Obama Gambles 160K Friends in MySpace Feud
news source IMedia

Washington, DC (rushprnews) May 11, 2007 -Joe Anthony, a one-time volunteer for Democrat Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign, isn’t Barrack Obama, but for more than two years he ran the candidate’s MySpace page with the tacit approval of the Illinois Senator’s political team.

 However, that arrangement came to an end this week, according to an Associated Press report that said Obama’s handlers didn’t want the virtual campaign to be run by an outsider.

While Obama’s team once worked with Anthony by giving him content and linking to the site, advisors asked the Los Angeles paralegal to turn over the site to the campaign as the MySpace page grew to include more than 160,000 friends. Obama’s own campaign MySpace page had amassed only a quarter as many friends.

But putting a value on Anthony’s work proved to be difficult. When Obama’s campaign asked for the rights to the page, Anthony countered, saying the price would be $39,000. The campaign refused, prompting MySpace to step in and settle the dispute, awarding the rights to Obama.

In his blog, Anthony wrote that he was heartbroken after what he called “bullying” by the Obama campaign. Obama later called to apologize to Anthony for the feud.

In March, MySpace launched Impact, its political channel. As interactive media continues to grow in popularity, many believe sites such as MySpace could be key players in future elections.

PERMANENT LINK AT http://www.imediaconnection.com/news/14758.asp

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