Excerpt from an analysis of the Obama approach by Naomi Klein : “Obama has gone much further, turning the White House into a kind of never-ending reality show starring the lovable Obama clan. The problem is not that Obama is using the same tricks and tools as the superbrands; anyone wanting to move the culture these days pretty much has to do that. This too can be traced to the mid-90s branding craze, when marketers grew tired of the limitations of traditional advertising and began creating three-dimensional “experiences” – branded temples where shoppers could crawl inside the personality of their favourite brands.

The Economist on social networking - world of connections This week,  The Economist, every Capatilist’s favourite magazine, has published a special report on on social networking . Introduction: A world of connections “Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play” What joy. A World of Connections , provides an excellent overview of the current state of social media for those still trying to get to grips with it.

YouTube announced that it would live stream Barack Obama’s State of the Union address - and offered citizens the opportunity to question the Prez through a Google Moderator series. On a roll, they also launched a crowdsourcing campaign , which flips Obama’s presidential slogan ‘Change you can believe in’ into ‘The Change We See’- a call for supportive citizens to upload their snaps of new hospitals and schools built since Labour came to power in 1997. Welcome to eModeration's round-up of all that is intriguing, alarming or odd in the world of social media, compiled by Kate Williams (@emodkate).