Quitting Cold Turkey
Most people would assume that when someone gets a huge, important promotion — such as, say, leaving a job as senator to become President of the United States — he would have access to any sort of gadget or piece of technology he wanted. I know I figured as much.
Well, according to an article I read online last night, President-Elect Barack Obama will have the opposite problem beginning January 20, when he becomes the 44th president of our country. Apparently, Obama is fully addicted to his Blackberry. And now that I think about it, I have seen numerous video clips and photographs of him on his plane or in a car checking his email or text messaging (maybe he’s playing Tetris, who knows?). There’s a funny video clip mentioned in the article (and I remember seeing it on the news) of Obama and his wife at one of their daughters’ soccer games. He is busy fiddling with his Blackberry, and when Michelle notices, she slaps his hands until he puts it back in his pocket.
According to the article, the moment Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, he will have to hand over his Blackberry for at least four years (or eight years). As in, literally hand it over and not carry it. According to federal law, all correspondence to and from the president is allowed to be subpoenaed in case of federal investigations, including emails and even text messages. So to play it safe, presidents are now advised to cut themselves off from electronic communication while in the White House. The article says President Bush actually sent an email to his friends before taking office in 2000 saying he wouldn’t be emailing anymore, and that now he does all of his personal business on the phone — which is kind of an ironic twist in today’s high-tech age.
What does that mean for us here at Dynamic Digital Advertising? Well, I guess it means that we won’t be able to count on President Obama as a client in the near future — but that was doubtful anyway.
At DDA, we pride ourselves on staying in front of every breaking trend or technology in any of our areas of expertise. In fact, if President-elect Obama did have his Blackberry in the months to come, he might be able to see a mobile advertising project in the works, or surf on over to any of the countless websites and online applications we have designed and implemented. As people become more and more connected through the Internet, handheld devices, and elaborate cell phones, DDA is always working hard to stay up to date with the latest developments. Whether it is programming custom applications or widgets for cell phones and social networking sites, combining a “conventional” website design with an in-depth programming arm that creates its own virtual community (which we’re doing on a big client project that should launch soon), or integrating cell phone and text message alerts into a marketing campaign, DDA can do it, and probably already has a history of it.
So don’t give away your Blackberry or cell phone (you’re not the president-elect, are you?), instead, use it to call or email us here at DDA. Toni will help you with everything and anything you need (as long as she has a voice this week).
Entry by: Steve