Just know about computers isn't enough, Mr. McCain!

[omahas]

I use LinkedIn for all sorts of things. It's turned into a very important resource for me. Not only does it provide me with lot's of connections to people I know in various industries, but allows me to connect with lot's of people I wouldn't ordinarily be able to connect with that I could use the resources of. An invaluable resource for me, I would say.

LinkedIn has a great feature...the ability to ask a question. You can ask that question of just those directly linked to you, or the general community. Today, I popped onto LinkedIn to locate contact info for a guy I wanted to interview. And there, on the right hand side, in the "popular questions of the day" category...

...Was a question by Barack Obama!

Holy Shit, Barack Obama asked a question on LinkedIn. Holy Shit, Barack Obama has an account on LinkedIn! These were all of the thoughts that went through my head. It was a great question..."What ideas do you have to keep America competitive in the years ahead." (If you have an account, hop on and go answer it if you have ideas...I'm sure you do ;)

Oh, and he's three degrees away from me in the community, which means that someone who is linked directly to me is linked to someone who is directly linked to him. Wouldn't take much to get directly linked. Heh.

McCain...this is the reason why being aware of computers is not enough. Being aware of the Internet is not enough. You need to use them, to really understand what their power is. You are old, sir, and I don't mean that in the physical sense either. I know a lot of 80 year olds that have more current technological savvy then you do. You are behind the times, and you are unwilling to even attempt to catch up. You don't belong as President of this country.

Comments

[elfs.livejournal.com]

The cynic in me supposes that a staffer has done this specifically to help Obama and "the people" stay in the loop. "Obama" is now a hive-mind, really, which isn't a bad thing.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've no doubt that a staffer monitors this account, although depending on how old it is, he may have set it up himself in the beginning. But I think that Obama probably has said at weekly/daily meetings, things like, "I would like to get some feedback about such and such; Dave, can you post this question on my LinkedIn account?" Obama gives me the impression of being very hands on about stuff.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Yea, "Third Degree Contact" here too.
Which makes me look at the 36 "Next Link" friends and wonder if I need to add someone.

But yea - someone that understands "teh interweb" would be nice for the future. At least the fact that he has people on staff that REALLY do gives me hope.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, Obama has a LinkedIn account. Holy crap, there are already 2,000-something answers to The Question... Holy cow, I'm connected to Obama (3rd) by eighteen different people

Holy crap, Omaha has a LinkedIn account and I haven't stumbled across her yet?

Hmmmm, Hillary has a LinkedIn account too. Only two people connect me to her.

I gotta agree with that last paragraph..... only I don't agree that "being behind the times" is the (biggest) reason we should give him the political heave-ho. Methinks it's a symptom of a bigger problem.... McCain's handlers don't *want* him to have those links because they'd tell him what the people really think. Obama wants to know what the people really think... now, whether his own puppeteers will let him act on that, I dunno. After the whole FISA madness I'm kinda disillusioned. But still. The whole difference in approach is obvious...

[kendaer.livejournal.com]

Amusingly, I'm connected to him 2nd degree by 3 people, one of whom is the co-author of the game that I spent many years working on (legend of the green dragon). Very amused.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

I'm only 2 degrees away from Obama but if I understand things correctly, he's not accepting new friends now unless you know him.

Coincidentally, I just wrote up a piece on this:

http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2689.html