Get It Online: The Online Election - Social Media and the 2012 Presidential Race

The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election is like none we have ever seen before. Americans now follow real-time debate commentary via Twitter, advocate for their candidates on Facebook and join Internet memes with Tumblr. Balancing tried-and-true strategies with bold experimentation, the campaigns of both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney have invested heavily in social media as part of their fundraising, grassroots and media strategies. They have had to.

This panel will focus on how the 2012 presidential candidates have used social media as part of their campaign strategies, what future U.S. elections will look like as social media become even more predominate, and why communications executives should pay attention to these trends when considering their own clients' goals and strategies.

Ample time will be provided for audience questions.

• David Almacy is senior vice president, digital media at Edelman, and a professor at Georgetown University. As the White House Internet director for President George W. Bush, David is a high profile expert on digital strategy and politics.


• Colin Delany is founder and editor of Epolitics.com, a site that focuses on the tools and tactics of Internet politics and online political advocacy. The author of "How Candidates Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012" and a comprehensive guide to the 2008 Obama online campaign, Colin has worked as a consultant to help dozens of advocacy campaigns promote themselves in the digital world.


• Alex Howard is the Government 2.0 Washington Correspondent for O'Reilly Media, where he writes about the intersection of government, the Internet and society, including how technology is being used to help citizens, cities, and national governments solve large-scale problems. He has contributed to the National Journal, Forbes, the Huffington Post, Govfresh, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, CBS News' What's Trending, Govloop, Governing People, the Association for Computer Manufacturing and the Atlantic, amongst others.


• Emily Schultheis is a national political reporter for POLITICO, covering all things 2012 but focusing in part on the intersection between the presidential campaign and digital strategy. Her work has also appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia City Paper and on UWIRE’s Youth Vote ’08 blog, among others.


• Anthony Shop (Moderator) is managing director of the digital agency Social Driver and chairman of The National Press Club's Events Committee. He is a former Press Secretary for a U.S. congressional race.