The White House loves Crowdsourcing

The White House, just down the road from GR HQ, has a history of adopting new platforms and technologies when it comes to interacting with its constituents and the citizens of the United States. Going back to the campaign, the Obama administration successfully took grassroots to the next level by harnessing the power of the crowd through platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and many more. Clearly they were seeing the power of crowdsourcing when it came to political action. In fact by the end of the election both camps were spending a great deal of time, effort, and capitol to connect, organize, and solicit donation via the crowd online.

When the Obama administration moved into the White House the phase of "Open Government" was used in practically every department. When it came to the stimulus package, Recovery.gov was set up to allow transparency into the usage of government funds. Communicating with the citizens through online platforms also continued from its campaign roots with varied success.

However, this past month the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services embraced creative crowdsourcing to improve the quality of Public Service Announcements.

While some feel that a 30 second PSA deserves more than just the $2,500 award they have set aside, the administration is offering national airtime.

About the author

Peter is an industry expert at GeniusRocket, focused on the dynamics of online media and community driven content. As EVP of Marketing and Operations he oversees day-to-day activities of the company.