Barackbook: Credit Where Credit Is Due…

I have been a pretty harsh critic of the RNC and its Internet operations. I have argued for some time that the RNC really doesn’t foster a sense of creativity or innovation. While I still maintain that is generally true, I have to admit I really like their latest project – www.barackbook.com.

The idea is very good. Facebook captures the interconnection of people, so how better to demonstrate Obama’s connection to some really shady people than a FB parody. It’s not quite an exact rip-off of Facebook’s profile page, which would have been easy enough to do, but I suspect they were trying to make it different enough that they wouldn’t get sued (friggin’ lawyers!).

Some might argue that mocking Facebook is a bad move given that FB co-founder Chris Hughes is running my.BarackObama.com. It may call attention to the fact that Obama has attracted some big tech names to his side. I disagree.

I think the message is compelling, and I think the connection between Obama and FB really won’t get much traction.

The only real critique I have of the effort is the relative inability to spread it around. I would suggest to Cyrus and company, that they add an option in the upper right to “Add Friends”, and provide the opportunity for visitors to virally promote the site. Regular Facebook users would likely click on the link just to see what it does.

Update: Thanks to Paul Rodriguez for pointing out that I eff-ed up the link. It works now. And thanks twice for also pointing out my screwed up title… I really need to stop posting on auto-pilot.

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