This historic U.S. election already fulfilled its promise of change even before the final ballots were cast. Never before had we seen the internet used so heavily in the political campaigning process. From Twitter debates to YouTube videos to Facebook and iPhone applications, the candidates, especially President-Elect Obama, used the tools found online to reach out to the modern-day voter. In addition, news organizations and other sites across the web enhanced the election process by encouraging citizen participation. The impact of these efforts made voting once again feel like a true participatory experience.
Yesterday, we provided you with a web toolkit for the election, and as we watched the television news last night, we revisited some of those sites mentioned. In many ways, what we saw online as voting drew to a close was a little bit of history being made, too. Ustreamed speeches, Twitter voter reports, voters recording videos for YouTube, web sites breaking the news before the TV stations did, and so much more.
The internet has not only impacted this last election, it has forever changed politics in America.
Please enjoy this flickr slideshow of what we saw last night – the election, as seen on the web:
