The Facebook Campaign

power of one

'Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Obama campaign has been its ability to convert enthusiasm into action.

'In the past, insurgent candidates have created lots of enthusiasm amongst voters disillusioned with conventional politics. But when it comes down to it the establishment candidates and their electoral machines have usually proved far better at making things happen: raising money and getting votes. Once they're cranked into action, these machines can crush an outside challenger, making all that enthusiasm seem like so much hot air.

'But Obama's campaign, as the story of Linnie Frank demonstrates, has proved adept at using the internet to draw supporters in and up a scale of engagement: from expression of support, to donation, to activism.

'Most of all, Obama's campaign has convinced a lot of people (well over a million and growing) that one person really can make a difference. It's cracked something Marc Ambinder calls the free rider problem: the problem that volunteers or potential volunteers don't have any real incentive to do anything, because they don't see or feel that their individual effort will make any difference. Obama supporters have been persuaded that what they do counts - and his victory in the nomination battle is the most impressive evidence of that to date.'