Just after 11:00 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, every news organization in the world stated what everyone watching the election coverage had already known for hours: Barack Obama was the president-elect of the United States and will become the 44th man to hold that office come January 20th. Until then, I thought I had some idea how significant this event would be, but I was wrong. While I had voted for Obama because I believed my country needed to move in a new direction, that we needed the "change" that he promised and that he represented, the election of Barack Obama means so much more to millions of Americans.

The phrase "anyone can grow up to be president" applies to a wider range of people this morning. Watching the faces in Chicago's Grant Park late last night told the story. While the mood was victorious and joyous regardless of skin color, many of the African-American faces shown by the networks seemed stunned, often wet with tears. Did we really just elect someone who wasn't a white male? Really?

Hollywood has shown black presidents and female presidents in its fantasies. While noble, I don't think many Americans, regardless of color, believed they would see either of those story lines come true in their lifetime. I know I didn't. Because even if African-Americans voted along racial lines (which was largely true last night), a significant number of white voters, as well as other minorities, would still have to "vote for the black guy" to make Obama's election possible. And we did, because he was able to directly connect with his supporters and inspire them to contribute record amounts of money and rally people to vote for him, especially young voters, many of whom were motivated to get involved in a presidential race for the first time.

Despite the strong showing of Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and the presence of Gov. Sarah Palin on the GOP ticket, we still haven't elected a woman president or even vice-president. The election of Barack Obama, however, gives me the feeling that I will see that, not just in my lifetime, but soon. (And don't underestimate Palin; given more time to properly prepare instead of being thrown into the game at the last minute, she could be a formidable opponent for Obama in 2012. Obama himself was given little chance to win the Democratic nomination, let alone the election, when he began his run two years ago.)

Sen. Obama ran an incredible campaign, and much of his success can be attributed to the campaign's effective use of technology and the internet. Barack Obama isn't only the first African-American president, he's also be the first new tech president. His campaign's use of social media tools (over 120,000 Twitter followers vs. 5,000 for McCain) and online advertising (how many times did you see an Obama ad when checking your Facebook page in the last few weeks?) was masterful. Even more important is the sense that Obama doesn't just have assistants who understand new tech, but that the president-elect understands it - and uses these tools - himself. I fully expect to continue to see tweets and blog entries from the 44th president, because he understands the power of communicating directly using the tools at his disposal.

Sarah Braun posted today about the increased presence of new media in the television and movie industry. The income from online versions of TV shows and movies was a major sticking point in the recent Writers' Guild strike against the networks and producers, and the importance of these new media will continue to grow. Sarah describes the website for NBC's "Heroes," which, like many TV shows today, is regularly mentioned during promos for the broadcast episodes. Sarah describes the site's many attractive features (which include an interactive graphic novel), and concludes:

"I think that this sort of digital content is EXACTLY what a television show’s website should be, particularly for a show like Heroes. Lost’s website is similar, though not nearly as expansive. Promises of online exclusives that turn into hours of extra content and an experience that truly immerses the viewer into the show is a surefire way to keep them coming back for more. I think as technology continues to expand and the entertainment industry continues to move towards digital media, we’ll begin to see more and more websites of that quality."

Quality content keeps eyeballs on the site, interacting with the content - and reading and watching the advertising.

(BTW, Sarah also drops a reference to The Spot in her post, just a week after our New Tech Heroes flashback on the original "webisodic fiction." Spotfans, another blogger shows the love! :) )

Sarah's post is well worth a complete read.