http://press.meetup.com/archives/000464.html

Last presidential election race saw a change in the way politicians informed America on their positions both domestic and foreign. Joe Trippi, Howard Dean’s manager for the 2004 presidential election, learned about a small Internet website called Meetup.com. The website connects people together with other people who share a similar interest. These like-minded individuals form groups on the website and post up when they will be having their next group meeting, or meet up. Mr. Trippi realized that political issues are no different than any other hobby or interest someone might have, and soon he began to form Howard Dean meet ups.

These groups became very powerful for a couple of reasons. First, it became a new source for political donations, reaching into the tens of millions of dollars for Mr. Dean alone. This also became a good forum both for spreading new political messages and gaining feedback from the voters. And lastly, these meet ups were able to do something ubiquitous television is not able to do; they mobilize the masses.

A true grass roots movement formed, mainly comprised of younger voters, who spread Howard Dean’s message by word of mouth to their friends. By using the Internet to bring supporters together, Howard Dean was able to garner a far larger and more active support base than he otherwise would have gained. Mr. Trippi discovered that if you can use the vast social network of the Internet correctly, it becomes incredibly powerful. This is not just because you can reach a large audience (television is much better at that), but because it can infiltrate into a larger friend-social network that can move people’s feet and their wallets.