Obama, Facebook and Design

This post from Inside Facebook got me thinking about how Barack got to be the #1 in terms of fans on Facebook.  Others elsewhere have talked plenty already about how Barack has tapped into social media, so I won't bore you.  Perfect storm of his generational appeal, the rise of social networks for anyone under 35, etc etc etc.

On the design side, I suppose Brian Collins has been talking the most ( here although ABC got the image wrong and here)  about how Obama defines his message through the judicious use of color and typeface. You should check out those clips; I think Brian brings up some interesting points (plus, you get to see him in a tie, which I don't think happens very often).

Taking the conversation one step further: Could Barack's success in Facebook be the lucky circumstance of typeface and color? Now, I know that Facebook doesn't use the beautifully rendered Gotham
from Hoefler & Frere-Jones, but I suppose Lucida (or the other sans serif fonts in the stylesheet) set a similar tone. Obama's visual identity then plays nicely in that space and perhaps is more likely to integrate into that community as a good guest.

Interesting implication for other brands that goes back to the "social media is like a cocktail party" analogy I've used in conversation. Perhaps you go farther in speaking softly, asking questions and being a good guest than you do by shouting 'look at me!'

Which maybe explains why there are almost no brands on the top 25 list.