FreshNetworks Blog

So if the ‘major event’ template employed by the BBC News website week is to be believed, November’s US election will be an Obama vs McCain affair. As something of a political junkie in the UK it’s great that we get so much coverage of events from the Primaries, but what I like even more is that so much conversation is going on online, that I can start to look at events as they are presented to and talked about by Americans.

The use of social media by the campaigns is impressive – Obama in particular has a website that makes it extremely easy for you to engage (if you want to) or just to find the information you want. If I want to register to vote, pledge money, agree to volunteer or to make calls I can do that from the homepage. I can also see his speeches (and take them with me by embedding them in my own sites) and read his policies. It’s a great example of building real engagement online and probably something that deserves a longer post than this about.

What I’m particularly enjoying is following the discussions in blog posts from the US. You can get a real feeling for what people think about and discuss, in a way that previously hasn’t been possible from abroad. Rather than following any one blog in particular, I’m enjoying dipping in and out of various people’s ramblings. And this week I was introduced to a great tool for finding these posts.

Trendpedia is a beta tool that searches blog posts and also lets you compare different search terms (and so it’s perfect for the Obama vs McCain debate). It may not be perfect and, in my experience, is better at picking up bigger brands and terms than more niche ones but it’s a useful little tool. Not least being able to compare discussions online over time…see the screenshot below.