The recent U.S. Presidential election saw the Internet become a valuable tool for the candidates. Both sides used social media extensively, and email campaigns made sure every voter’s inbox was as full of pleas to vote as their letterbox and answer phone were. But what is happening now that the election is over and done with?

The Internet played a huge part in getting Barack Obama elected to be the 44th President of The United States of America. The Democratic candidate and his campaign team used a number of different ways to reach out and virtually meet the voters they couldn’t meet in real life.

This included having his own social network for friends and supporters, and utilizing the micro-blogging service, Twitter, to keep followers up with the latest news on his campaign. But the election is now over, and so, it seems, are Obama’s days of regular tweeting.

Valleywag reports that Obama’s Twitter stream has been silent since a message on the morning of Nov. 5 thanking everyone for their support and making the unthinkable happen. That’s now a whole week without an update, so while Twitter seemed to be important when trying to be elected, now that his presidency is secure, Obama’s team no longer need to bother with it.

While it’s safe to assume this is because Obama has moved on to addressing voters via official and well-publicized press conferences, it still seems a shame to abandon the 127,922 people who saw fit to follow the former candidate and now President-elect’s Twitter page.

But Obama and his team haven’t dropped all forms of communication quite so quickly, with The Guardian reporting that those emails begging for monetary donations for the campaign are continuing to be sent, even though the campaign effectively ended when John McCain conceded defeat on Nov. 4.

The focus of the emails has merely been altered so that any donation now given will go to helping The Democratic National Committee pay off the debts it supposedly acquired in building the “50-state field program.” But it’s OK to give because $30 will buy you a commemorative victory t-shirt… just what I’ve always wanted.

The Internet may have been an instrumental tool in this election but it seems its use to Obama may have come to an end, that is except for where money is concerned, and then it’s more important than ever.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 3:22 am under Internet, Opinion, Politics, Social Media, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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