The Obama 2012 campaign has launched a new social media platform that will allow volunteers to organize campaign events in their local communities and distribute that information via their mobile devices. The new platform, called “Dashboard,” will also allow campaign staff to track their volunteers’ progress when they’re in the field canvassing. Managing the field operation remotely gives the Obama campaign an edge in targeting their voter contact and quickly correcting any miscalculations made in the campaign’s voter id lists. Jeremy Bird, the campaign’s National Field Director, released a video promoting the new initiative, telling volunteers that the platform is like a Facebook for campaigns.
“Think of Dashboard as an online nationwide field office,” says Bird. He goes on to describe how through the platform, Obama supporters can form ‘neighborhood teams’ with people who support the president in their community so they can organize “block by block” for the 2012 re-election campaign.
WATCH THE VIDEO FROM THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN
Dashboard may relieve some concerns the campaign has had about reconnecting with young voters. Young people, and college students in particular, tend not to re-register to vote when they change addresses and many of them have fallen off the voter rolls in critical swing states like North Carolina.
New voter ID laws also pose a threat to the campaign when it comes to turning out the youth vote. Many young voters are not informed about changes in voting requirements that could keep them from casting a vote in November’s general election.
Mitt Romney also launched a platform to connect online with voters, MyMitt, in October.
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