Response to Beckett (Ch. 3) and How Obama Really Did It

In Beckett's third chapter, we see the connections made within Networked Journalism and US politics. Much of this chapter is focused on the new media and the powers that new age sources (i.e. blogging, internet) have attained in our recent culture. The Networked Journalism and US politics connection is brought to mind again, through means of the David Talbot article, How Obama Really Did It. The article, coinciding with Beckett's idea that "the internet is already playing a high-profile role in recent US election campaigns"(Beckett 91), primarily focuses on newly elected President Obama and how media sources (such as the internet) played major roles in making his election successful. It was through the internet that Obama was able to heighten his social-networking through sites such as Facebook.com and MyBo. I agree with Talbot that much of Obama's all-around success with his campaigning has been generated by the traffic acquired on popular blogging sites where people have 'followed' his progress, like Twitter. Twitter, alone, currently has 50,000 Obama "followers", which is mind-blowing to me. Obama even inspired a music video created by hip-hop artist Will.i.am, which was based off of one of his speeches. 

I think that a large reason why the majority of our generation voted for Obama was because of the way he networked his way through his campaigning process. By becoming an active blogger on popular websites and by creating social profiles for the younger generations to access, he took an extra step compared to those who came before him. 

Questions:

1. A rep for Meghan McCain's blogging site, "Bloggette", said that the site gives a "hipper, younger perspective on the campaign and makes both of her parents seem hipper and younger". Is it off-putting (at all) that the site features a some-what alluring silhouette of a woman in red high heels? 

2. Do you think that Obama's web-oriented campaign strategy will be able to take him through to the next election? Or by that time will he need a new kind of rejuvenation?