YouTube and Personal Branding - Obama’s Political Engagement in a Digital World

Gilang Mukti Rukmana, Shafira Elnanda Yasmine, Citra Hennida

2017

Abstract

During his eight years in the White House, the advancement of Internet usage and social media popularized Obama’s ‘status’ as a digital president. This article aims to capture the utilization of YouTube as a medium for Obama to engage with society during his presidency and how it created personal branding for Obama in the view of the American public. The research question proposed is: how did Obama utilize YouTube as a medium for public engagement to create personal branding during his presidency? The data is gathered by conducting a literature review and accessing digital records of Obama’s activities on YouTube. Using the theory of Ghemawat about a strategy to win public influence in the global market, the authors argue that Obama successfully utilized the development of technology and social media platforms as a mechanism to popularize his personal branding via YouTube, based on the strategy of adaptation, aggregation, and arbitrage. The research finds that Obama’s popularity among the American people, especially millennials, was the manifestation of years of political branding built through various platforms. YouTube played an important role in the efforts of Obama’s administration to directly reach audiences and significantly increased public awareness of the issues addressed by the government.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Mukti Rukmana G., Elnanda Yasmine S. and Hennida C. (2017). YouTube and Personal Branding - Obama’s Political Engagement in a Digital World.In Proceedings of the International Post-Graduate Conference on Media and Communication - Volume 1: IPCOMC, ISBN 978-989-758-337-7, pages 424-427. DOI: 10.5220/0007330804240427

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ipcomc17,
author={Gilang Mukti Rukmana and Shafira Elnanda Yasmine and Citra Hennida},
title={YouTube and Personal Branding - Obama’s Political Engagement in a Digital World},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Post-Graduate Conference on Media and Communication - Volume 1: IPCOMC,},
year={2017},
pages={424-427},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0007330804240427},
isbn={978-989-758-337-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Post-Graduate Conference on Media and Communication - Volume 1: IPCOMC,
TI - YouTube and Personal Branding - Obama’s Political Engagement in a Digital World
SN - 978-989-758-337-7
AU - Mukti Rukmana G.
AU - Elnanda Yasmine S.
AU - Hennida C.
PY - 2017
SP - 424
EP - 427
DO - 10.5220/0007330804240427