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I have to hand it to Obama and his campaign for leveraging technology in an attempt to get the competitive advantage.  I thought it was pretty cool when he used SMS to notify people of who he selected as his running mate.

Obama’s campaign has taken his use of technology to another level with launching an iPhone application.  The free application is called ‘Obama 08′ and was launched on September 28, 2008 in Apple’s App Store. 

With iPhone 3G sales potentially being 10 million, this is a good move for the Obama campaign.

The Obama 08 application features the following sections:

• Call Friends
• Get Involved
• Receive Updates
• News
• Local Events
• Media
• Issues

Call Friends – All of the contacts in your address book are listed by state, with key battleground states listed in order of priority.  The state order in my iPhone is Nevada, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Arizona, Arkansas, California, and Utah.  After calling a contact in your iPhone’s address book, you can select a status from the following: Have not called, Called, Call back later, Left message, Not interested, Considering Obama, Voting for Obama, and Already voted.  Another interesting feature is the ‘Call Stats’ option that allows you to view the number of call you made, nationwide calls, top caller, and total active callers.

Get Involved – this section of the application uses the iPhone’s GPS features to find information about your local campaign headquarters, including phone number, address, and map directions.  There is also the ability to email the campaign information.

Receive Updates – allows you to sign up to receive updates via SMS and/or email by entering in your email address, mobile number, and zip code.

News – read national or local news related to the Obama campaign.

Local Events – allows the user to view local events such as a debate party or neighborhood canvass.  The name of the event, date, distance, and details are listed.  Links to ‘email this info’ and map directions are also provided.

Media – this section allows the user to view videos and photos relating to the Obama campaign.

Issues – read the details on issues such as civil rights, defense, economy/taxes, education, energy, ethics, faith, foreign policy, homeland security, immigration, and many more.   

Lastly, the application displays an election countdown on the bottom of the application and a campaign donate button.

Overall, I think this is a very innovative approach for a campaign to take in order to engage more people, in particular the younger demographic.  I was really surprised at the level of thought that went into this application.

What is Twitter? Well, Twitter is the wildly popular, free micro-blogging and social networking website that enables its readers to chat using up to 140 characters that is sent from the Twitter website, mobile devices, or third-party application. Twitter currently has over 2 million users!  If my explanation of Twitter still has you confused or just wanting more clarification, CommonCraft has made an excellent video explaining Twitter in Plain English.

Who uses Twitter?  That is a question with a never-ending answer, but Jonathan Kash (@time2simplify) of Fluent Simplicity initially created the Twitter Brand Index to begin to answer this question.  The Twitter Brand Index has since been moved to its own website, the Social Brand Index.  The Social Brand Index organizes all of the brands under the following top-level categories:

• Business
• Education
• Entertainment
• Executives & Notable Individuals
• For Consumers
• Government & Politics
• Media
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Service Providers
• Social Properties
• Technology
• Travel

 And, as expected, each category is further delineated by sub-categories.  For example, the Technology category is further categorized into

• Business News
• Certifications
• Enterprise Organizations
• Game Developers
• Mobile Applications
• Online Service Providers
• Open Source
• Platforms
• SaaS
• Search
• Software
• Tech Support
• Telecom/VOIP

I can only imagine the amount of time and research that went into compiling all of this great information. One thing that this evolving directory conveys to me is variety and diversity of businesses that is trying new and interesting ways to engage consumers, and doing it in a public forum that can be studied and picked apart by anyone to gauge its effectiveness.

It is extremely interesting to see how companies like CNN, NPR, AT&T, Ford, NY Times, Southwest Airline, and MGM are using Twitter as a new outlet.

It never ceases to amaze me of the creative ways that Twitter is being used.  If you need some inspiration, Chris Brogan has put together a list of 50 ways to use Twitter.  Chris offers some good insight on getting you started using Twitter effectively for business.  He gives steps on getting started, ideas on what to Tweet about, useful tips and tools to use Twitter more effectively, and how to handle Twitter negatives and turn them into positives.

 Of all the companies that I have come across on Twitter, one company stands at the forefront in being the epitome of how to leverage this popular service.  That company is Zappos. The company uses Twitter to not only build customer relationships and give you a glimpse into the service-oriented culture, but also to foster relationships between employees within Zappos.

Zappos has integrated Twitter into their website and it is an integral part of company communication from the CEO, Tony Hsieh (@Zappos), on down the chain.  What is interesting is that the company also offers classes on how to use Twitter, and I think that is awesome.   

Want to find out what all 444 (as of 9/2/2008) employees using Twitter at Zappos is doing?  Just point your browser at http://twitter.zappos.com/employee_tweets to find out in real-time what is happening on their public Twitter time line.

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Twitter icon from AODdesign.com

SMS is the acronym for Short Message Service, or commonly called ‘Text Messages’. Text messages are typically 140-160 characters in length and can be sent from one mobile phone to another.

The estimated United States population by the census for July 2007 was 301,139,947. The Wireless Association (ctia.org) reports that there were 255 million subscribers at the end of 2007. Now do the simple math…255 million is what percent of 301 million? The answer is 85% of the United States population has a mobile phone. Most of these people who own cell phones are between the ages of 18-34, with 85% of them being active users of text messaging. One interesting think about SMS is that 96% of all text messages are read. Text message marketing is currently a $1.2 billion industry that is expected to grow to a $24 Billion by 2012.