Obama's VP Announcement Generates No Spam, So Far

Posted by K.C. Jones on August 13, 2008 11:05 AM

Sen. Barack Obama will likely become the first presidential candidate to announce his pick for vice president via text message. The Obama campaign announced over the weekend that supporters could sign up to receive e-mail or text messages "the moment Barack makes his decision."

"You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice," the campaign explained to e-mail subscribers. "No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment."

The notice said those who sign up would be the first to know and it urged supporters to forward information about the "opportunity" to friends, family, and coworkers.

Those who want to receive the information via text send a text with "VP" to 62262.

After requesting contact information, including phone numbers and e-mail address, the sign-up page allows users to check a box that will sign them up for periodic text updates and notification regarding the nominee. Users can sign up without checking that box.

The next screen encourages them to forward the message to up to 10 friends and acquaintances at once. It also offers to use an e-mail contact importer, while reassuring, "Don't worry -- we won't hold on to any of the email addresses you share."

Obama has been ahead of his opponent, Sen. John McCain, in adopting some new technology and he has released a comprehensive technology policy statement, but his campaign also HAS been less than precise with its electronic mailing lists -- at least in this blogger's experience.

A media request landed this blogger on Obama's list of "supporters," which means I now receive e-mail solicitations for donations on an almost daily basis. Therefore, I, personally, did not count on the text message system to be any more precise.

However, to my surprise, signing up for the announcement hasn't seemed to generate any more spam -- so far.