Thumbs up, Mr. Trippi

I don´t know if a lot of people know that Obama´s campaign in 2008 wasn´t the first campaign run on the internet - I didn´t until I read "The revolution will not be televised" a book by Joe Trippi. He was the guy to bring grass-roots politics to its next level by establishing networks of supporters on the internet in his 2004 campain for Howard Dean (who I didn´t know either). In his book he describes his own rise from a so-called "Corn Stalker" in the 1980 campaign for Ted Kennedy to the pioneer of internet-campaigning - and with it, of course, the metamorphosis of grass-roots politics.
I have to say that I am really impressed by his book and his work and that he made some really interesting points:
" For the first time, a new president will be able to use the inaugural adress not only to outline the agenda of the executive branch in the first one hundred days, but to issue a call to the American people to join in passing that agenda. (...) On that day in January, the next president of the United States will be standing at the end of the television presidency, and at the beginning of something different. The networked presidency? The interactive presidency? We may not quite know what to call it yet. But it´s coming at just the right time. The next president - and the American people - have a lot of work to do. Now, finally, we have the tools to do that work together."
Although I´m not quite sure if this vision is practicable in the end - I agree that we enface totally new forms and possibilities of democratic participation. Normally I am of the opinion that social network communities just serve as pure entertainment and that they are of no use when one tries to keep in touch with other people. But that was with regard to friendship. Trippi and Obamas campaign in 2008 made me change my mind - at least concerning their political value. I am exited to see what role these communities will play in the election for the German Bundestag this fall. I recently read an article saying that a lot of the German politicians are afraid that Twitter will have a huge influence on the turn out...So, let´s see!