital explains how people are “1)
outward looking; 2) contact with a broader range of people; 3) a view of oneself as part
of a broader group; and 4) diffuse reciprocity with a broader community”xli. This theory

could be applied to Obama’s campaign and his virtual online supporters.

The use of F acebook is different from the passive nature of watching television
due to being able to increase personal connections on and offline, which enriches social
capital. Ellison hypothesized that F acebook maximizes college students’ experience
since, “bridging social capital provides benefits such as increased information and
opportunities, we suspect that participants who use Facebook in this way are able to get
more out of their college experience”xlii. Facebook and Obama’s website allowed people
to get the maximum experience out ofcampaigning. People gathered information online
and later connected with other unknown Obama supporters’ offline in the spirit of

volunteerism. This demonstrates the powerful use of SNS.

26

The previous authors demonstrate that contrary to media negativity towards
Facebook, in universities it is very popular and students are able to benefit from its
usage. In previous literature Putnam claims that social capital is decreasing based on
civic involvement, this study also shows that social capital has shifted to online
involvement. People are more focused on maintaining and establishing old contacts than
meeting new ones. This point is key to Obama’s campaigning since, many people would

convince friends and neighbors to vote and become a volunteer for Obama.

This section has demonstrated various definitions of virtual social capital and how
it has worked online. Ellison’s et a1 studies demonstrate the numerous ways that
Facebook has had a positive effect on students despite negative media coverage. Obama
and McCain realized the possible opportunities to network with millions of Americans
via Facebook. This explains why F acebook and MySpace are the number one sites
outside of Mybarackobama.com website for political support of Obama. This was
ingenious to combine traditional conservative methods of campaigning with virtual
technology. Thus, many people were able to dive into promoting their campaign pick

and volunteer time, money, or support on and offline for Obama.

MEMBERSHIP ON OBAMA’S PERSONAL WEBSITE

When MyBarackObama.com launched, at the start of the campaign,
its lineage was clear. The site is a social-networking hub centered

on the candidate and designed to give users a practically unlimited

27

may of ways to participate in the campaign. You can register to
vote or start your own affinity group, with a Iistserv for your
friends. You can download an Obama news widget to stay current,
or another one (which Spinner found) that scrolls Obama’s
biography, with pictures, in an endless loop. You can click a “Make
Calls” button, receive a list of phone numbers, and spread the good
news to voters across the country, right there in your home. You
can get text-message updates on your mobile phone and. choose
from among 12 Obama-themed ring tones, so that each time Mom
calls you will hear Barack Obama cry “Yes we can!” and be

reminded that Mom should register to vote, t00xliii.

This section continues to discuss online social capital but, turns more specifically
to membership on Obama’s website. Putnam describes the importance of membership in
civic society. Membership means a person or organization belongs to some other
institution formal or informally; albeit a church, country, associations and clubs. In
America during the campaign election there was an underlined debate about whether
Obama was American and how can we trust him since he is not like former presidents. In
the 2008 campaign, Hillary Clinton and the Republican Party numerous times stated that
the American people did not know Barack Obama well enough to vote for him. These
remarks tie in with Obama’s background and not being from traditional presidential
background, education, class, and religion. Although membership was also found offline,
membership online was just as important and possibly most important. In order to create

an attractive space for the American public to familiarize themselves with Obama, he had

to create an inviting all-inclusive American website. Obama’s personal website differs
from the ten other social network spaces being that this was Obama’s personal
membership community. The use of a personal website creates a warm image with
which voters can relate. When one enters the Obama campaign website, visitors see the
American patriotic colors of red, white, and blue, reminding the viewer of Obama’s
democratic spirit. The colors imply that electing Obama would be a confirmation that the
democratic process truly works. Obama’s emblem in comparison to other candidate’s
logo was quite patriotic and some say genius:

- The O represents Obama and he can use the logo without his name

next to it. He’s claiming the O as George W. Bush claimed the W

- The blue O and the red stripes represent the flag

0 The red stripes represent the plains, the American farmland

0 The O’s whitespace represents the sun, shining over the plains.

Because it’s white, it evokes sunrise, not sunsetxliv.

His webpage was clearly built to welcome people; the light blue provides a
calmness that allows people to feel comfortable. Obama provided a quote at the top of
the page reminding everyone what civil service is, not just the duty of a president but, the
duty of all citizens to support and participate in making change possible. The evocation to
service is a reminder of President Kennedy’s famous admonition, “Ask not what your
country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.xlv” Obama states, “I’m
asking you to believe, not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington. . ..

I’m asking you to believe in yours.xIvi” Barack Obama suggests that changing presidents

29

alone will not be able to solve all the nation’s political, social, or economic problems.
Much more can be accomplished when the American citizens do their civic duty and
participating in volunteerism that creates stronger social capital.

In the right upper hand comer ofObama’s personal website, he invites people to
join http://my.barackobama.comxlvii. This alternative site encourages people to become
involved in community service; it provides people the proper tools to become volunteers
in participatory civic projects. When one enters Obama’s more personalized website, he
demonstrates his past activities as a community organizer. Obama’s website provides
visitors interested in helping his campaign the necessary information on how to become
community organizers in their neighborhood. A true leader empowers people to become
leaders. Obama as a leader understood the importance of delegating responsibility to
community organizers. Participation in civic activity occurs more when. there is a well-
organized structure and leader to follow. The center of this page changes to represent a
multiethnic America an older aged white woman, a younger white man, a Hispanic male,
an African-American male, and an Asian woman. This shows how people from all
backgrounds, and ages are invited to participate in community spirit and volunteer time to
help change America. The slogan on the page is “Because it’s about youxlviii”

Sarah Lai Stirland, an online journalist for wired.com, discusses the sheer
intelligence of Obama’s online campaign strategyxlix. The lntemet is a tool and thus far
Obama is the first presidential candidate who has successfully used it in a campaign. His

background as a community organizer and a frequent lntemet user provided him proper

30

vision to utilize multiple online connections. Obama’s campaign strategists found. the
best way to organize people’s enthusiasm, capitalize on Obama’s eloquent speeches, and
market his vision through his personal website. This website encouraged voters to
volunteer in many towns and cities throughout America. The site supplied proper tools
for voters to become leaders and effective community organizers in multiple
communities. These “grass roots” efforts afforded Obama the opportunity to both save
money on campaigning and to raise the most funds in presidential campaign history.
Joshua Green a writer for The Atlantic online confirms that Obama saved money on and
offline:

The most striking thing about all this was that the

headquarters is entirely self-sufficient — not a dime

has come from the Obama campaign. Instead,

everything from the computers to the telephones to

the doughnuts and coffee -— even the building’s rent

and utilities - is user-generated, arranged and paid

for by local volunteers. It is one of several such

examples across the country, and no other campaign

has put together anything that can match this level

of self-sufficiencyl.
The grass roots effort often was based on volunteers who gave time, money, and energy.

Many Americans signed joined Obama’s website and found various ways to volunteer.

31

Americans’ enthusiasm and eagerness for change allowed Mybarackobama. org to
channel the public’s energy into an effective organizational base online. His website
provided the best tools to raise funds not solely based on a few rich special interest
donors, as was the case in Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The majority of individual funds
collected for Obama were individual donors that gave 200 dollars or less; this was “grass
roots” campaigning at its finest, allowing the fundraising process to become truly
democratic. Some people feel that he is the first elected independent president. The
Washington post confirms, “Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments

of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor

gave more than once.“” Obama made people feel comfortable donating money and
signing up to volunteer online means that people felt that they could trust the site and
provide valuable personal information. On personalized pages on Obama’s website —
called myb0.c0m — 70,000 supporters raised 30 million dollars. Obama’s Internet
campaign collected more money than any other presidential candidates in historylii. In
February of 2008, Obama raised more money than Clinton and McCainIiii. These
fundraising facts illustrate the power of membership on Obama’s website. This
demonstrates the power of modern online social capital membership according to
Putnam’s definition. Obama was able to develop a base online that encouraged
supporters to mobilize to serve both their country and their own interests.

The best way to gain votes continues to be through face-to-face communication.
Nowadays, technology is enhancing the way people meet face to face. Through Barack
Obama’s website, people were able to mobilize offline, go door to door, and make phone

calls. Thus, virtual mobilizing supported old fashion methods of campaigning. Due to

32

the modernization of television many candidates stopped going door to door and relied
primarily upon television for campaigning. The old fashioned method of visiting
residences is still the best for personalizing the voting process and gaining voter
commitment. The Mybarackobamaorg website organized people who wanted to
volunteer to go door-to-door and collect phone numbersliv. Obama’s website publicized
the data that these volunteers collected from different cities on the website. Obama
supporters checked their local areas, went door to door to see how people felt in terms of
voting and submitted that information to be later published on the site. In the past the
Republican Party was known to have better-established information network records of
their supporters than the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party did not have the same
wealth of information about their supporters. Obama had to start from scratch, and chose
to create a viable online data research center that was accessible only to those who were
members of the Obama website, and were interested in volunteering in some way for
Obama. Due to the user-friendly nature of the sites, it most people felt that this website
was better than other campaign sites. It was free to register for the site and participate in
the groundbreaking historical campaign. lntemet researchers voted Obama’s website as
number one in comparison with other presidential candidateslv.

Volunteer members in the Obama campaign experienced historical
groundbreaking social capital on and offline. When entering the website some
participants stated that they felt a gratifying lntemet experience that made them feel
connected. This connectedness represents bridged social capital. Obama’s website
branched out to communicate across cyber lines to reach the American public. Obama

personally welcomed people to the site through a video, and after introducing himself,

33

shared his future goals. Then, he invited people to participate and make his goal a reality.
In order to donate there was a red button that was not intimidating, since the dark blue
background was strong enough to mitigate the boldness of the red button that one hit to
contribute. There was a video campaign ad on the website discussing Obama’s agenda
and how to use the website which also made the site welcominglvi.

Visitors on mybarackobamacom could sign up for emails and receive them a few
times a weeklvii. Email has become just as important as the phone to social connection:
thus, when people received email from the campaign, it helped build social capital
between the candidate and the future voter. The Obama website has a mailing list of 13
million subscriberslviii. This is triple the amount of subscribers that Senator John Kerry
had on his mailing list in 2004. During the campaign Obama and aides sent over 7,000
emailslix. When there is constant activity on a website it allows people to feel that the
organization in which they are involved is vibrant and full of life. The website
administrators knew not to send too many emails, but just enough to stay in the minds of
voters and remind them of their voting choice.

Another positive aspect of membership on Obama’s webpage was the fact that
people felt safe sending money to his website. Secure donations enabled more people to
feel comfortable to serve the campaign. If the website did not provide a security system
to accept donations, then the site would not have received as many donations. Buttons,
hats, t-shirts, and coffee cups were also sold by the Obama campaign, on and off of his
website. These items helped build the Obama community that ultimately elected him.
Obama’s product vender’s created a visual community of consumerism. The

merchandise products were pieces of the Obama campaign and the consumers were

34

Obama supporters. This exchange between unknown venders and Obama supporters is a
form of bridged social capital. Obama product consumers forged a sense of community
that may not have occurred otherwise if they did not share the same merchandise for
example an Obama bumper sticker. This type of marketing also made people feel
included in the political process, and this publicity, such as buttons, hats and t-shirts,
were the perfect form of walking advertisements. The selling of these items fostered
membership communities and venders to come together, raise money, and volunteer.
This had the effect of making supporters feel included in Obama’s network.

Obama’s website’s user-friendly nature allowed visitors to easily foster more
online membership participation. On mybarackobama. com a video gives instructions on
how to use the websitelx. There was a tutorial narrated by a woman that explains step by
step how to fill out the form. The video guide informed people of the purpose of the
website, which is to elect Obama as the President of the United States. The tutorial also
explained how to navigate the website. The website encouraged people to share more
information about themselves, in order to be connected with other voters in their
community. The navigation leads visitors to choose bridge or bonded social capital. The
website guide told website visitors to find local groups and circles that are similar to their
work, hobby, or interests. The website guide states that there are over 20,000 different
groups on the site. Examples of the different types of groups that were available are:
single moms, single Latin dancers, and air traffic controllers. Some local groups were
more active than others. The instructor suggested that visitors generate positive social
capital by stating that it was best to pick a group of a person’s interest and a group that is

most active. The website has input for the viewer’s zip code that will lead the viewer to

35

groups in their area. As a member of a group they will receive regular emails and the last
step is volunteerism by walking through their own neighborhoods or making phone calls
to contact voters. In order to bond voters together they ask voters to exchange contact
information. Through local membership groups an administrator in charge ofa
designated area and is able to meet face to face with local members. This is an example
of how online social capital pushes ofllinc action. After having scripted discussions with
neighbors, the volunteers have to report their findings. The local membership connections
fostered both bridged and bonded social capital.

The site discusses the importance of fundraising and setting goalslxi. The
membership site also encourages people to set up a personalized webpage, and then invite
friends and family to participate. This strategy shows the importance of bringing in, as
well as building, social capital, and encourages the natural inclination to give, amongst
friends and family, which creates perfect synergy. If these volunteers had approached
unfamiliar people, they would most likely not have received as many donations. These
intimate connections between people are what allow social capital to grow. The
personalized fundraising utilizes email to recruit people to vote for Obama, and weblogs
allow people to voice their opinions on the campaign. Visitors were also able to read and
see how others felt about the campaign providing a constant renewed experience for
participants. The fundraising goals were set and it allowed people to monitor their
progress through a “fund-o-meter” on the website. These efforts to create motivations for
members of Obama’s specialized community encouraged people to continue constant

activity in civic engagement.

36

The site mentions Irwinrrzybrr.com which is a website similar to Facebook, but this
page is specifically for “grassroots” campaigning. This personalized website was
recommended by Obama’s main website. The mybaraekobamacom website reiterates
the purpose of the page: to join a local group, contact nearby voters, and to fundraise.

On Mybo.com, “2 million profiles were created. In addition, 200,000 offline events were
planned, about 400,000 blog posts were written and more than 35,000 volunteer groups

were created — at least 1,000 of them on Feb. 10, 2007, the day Obama announced his

candidacy’JXii. Thus through membership on mybo.com one would be fulfilling the spirit
of volunteerism.

The Obama website created new applications for some technologies, for example,
the Apple iPhone, which used GPS to allow voters to find the nearest voting precinct.
Another example of utilizing mobile phones were the Obama ringtones that were
reminders of former speeches, provided campaign exclusive information, and allowed

people to make donations through the phone.

In order to discuss various online rumors, Obama created a website that gave
people the proper information about his true beliefs. lntemet gossip, negative blogging,
and tabloid information quickly spreads online which are examples of destructive social
capital. Destructive social capital is the opposite of positive social capital and it occurs
when people connect and or associate negatively. In order to set the record straight,
Obama built a webpage to answer many misunderstandings that mostly came from the
media, for example IsBarackObamaMus/im.com. Thus, negative social capital converted

to positive social capital solely by addressing issues that many other candidates would

37

often ignore. Obama also sent out mass emails to many supporters so that they could
forward correct information about his background to supporters close friends.

An example of negative publicity was the Sarah Palin interview with Katie Couric
on a morning news show. Palin insufficiently answered Couric’s questions. YouTube
and various sites picked up the interview and it was one of the most watched interviews
of 2008. After the interview Saturday Night Live performed a skit on Palin that was
almost verbatim. These Palin online incidents were examples of negative publicity being
that they depicted her as an ignorant beauty queen that did not know anything outside of
Alaska. This transparency, through YouTube, his website and other media outlets
provided knowledge that people could use against false information. Most candidates do
not address false accusations hoping that eventually they will disappear.

Creating unified memberships was a powerful tool for Obama. He represented
himself during the campaign as transparent by being an honest leader. Obama
networked, maintained memberships online, created a clear message of hope, and found
thousands of people to support himlxiii. Using online techniques Obama tuned out other
candidates by making his message available in as many places as possible online.
Another aspect that personalized his campaign was that he empowered the public and
effectively engaged them to participate on his campaign. Lastly, there were numerous
ways for voters to campaign for Obama and join different sites in order to ensure that
Obama’s message was being heard throughout the net. The World Wide Web is large

and it is easy for people to be ignored online. Obama utilized diverse online methods to

38

make sure that his website and information about him would appear at the top oftheir
search. This is different from other candidates who when one web searched their names
their website was not at the top.

Understanding the campaigns bonded and bridged social capital allowed it to take
advantage of the solidarity that occurs within the group. Grassroots efforts help reinforce
an ideal bonded and bridged community as people came together under a common goal.
Obama’s goals for his Presidency were to provide hope for Americans that were losing
their jobs, houses, and healtheare. In order to conceive of solving a problem one first has
to realize that hope is needed. Obama’s rhetoric of hope aided many people to volunteer
in the spirit to change America.

Obama’s website reiterated his primary focus on reforming America by
improving education and healtheare. These concepts were simple, easy, and straight

forward something that most people would not be able to disagree that change was
needed. Later in a debate, when questioned about how Obama would fix the healtheare
system, he honestly answered that he was not prepared to answer that question yet, but
promised an answer within a week. After a week he provided some of his healtheare
goals on his website. Many candidates in that position may not have been as honest or
willing to admit hesitance. His response was later provided online so that people could
exalnine his template at their leisure. Obama’s response exemplifies the benefits of being

transparent in ideas and making them available online. The placement of information

39

online allows the country to become involved and decide whether or not they agree with
him on healtheare.

During the campaign Obama shared with the American public many personal
stories. One example of his stories pertained to his mother who died from cancer, and
she was fearful that would not be able to pay for her doctor’s bill. Thus, healtheare hit
home for Obama and he relayed a message that he would be invested in it so that other
Americans would not have to suffer in their last days in the same way. His mother,
during, her last days, was concerned about being able to pay for the hospital bills. These
family experiences aided Obama’s understanding of why it is important to have universal
health care, and were effective in convincing other of Obama’s commitment to solving
the problem.

Reforming the education system in the United States is a concept that Obama
discussed in his campaign. When people are more educated often they volunteer more
and social capital will flow within a society. This was exemplified earlier in the paper
when discussing the difference between the American system post television era versus
the British system. When people are unskilled and uneducated a negative effect on social
capital may occur. England’s government focuses on education thus, they have more

P€0ple volunteering.

America’s infrastructure was another issue that Obama focused on. This is

imPOrtant for any society in order to increase productivity and job opportunity, as well as

more tourism. He discussed how China has better train system better ports they are living

40

in the twenty first century economy unlike the United States. Obama felt that it is
important to rebuild the roads, sew lines, water system and bridges. Incorporate new
electricity grids and renewable energy. When there is good transportation from cities to
suburbs, and city-to-city more social capital can flourish.

With the reiteration ofclear ideas and presidential objectives people did not get
lost in what Obama wanted to accomplish during his presidency. In the past people have
fundraised large sums of money but their message did not connect with the American
people nor give them enthusiasm to volunteer. McCain was criticized as well for being
scattered, not providing consistent presidential goals. This was an advantage for Obama,
who along with eloquent speeches was able to “be sensible”lxiv, as his grandmother told
him. When objectives are kept simple people are able to unify accordingly and continue
“the technology of panicipation”lxv. Having enough money and a clear presidential
mission statement aided in relaying his message country-wide.

In 2007, presidential campaigning began earlier making it automatic that
candidates would fundraise more than previously. There was a secret ballot taken in
Washington amongst 19 of the most knowledgeable foreign policy experts, they voted
Obama to be the most probable to change the image of America abroad, “Nine seasoned
veterans voted for Barack Obama, the 45-year-old freshman senator from Illinois.

Hillary Clinton, the most experienced candidate, received zero votes. Rudy Giuliani
Dolled highest amongst republicans with just two”lxvi. The tone of this quote reflects

hOW most mainstream media described the phenomena of an African-American running

41

for president. Many people wondered how it was possible that a newcomer could
develop trust amongst senior politicians, and Americans. People were shocked at how
Obama was able to fundraise more than any other candidate. Early in the campaign it
would seem illogical for Obama to beat Hillary. However, Obama’s fresh approach
utilizing virtual social network sites, building grassroots amongst Americans to get out
and vote he connected with more Americans. The rhetoric of hope and change is
something that many Americans could identify with. The concepts of hope and change
within itself connected people who normally would stay separated within their
neighborhoods in society. Obama’s campaign allowed that possibility and to go beyond
bonded social capital and created bridged social capital as well. People understood that
Clinton would have been more of the same politics maybe a little better, but people
wanted and outsider a fresh perspective. Obama highlighted that he was not from
Washington; meaning that he would not run the office as former people in Washington
have.

MySpace and Facebook. often linked people to Obama’s personal website during
the campaign. Obama’s personal website was necessary to build social capital nationally
and locally. Through his website Obama was able to mobilize interested voters to
campaign for him personally. It also linked like-minded people together to campaign
virtually, evidenced by the 20,000 different groups on www.mybo.com oftenlxvii. SNS
users on his personal website, Facebook, and MySpace sent petitions to mutual friends to

join their online virtual campaign.

42

In order to market himself, Obama also created many commercials on YouTube
instead of paying for spots on television. Often, the news picked up the online
commercials and discussed them, providing more free publicity. This section has
thoroughly discussed the various methods in which Obama extended himself on his
personal website, through television. YouTube, and other websites to create bonded and

bridged social capital.

GENERATIONAL

A USA TODAY/MTV/Gallup Poll of registered
voters 18 to 29 years old shows Democrat Barack
Obama leading Republican John McCain by 61%-
32%, the most lopsided contest within an age group
in any presidential election in modern times.
Obama’s margin is overwhelming across four
groups of younger voters, divided by their
engagement in the election, their optimism about

the future and other factors.lxviii

Statistically younger voters are more prone to vote Democratic. In fact
Democrats under thirty lead online political action. The Pew Research Center for the
People & the Press, a political research foundation found that 46% of Americans used
lntemet, email, or cellular texting to get information about the campaign in 2008Ixix. A

third of Americans watched campaign videos online, and a tenth used social network sites

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to participate in political activity. One fourth said that they received emails about the
campaign one or more times a week. In every area Obama tripled political activity, in
part because of his utilization of technology.

The Pew statistics noted that 75% ofObama supporters were connected online,
whereas only 57% of Clinton supporters were connected onlinelxx. Obama’s supporters
received more political news information online than McCain supporters. Thus, Obama
dominated the social networking sites and online videos databases. This is an example of
a political candidate making himself available to the masses in multiple ways, and thus
connecting and building trust to increase social capital amongst voters.

Obama out campaigned all other candidates virtually by realizing that almost
three out of four Americans are online. He targeted these online voters, Obama was able
to connect with Americans in ways not considered in previous campaigns. Statistics
show that in the United States, 72.5% use the Internet. On MySpace and Facebook
Obama had 380% more supporters than McCain, on YouTube, Obama had 403% more
subscribers, and 905% more viewers than McCainlxxi. Obama realized early on that
virtual technology was a tool to be utilized in a political campaign. In addition to
slaughtering McCain in that regard, he also beat Hillary Clinton, even as a younger

Democratic candidate. The utilization of such campaigning methods allowed an
underdog to win over a well-connected former president’s wife. No one thought that
would have been possible, in part due to Obama’s maximizing of virtual social capital, he

was able to win the most powerful position in America, if not the world.

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Obama’s campaign was intergenerational it provided older mentors with younger
people that were interested in the same areas. Volunteers focused on having similar
voting preferences which proved to be much more beneficial for his campaign, “He has
mobilized senior-caliber talents and youthful energies to raise money, go door to door,
and man telephone brigades to get out the vote, and vote early”lxxii. This is an example
of bridged social capital that Putnam would describe as one of the key components for

social capital.

SOCIAL MESSAGING SITES/TEXT MESSAGING

The brief text message from the Obama campaign came
about 3 am, less than three hours after word of the
decision had begun leaking out. “Barack has chosen
Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first
Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on

'99
O

www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word His e-mail

announcement began: “Friend — I have some important
news that I want to make official. I’ve chosen Joe Biden to

be my running mate.lxxiii”

This is the example most people will remember about the text messaging and the
Obama campaign. Obama was the first in the United States to utilize this technology in a
Presidential campaign, but he was not the first in the world to use text messaging. The

following section will give international examples of how virtual campaigning has

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influenced or even radically changed the political climate in various countries. Obama
used the benefits of text messaging and social websites in his campaign to urge people to
vote for him. Text messaging allowed people to participate in a way that was unknown,
prior to the 2008 election. When Obama chose Biden as his running mate, three million
text messages were sent. Later, messages discussed current events, as well as upcoming
debates or speeches, and lastly, to vote. Text messaging was useful prior to the 2008

elections in the Philippines’ and Korea these technologies had already been tested.

In “Sociable Technology and Democracy Technology,” Danah Boyd discusses
how digital technology is becoming the glue to mobilize people who already have
connections or similar goals. Boyd uses the term homophily, meaning that which allows
people to express themselves and associate with those who have similar beliefslxxiv. In
her research she found most people are active online when their friends are active. Thus,
through friendship association people often follow what their friends do. This is
important in understanding, why Obama wanted supporters to ask their friends and
family to support his campaign. Technology such as instant messaging and cellular
phones makes it easier to keep in touch with friends and family. Obama realized this fact

about cell phones and incorporated it within his campaign.

Cellular phones have been updated to include an email system called text
messaging. This system allows people to interact more frequently without having to

make a phone call. The purpose of text messaging was to connect people; it was not

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made for political changes, but it can also be used in this way. In the Philippines she
describes the power of social messaging systems that overthrew the government. In
2001, Joseph Estrada was newly elected as the President of the Philippines. Text
messaging assembled 700,000 protesters to meet at Manila’s People Power shrine to
denounce President Estrada’s electionlxxv. This manifestation was successful forcing
President Estrada to resign allowing his Vice President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to take
over. This example shows how to mobilize through technology for political action, and is

similar to Obama’s use of text messaging to get people out to vote.

Technology connects people far beyond physical limits. The key for democracy
is that one has to extend outside of one’s close social networks or boundaries. President
Obama during the campaign was an expert at reaching beyond his social boundaries and
physical space through the Internet. Political failures have occurred when people
proposed change amongst friends but did not extend the messages of their campaign,
struggle, or fight to outsiders. Boyd gives an example of proposition 54 in California.
Proposition 54, prohibited affirmative action, “. . .which called for prohibitions in
education and hiring based on classification by race, ethnicity, color, or national
origin”lxxvi. There was a group of Anti-54 Berkley students. They only targeted
students, staff and faculty on Berkley’s campus, later they decided to take their debate
online. The group insufficiently targeted multiple populations, meaning that they
campaigned only within their own communities on Friendster. Many members changed

their F riendster SNS profile photos to “no on 54”lxxvii. The majority of these students

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were friends with each other or people with a similar mindset. A broader audience was
not reached in California on or offline due to marketing within small clusters. Sharing
ones political message only with people of the same mindset and beliefs stifles the
possibility ofsliaring information with a wider audience. The Anti-54 group was
ignored by the majority ofthe online public because they were only visible to their Anti-

54 friendSJxxviii

Boyd also points out another problem with the Internet is when people divide and
conquer online. That occurs when members from one group join a message board or
group contrary to their interests, and their behavior and etiquette do not fall in line with
they group they purposefully entered- This blundering can be detrimental to groups
trying to promote a cause through bridging social capital. In contrast, when a positive

connection occurs it can lead to tremendous and powerful social movements.

Boyd describes an event that she helped organize for five years, called V-daylxxix.
She began working with V-day in 1999, to help a global campaign against the abuse of
women. The V-day event is a non-profit organization with 1,200 supporters that collect
funds annually by performing the Vagina Monologues. The V-day event is a perfect
example of bridged social capital because it brings people from various backgrounds
together to fight for a common cause. Often the supporter’s belief systems would
normally have separated them, for example, pro-life and pro-choice supporters. The goal

of the group is to find similarities not differences. Boyd explains, “Muslims speak with

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sex workers; older women speak with teens. National and political boundaries are
forgotteanxx” Finding a goal and using bridge social capital type ofunity is possible

when proper leadership takes place.

One problem is that people often stay in clustered net boxes where a group of
like-minded people never leave their online community, and thus fail in provoking broad
political action. On the other hand, Obama’s campaign extended across multiple borders
via the Internet, television, and campaign stumping in many communities. Three things
Boyd discussed as being important for social certainties or ways to deal with socializing
online are: that not everyone will want to meet online, that people often seek similar
minded individuals to build communities, and that while, “community is valuable for
support; outreach is limited by the diversity of a community’s breadth” lxxxi. She
continues, “Within democracy, effectiveness is measured in quantifiable terms; bigger is
better-more money, more votes etc”lxxxii. She then explains how it is not always true in
the lntemet world since, for example, communities like listservs die due to too many
subscribers. This could explain why Obama asked people to join groups of their interest
that way they can communicate about issues pertinent to themselves. Whereas if he
lumped over a million people together on a Iistserv for community discussion that would
have been detrimental to his goal. Instead of allowing people to speak freely on a
Iistserv, www.mybo.com was set up to allow subscribers to express their opinions. The
function of www.mybo.com was to find local groups within ones area and to voice your

opinions on your own page. These two ideas allowed people to voice opinions with like-

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minded people even if they did not know them. Also, it allowed everyone to voice their
opinion and recruit other friends and family to join Obama’s cause. Thus, the mass
emails only came from Obama campaign team and avoided the problem of dead listservs.

Networking was Obama’s specialty especially through various ethnic sites.
Obama had over ten different social networking sites linked to his website. This showed
that he wanted to connect with as many people as possible, thus from now on politicians
will take inspiration and campaign via social network sites and other communication

forms.

As Jongwoo Han explains, the use of social network sites and text messaging in
Korean politics can tell us much about the impact of digital communication on political
behavior. In “Internet, Social Capital, and Democracy in the Information Age; Korea’s
Defeat Movement, the Red Devils, Candle Light Anti-US. Demonstration, and
Presidential Election during 2000-2002”, Han describes a mobilization similar to Obama
campaign and the electorate’s reaction to eight years under the Bush administration. Han
explains that in the Korean election a political citizens group called Generation 386,
formed against the authoritarian government and its control of the medialxxxiii. This
group of citizens were primarily in their thirties and forties. The collective groups
formed using technological apparatuses. Another group, General 2030, also formed
spontaneously using social network sites and text messaging.

In 2002, General 2030, an apolitical lntemet fan group, primarily consisting of

those in their twenties and thirties, supported the Red Devil soccer team in Korea/Japan

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World Cuplxxxiv. General 2030, was recognized first recognized by mobilizing people to
gather in the streets to celebrate Korea’s win over Japan. December 2002, a few months
after the soccer game these individualistic wired youths mobilized after the killing ofa
Korean girl by a US soldier. The youths used their connection to soccer to mobilize and
protest what they felt was injustice in their country. The news spread quickly along with
the desire to take a stand. This incident exemplified how communication devices that are
normally used to connect with friends could be used to mobilize masses of people to
politically protest. The group held a candlelight demonstration to protest America. The
result of this protest was that globally people understand that South Koreans would fight
injustice if needed and not remain in silence as they have in the past. After, the
manifestation the 2002 elections were influenced, allowing the opposition party Rho Moo
Hyun to defeat Lee who was expected to win. In both cases online social capital
functioned to quickly push offline unions based on previous established resource

networkslxxxv.

Leading up to these events in the eighties, Korean civic organizations were the
catalyst of political mobilization via 2002 young voters that changed the outcome of the
elections. Thus, the Internet was combined with previously established public co-ops.
Previously established organizations along with technology changed how to politically
mobilize citizens. These events exemplify a perfect combination of virtual social capital.
Korea began its lntemet revolution in 1985, gradually around continued to increase. The
height of Korean lntemet use was between 1999-2002. Han shows the increase in

lntemet use also increased the power of the peOple, which afforded them the opportunity

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to overturn a corrupt government. Social capital stemmed from social movements
collectively gathered to stop the strong government from trampling over a weak society.
Han defines social capital as, “multiple human resources networks, either actual or
potential, with certain characteristics of shared norms, attitude, and trust that can be
mobilized for social and political actions”lxxxvi (9). This exemplifies what occurred. in

the Obama campaign.

The Korean political underdogs used tactics similar to Obama’s by posting
information online and messaging cellular phoneslxxxvii. On the moming of election
cyber space records were broken. Rho was the underdog in the campaign his supporters
used cellular phones and MSN Messenger to encourage people to vote for him. In. three
hours from midnight to 3 am. Koreans visited naver. com, a political news website. Half
of the voters were youths who used mass media technologies, which directly affected the
outcome of the election. Han expressed that these new social movements were
movements that sprang from older movements from the 19605 through the 19805. Thus,
without the combination of technology and civic organizations, masses of people would
not have been able to gather so quickly in 2002. This scenario is similar to the election of
Obama. In the United States there were many civic organizations fighting for equal
justice, civil rights, and against the Vietnam War. Thus, through modem means he was
able to use grass roots efforts, and combine the lntemet with previous methods in order to
triumph. The difference in the Obama campaign was that many volunteers did not have

grass roots experience in community organizing.

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Through his website, subscribers were able to access everything needed, in order
to become leaders in their community. Some say that one can judge a leader by how he
is able to effectively train others to lead. Obama’s exemplified leadership skills by
constructing a website that trained volunteers to become leader’s which created a nexus

for social capital to flourish.

NEWS MEDIA

As the long presidential campaign wound down last week, the
public remained highly engaged. Fully 60% of registered voters
said they were following campaign news very closely, while 28%
said they were following fairly closely. That is the highest level of
voter interest just before a presidential election since the Pew

Research Center began tracking campaign news interest in

19881xxxviii.

The Obama campaign was the first time in history that a presidential candidate
bought half an hour time on three major networks before the election. Obama felt it was
necessary to create an infomercial to make sure people feel comfortable with him being
in the White House. This demonstrates the power of media and why Obama was invested
in utilizing it to capture the American public’s attention and get them accustomed to the

idea of him being their president.

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In October of2008, many voters felt that the media wanted Obama to win.
Researchers found that the majority of news stories on Obama were positive, while on
McCain’s stories negative. Most ofthe time news sources ignored how the economy was
in recession and instead discussed the debates. The Project for Excellence in Journalism,
found that 51% of the national news was interested to the presidential campaign, while
23% of the news focused on the economy lxxxix. Thus many journalists felt that
Americans were more interested in watching the debates than any other news. The top
story of the campaign was Obama securing the Democratic nomination. Someone
deciding who to vote for in the election would have interest in watching the debate on
television or online. Whoever was most articulate and won the debates would give
people a chance to decide who to vote for. If j udged by how one would respond to
questions in an articulate way, Obama would probably beat most, since his speech is very
captivating to many Americans. Some of the undecided public connected with both
candidates based on their responses and body language. Television aids the viewers in
deciding whether or not they can trust candidates based on not only their answers but also
body language. They are networking and familiarizing themselves to the future president
as television or YouTube are most people’s primary opportunities to connect with both

candidates via the media.

ADVERTISING

Barack Obama spent a total of $235,974,838 to broadcast 1 18

television ads, according to statistics compiled by Campaign

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Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising
expendituresxc.

This demonstrates the power of advertising during the Obama campaign. The top
three campaign stories were Obama securing Democratic nomination, Palin’s pregnant
teenage daughter, and McCain’s campaign suspension xci. During the campaign, McCain
often portrayed Obama as if he were a rock star, in last attempts to destroy Obama’s
credibility. These attacks were an attempt by McCain to mix Obama’s popularity with
pop culture versus real political culture. McCain launched an advertisement comparing
Obama with Paris Hilton. Throughout the campaign the Republicans often slighted
Obama for having many celebrity supporters. Obama for the most part did not play dirty
politics and remained genuinely poised, eloquent, and sophisticated, which became

apparent through various media outlets.

Obama’s advertising style is a model not only for other politicians, even for
businesses. Various industries have tried to figure out how to use the lntemet in
productive, beneficial ways, as Obama did. After all, Advertising Age gave Obama the
award of being Marketer of the Year in October 2008. Normally companies such as Nike
or Apple would receive this award”xcii. Bruno feels that this title is suitable being that
Obama had to sell himself to the American voting public. Bridge and. bonded social
capital through advertising afforded Obama to connect with voters increasing the
possibilities to gain voters. He was ahead of other candidates in the lntemet race,

dispersing information in multifaceted ways, thus broadening the possibilities of bumping

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into him online. Prior to Obama’s election Americans were not able to access candidates
information as easily online in communities like Facebook and YouTube.

Traditionally, campaigning through mass media has included television and radio
advertisements, direct mailing. and volunteer phone calls. One lesson that Antony Bruno
from Billboard magazine suggests is that “there needs to be a steady stream of content
from every resource available, as well as a call to action to get them [the public] involved
in marketing your work. Obama supporters have encouraged their friends to vote for
him”xciii. The Obama website is set up as an advertising tool that fuel fired up
Americans with the necessary community organizer tools needed to multi task. The
website facilitated people’s eagerness to participate in the campaign and engaged them in
direct engagement. The overall point is that if we call media social then should be
socially interactive, not one sided. The Democratic campaign advertised online, through
email, SMS, SNS, YouTube and another virtual apparatuses available online.

YouTube was another aspect of direct advertising in the Obama campaign. In
addition to the constant campaign updates that Obama fed this site, another aspect was
the American public creating political videos. People were allowed to create their own
political spoof video, which enriched support or deterred support of a candidate. This
type of virtual social capital was not beneficial to Palin when Saturday Night Live
portrayed her as an idiot in her Katie Couric interview. Online viewers saw the SNL_skit
first and then searched for the actual interview online. Obama, luckily, did not have as

many videos that stood out and made him look less credible.

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Text messaging allowed people to participate in a way unknown prior to the 2008
election. When Obama chose Biden as his running mate, three million text messages
were sent out. Later, messages discussed current events as well as upcoming debates or
speeches, and lastly to vote.

The utilization of television is one of the oldest technologies, thus Obama seized
the opportunity to go beyond thirty-second commercials and make history with the first
political thirty minute commercial. Obama was able to spend more money on
commercial ads, since he collected more money online. Television is known as a vehicle
to promote capitalism through buying products or ideas. Brian Lowry explains, “TV has
long boasted that its ads are perceived to be the most ‘influential,’ ‘authoritative,’
‘exciting’ and ‘persuasive”’xciv. The effects of virtual Obama was everywhere to the
point that McCain complained about Obama having more opportunity since he had more
money. This is a result of using traditional ways of campaigning versus Obama’s grass
roots version of campaigning. The effects of more media attention were detrimental for
McCain, TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG told the Wall Street Journal, “(John) McCain is
in a shouting match with a megaphone”xcv. This comparison embodies the reality of not
properly using technological tools. It makes perfect sense that Obama won under such
conditions.

In the commercial, Obama discussed repeatedly the tough economic times that

people are enduring. His endorsers were the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, along with

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other Senators and Governors. The most powerful message of the commercial engages in

volunteerism and voter participation.

TRUST
Obama “launched his political career in the living room ofa

domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists” (note the
plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you
and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama
quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops.

By the time McCain asks the crowd “Who is the real Barack
Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out “Terrorist!” The
rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is
stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama’s middle name
by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This
sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-
a—Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from
Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of

todayxcvi.

These statements illustrate the mood towards the end of the campaign. These
allegations along with many others against Obama were framed to persuade voters
towards another candidate. Trust, Putnam defines as an intricate component of social
capital. During the Obama campaign Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, or John McCain often

tried to give reasons that Americans should not trust Obama. Some mistrust examples

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pertained to his age, lack ofexperience, possible Muslim, affiliation with Reverend
Wright or William Ayers. Ifopponents succeeded in creating mistrust this could lead to a
lower possibility of fostering bridge and bonded social capital.

The following section will explore trust across multiple disciplines. It will focus
on how others measure trust in different fields such as business, psychology, and other
social science fields. After reviewing literature on trust one will be able to examine
which definitions are best applicable to how Obama cultivated trust on and offline. Both
social capital and trust are often oversimplified or not properly defined across fields. The

following section will explore various ways to define trust in relation to social capital.

Various definitions reveal how social capital is pliable and interchangeable
according to the research. Melanie C. Green and Timothy C. Brock explore how social
capital psychologically explains situations, moods, and how trust can be affected by
circumstance. They explained that, “situational forces and individual attitudes can
combine to create behavior that either enhances or detracts from aggregate social
capital”xcvii. Social capital is based on individual choices. When people meet face-to-
face, social capital may be greater. Putnam argued that nowadays people are face to face
with machines more than humans and these he called “parasocial relationships”, which
do little to foster bonds between individuaIchviii. Over the long term, and in the
aggregate, these “parasocial” or “ersatz” individual choices fostered online may lead to

detrimental societal-level effect5xcix. Other social scientists argue that social network

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sites provide higher possibilities for social capital to flourish that will be explained later

on in the paper.

This alternative reality may be more alluring to some people more than others.
Often the ersatz world cuts off real social activities. Other social scientists studied the
relationship between which relationship would be stronger in college students based on
trust, situations, and mood. Positive people are happy and may be more sociable whereas
negative people may want to be alone more. The study found that the more online trust
students had the more motivation they had to create real social capital. Low trust was the
opposite, “high trust individuals may have intrinsic motivation to engage in real social
activities whereas; low-trust individuals are susceptible to situational sources of
heightened or reduced motivation to engage in real social activities”c. Often people will
plan an activity online and later meet face to face or vice versa. This is a key correlation
to Obama’s campaign; many people felt inspired and positive during difficult economic
times after listening to him speak. Therefore, they utilized their motivation in an action
and participated in real social capital whether by voting for him or registering others to

vote.

In Trust, Dependency, and Control in the Contemporary, Organization, Carole V.
Wells found a correlation between character and trustci. Nowadays there is a higher rate
of job changing and trust has changed with that. Her study finds that the more employers

had to depend on employees the more trust was developed. Trust decreased when the

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manager did not interact with their employees. Reasons for distrust often stemmed from
personal reasons. People hang around people they like and trust. They found that trust is

the key for the organizational process. Trust and alliances are connected.

Another work on trust discusses the ethical reasons for trust. In, Sharing our
Alliances: Trust and Ethics, Antonio Argandoria focused on the nature of relationships.
Time is necessary for alliances in order to assess whether trust will increase or decrease.
Often trust begins in the form of an idea of trustcii. Due to globalization and technology
alliances have increased. Alliances occur due to necessity and thrive on reciprocity
without hidden agendas. Learning is the key factor in alliances. The quality of bonds
and reputation are important for alliances along with trust. Argandofia describes thirteen

trust factors that are important for alliances. The following section will break down trust.

First, trust is: “interpersonal: between concrete individuals”, if we think about
Obama and how he was able to connect with people on television, on his website, at
rallies, through email and text messaging he was able to create closeness with many

Americansciii.

The second factor is “situational, rather than global: trust is placed in one
particular person”. The economy was horrible, oil prices were high, people were losing
jobs left and right and many people wanted an answer to the last eight years of war and
decreasing value of the dollar. People decided to invest their trust in a one person to fight

for their cause and frustration5civ.

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The third key is “voluntary: properly, trust must spring from choice and cannot be
compulsory”. People were eager and enthusiastic to see many things change thus they

volunteered their free timecv.

The fourth, “free, since no party can (sufficiently control the other party’s
behavior)”, this is obvious since in the United States people are not obligated to vote or

participate in campaigning activitie5cvi.

Fifth, “committed, since each party depends on the other (without being able to
control her)”, this can be seen from out of a desperation for the government to change the

economy and the system of governmentcvii.

Sixth, “conscious: each party is aware of the other party’s trust”, being that
many people felt anything could be better than the past Republican years there was a trust

that America and global relationships would change in multiple waychiii.

Seventh, “vulnerable, because betrayal or breach of trust are possible”, this can be
understood in the 2008 campaign since voters had no other choice- there were only two
candidates and most voters would align themselves with either a Republican or a

Democratcix.

Eighth, “relevant, in the sense that the consequences of breach of trust by one of

the parties cannot be considered insignificant by the other”, this can be interpreted as half

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of the American public is ready for change and ifthey do not receive change they will

feel betrayed and the consequences would be, not re-elect Obamacx.

Ninth alliances are, “dynamic or temporal, because it evolves over time: trust is
established, grows, diminishes and ties”. Initial trust is established and tested with time,

thus the Obama’s loyalty and trust with American public will be testedcxi.

Tenth, “action oriented, implicit in the goal of the alliance”, implies that the
citizens have created an alliance with Obama in order to see change and that is their
expectation or else they would have voted for someone elsecxii. Also, Obama laid out his
goals simply and repeated them accordingly, allowing people to clearly understand what

he hopes to accomplish.

Eleventh, “uncertain, since before the alliance is established it is possible to
question the reliability of the other party and, once it is under way the question is whether
the other party will have change of heart and betray the terms of the relationship”,
explains that we do not know if change will occur or more of the same politics wrapped
up in a mulatto packagecxiii. It will be hard to determine betrayal since Obama made

over four hundred-campaign promises.

Twelfth, “based on communication”, if Obama continues to use media and

lntemet well he will be able to communicate and explain to his partners the American

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public why he chooses to propose certain actionscxiv. In the pre-election he was able to

debunk false rumors that were floating around on the Internet.

The last key to alliance is “experimental” cxv. The majority of Americans did not
know anything about Obama two years ago thus, most of the public is experimenting
with his rhetoric and visions ofchange and living in constant hope that it will be change

they can agree with.

Exploring alliances within businesses allows one to see the important foundation
of trust and key aspects of how to build camaraderie. These principles of trust can be
explored in the Obama campaign since Obama had to make alliances with the American
people. Presidential campaigning is similar to a business relationship with voters since
by voting for a candidate they are in alliance with the administration. Since Obama did
not have many special interest donors and ninety percent of his funds were 200 dollars or
less, the argument could certainly be made that he made an alliance with the American

public.

In any relationship at the beginning trust is not a gift of exchanges because the
two parties are not familiar with one another. The higher the trust the more alliances are
formed, thus employers have to treat staff in an appropriate way. Partnerships must serve
own interests as well as partner interests in order to gain trust. Thus, trust is often a lucid

idea that later becomes stronger with time and through proper connections.

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Bing-Sheng Teng. in “The Risk-Based View of Trust: A Conceptual Framework”,
discusses three types of trust: behavioral trust-which is perceptual, trust antecedents, and
subjective trustcxvi. Teng explored the different way to research trust in social science.
He claimed there are high demands for trust within organizations although trust in
America is decreasing. Overall, there is a high expectation ofthe risk of trust; many
scholars believe that risk is needed to produce trust. In the USA trust is down yet there is
a high demand within organizations. He described the trust propensity as subjective trust
as goodwill trust and competence trust which is ultimately behavioral trust. Risk
propensity broken down as relational risk and performance meaning that risk is ultimately
risk taking. Risk taking and behavioral trust are connected. Faith -based trust supersedes
risk based trust. Three dimensions of trust are predictability dependability and faith. The
key risk concepts are uncertainty and adverse outcomes. Normally when risk is lower,
the more people are willing to trust the other party. Coleman another sociologist that
studies social capital, described trust as dependent on expected utility. Behavioral trust is
explained as a combination of certain levels of risk and performance risk. Most people
lend trust due to feelings that they will have a positive gain in the future. In the
campaign, many people were uncertain about Obama’s religious beliefs and if they felt he

was Muslim, many Americans would not have trusted him.

There is negative relationship between risk perception and risk propensitycxvii.
The lower the risk the more likely one is to do a certain task. The risk propensity mirrors

the image of subjective trust. Behavioral trust is risk taking. They define trust propensity

65

as ones personal tendency to believe in others trustworthiness. They concluded that trust
is the mirror image of risk. For example, if trust for the government and goodwill are
down then goodwill is often ignored. Beng claimed that often trust researchers leave out

the probability aspect. This study focused on the trustor point ofview not the trustee.

There is a basic standard procedure for measuring trust; Stacey Ulbig a political
scientist tries to provide an alternative to the four point NES that is used to measure

political trustcxviii. The four-point scale is based on the certainty that all people trust the

'. if... tm-Wm‘h— _._'

 

government when there is not conclusive evidence that this is true. Often with the 4-

‘Fin'.

point scale model people tend to choose towards the middle. Ulbig tries to prove that
government trust has increased due to unconventional political activity. She felt that the
four-point scale limited people’s ability to mistrust the government. Thus, she created a
trust scale from -5 to 5 and found out that the four-point scale was better in evaluating
people’s trust for the government. Now we will examine how to measure trust online via

a business model.

The article, “Trust transfer on the World Wide Web”, by business professor
Katherine Stewart, focuses on how to measure consumer trust online and trusting
intention “defined as the extent to which an individual is willing to make himself
vulnerable to a targets actions”cxix. Trust is discussed as a cognitive process that can
come from any background connection from sports to online. Stewart described trust

transfer as a cognitive process, transfer occurs when a person (the trustor) bases initial

66

trust in an entitycxx“. Another term. used was entitativity, which means “expectations of
unity and consistency, which can vary for both groups and individuals” cxxi. Impressions
are based on memory. People often lump groups of people together; ifone is good then
the rest of the group must also be good and trustworthy. Trust signals are important.
They are measured by age, income, gender attitudes towards shopping, length of net use,
and the propensity to trust companies and stores. They set up three fake websites, and
found that most people didn’t trust buying online. Trusting beliefs related to impact on

perceived trustworthiness ofthe unknown website. They found that institutional factors

 

were also important. In the field of social science Stewart felt that there is not enough
emphasis on social networks and alliances that focus on cognitive effects. From a social
science point of view the number of ties may effect perception. Alliance studies aid in
expanding understanding of alliances as well as cognitive explanations for network
effects. This study focused on online computer shopping, but politicians have to sell
themselves and their politics, which is parallel to a company. Thus, alliances and

networks are just as important.

A management science study on trust by Lenard Huff and Lane Kelley, two
professors in the Department of Business, showed how although most people thought that
collectivist societies were the best model for international business, it was an incorrect
assumption. They investigated seven countries in local native mid level bankers. This
study focused on organizational trust, which is “based on the collective trust of individual

organizational members”cxxii. The higher the organizational trust the higher the external

67

 

trust. They discussed internal trust within organizations, which is the atmosphere within
businesses. Their results were that Asian families had higher family bias than the USA.
Within organizations in Asia, often they have lower trust ofothers thus making it difficult
to create social capital or alliances with others. Thus, in collectivist cultures it may be

harder to foster relationships within a business setting. The USA and Europe are easier

is.
places to conduct business and it is generally easier to forge alliances within these
cultures.
This study is important since it demonstrates that individualist countries are more
a:

 

prone to trust initiallycxxiii. The United States is a very individualist country in
comparison to Asian countries. Obama had a clean slate, practically no background was
know about him two years prior to him running for president. In the study they stated
that those in individualist countries are more likely to foster trust whereas those in
collectivist countries will take longer time to foster trust. But, individualist countries are
quick to drop the partnership if someone ruins that trust, unlike Asian countries where
once you have that bond it is harder to break their trust since it took time to establish.

This could be the reason why people were able to foster enough trust to vote for Obama.

Social capital is based on trust within networks and memberships. Trust has been
defined from sociological, psychological, political, advertising, business and lastly, a
mathematical standpoint. There were calculated reasons that Clinton, Palin, and McCain

tried to break down the character and image of Obama by reiterating that he is not

68

trustworthy. If Obama’s opponents succeeded in persuading the public to not trust him,

this would have broken down the foundation ofvirtual social capital.

OBAMA’S LIFE STORY

This last section will demonstrate how Obama’s autobiography naturally fostered
social capital or bonds with many Americans. Obama connected with voters in various
areas such as: single parents, working class, middle class, upper class, immigrants,
conservatives, liberals, higher education elites, and community activists. Hillary and

McCain often discussed how Obama was an outsider and not traditional and would not fit

 

into Washington politics. Obama always turned that argument around, and proclaimed,
that Americans were tired of politics as usual in Washington and change was needed.
Republicans and democrats alike could agree that change was needed although they

differed in the way to change America.

The rate of the divorce is a little under fifty percent, meaning that many
Americans can identify with the struggles of a single parent. Obama’s father left his
mother to pursue a Ph.D. at Harvard, shortly after they divorced. Later, his mother met
and fell in love with another man and moved to Indonesia when Obama was six years
old. Later, when Obama was nine years old his mother sent him back to Hawaii with his
grandparents. Many single parent household send their children to live with their parents.

Luckily, Obama’s mother divorced and moved back to Hawaii.

69

Education is the key to success for many Americans, and Obama excelled
academically for the majority ofhis life. His mother did not have a lot of money, and his
grandparents were working-class. Later on, Obama was able to enter upper echelons of
society through hard work in education. Obama went to the best schools in Hawaii. His
grades were not the best so we went to a mediocre college and later his sophomore year
he transferred to Columbia University, in New York. He moved to Chicago and realized
as a community organizer, that he was not able to make sufficient change because many
law and policy affected the way people lived. He realized he had to become a lawyer,
thus he later attended Harvard law school. If voters were looking at someone they could
relate to, most could relate to some aspect ofObama’s background.

Obama’s international biracial background afforded him the opportunity to
naturally be able to socially network with groups in multifaceted ways. His white
grandparents were from Kansas and his African grandparents were from Kenya. Many
Americans have parents or grandparents that are immigrants, and originally the majority
of Americans come from immigrant backgrounds.

Many lntemet and television ads targeted the Latino community. Some ways that
Obama fostered social capital intentionally was by speaking Spanish in television ads.

In Michigan, Spanish-speaking newspapers and on Univision, journalists focused on how
Obama had an illegal immigrant cousin from Kenya living in Boston. This story in
English speaking media was negative, but in Latino journalism the social capital was

positive. Many Latinos, have or know of illegal immigrants that are friends of friends or

70

 

 

 

family living in America or other parts of the world. The positive connotation in this
story was similar to. compare Barack Obama to being similar to Latinos. The immigrant
American dream is spread across many first, second and third generation immigrants
including: Latinos, Africans, Indians, Arabs, Jews, and Eastern Europeans. Many
immigrants have a romanticized vision that in America anything and everything is
possible. Maybe this vision combined with hope is the reason that in the final election,
67% of the Latino vote went to Obama. The Latino tumout was 20% higher for
Democrats than previous elections. Another Latino factor is the fact that Obama is
multiracial, he looks like many Latinos who also come from multiracial ancestry. This

could further propagate bonded or bridged social capital.

CONCLUSION

This thesis explored the various ways Obama campaigned using virtual social
capital. Primarily throughout this thesis social capital was defined by Bourdieu and
Putnam. This thesis argues against Putnam’s claims that media breaks down social
capital. The Internet expands media possibilities and Obama effectively used these
virtual technological tools to connect with various sectors of society that may have been
ignored in previous campaigns. Through social network sites such as Facebook and
Myspace and above all his personal website were a virtual grass roots in action. People
campaigned both on and offline based on these systems. In order to become a member
you could choose the extent of involvement which one wanted to participate. Trust in

membership and networks were key to allow people to feel safe in donating money or

71

 

setting up local campaign sites within their communities. Many records were broken
within the Obama campaign and race often overshadow the intelligent strategic methods
of campaigning. Future businesses, non-profit organizations, advertisers, marketers, as
well as presidential nominees can learn how to effectively build virtual social capital.
Any organization that wants to advertise to achieve their goals can follow the Obama

campaign mode

72

 

EN DNOTES

 

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Vi” Granovetter, Mark S., and Swedberg, Richard. “The Sociology of Economic Life”,
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ix Putnam, Robert. “The Strange Disappearance of Civic America,” The American
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x Putnam, Robert “Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital
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Xi Putnam, Robert “The Strange Disappearance of Civic America”, The American
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x” Putnam, Robert “The Strange Disappearance of Civic America”, The American
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Xi” Ellison, Nicole 8., Lampe, Chris, and Steinfield, Charles. “Changes in Use and
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XIV Putnam, Robert “The Strange Disappearance of Civic America”, The American
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73

 

"" Putnam, Robert “The Strange Disappearance of Civic America”, The American
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w" Putnam, Robert. Democracies in flux: the evolution of social capital in contemfporg
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74

 

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75

 

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76

 

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m“ Bruno, Antony. Billboard. Vol. 120 Issue 49; pg 8 New York: December 6, 2008
VNU
eMediaInc.

“iv Lowry, Brian. “The $600 million question: Does TV advertising work?” Variety.
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m Lowry, Brian. “The $600 million question: Does TV advertising work?” Variety.
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W“ Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (1998). Trust, mood, and outcomes of friendship

predict preferences for real versus ersatz social capital. Political Psychology, 19(3),
page 527.

81

 

Km” Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (1998). Trust, mood, and outcomes of friendship
predict preferences for real versus ersatz social capital. Political Psychology, 19(3),
527-544.

“H Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (1998). Trust, mood, and outcomes of friendship predict
preferences for real versus ersatz social capital. Political Psychology, 19(3), page 529.

C Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (1998). Trust, mood, and outcomes of friendship predict
preferences for real versus ersatz social capital. Political Psychology, 19(3), page 538.

“ Kipnis, David and Wells, Carole V. Trust, Dependency, and Control in the
Contemporary Organization, Journal of Business and Psychology Volume 15, No. 4,
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C” Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

cm Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

“v Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

c" Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

c” Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, J'oumal ofBusiness
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

CV” Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

m” Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

“x Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

C" Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

C" Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business

Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

“ii Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

82

 

cxiii

Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal ofBusiness
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

cm Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal ofBusiness
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999.

Argandofia, Antonio. “Sharing our Alliances: Trust and Ethics”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Volume 21 Numbers 2-3, September 1999 page 222.

CXV

cm Das, T.K. and Teng, Bing Sheng. The Risk-Based View of Trust: A Conceptual
Framework”, Journal of Business and Psychology, Volume 19, Numberl/ December,
2004.

m“ Das, T.K. and Teng, Bing Sheng. The Risk-Based View of Trust: A Conceptual
Framework”, Journal of Business and Psychology, Volume 19, Number]/ December,
2004.

“‘1“ Ulbig, Stacy G. “MEASURING POLITICAL TRUST: AN ALTERNATIVE To
THE NES ITEMS” Southwest Missouri State.

Universityhttp://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/8/2/3/8/
pages82387/p82387-1.php

cxix Stewart, Katherine J., Trust Transfer on the World Wide Web”, Organization Science,
Volume 14, No. 1 January-February 2003, pagel.

M Stewart, Katherine J., Trust Transfer on the World Wide Web”, Organization Science,
Volume 14, No. l January-February 2003, page 6.

m“ Stewart, Katherine J ., Trust Transfer on the World Wide Web”, Organization Science,
Volume 14, No. 1 January-February 2003, page 7.

m” Huff, Lenard and Kelley, Lane. Levels of Organizational Trust in Individualist

Versus Collectivist Societies: A Seven-Nation Study” Organization Science, Volume
14 no. 1. 2003 pages 83.

cm" Huff, Lenard and Kelley, Lane. Levels of Organizational Trust in Individualist

Versus Collectivist Societies: A Seven-Nation Study” Organization Science, Volume
14 no. 1. 2003 pages 81-90.

83

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