Yes We Did

Strategic Insights and Social Media from the Campaign that Changed History

Based on her experiences as a member of the Barack Obama campaign's social media team during the 2008 Presidential election, Rahaf Harfoush wrote Yes We Did: An Inside Look at How Social Media Built the Obama Brand. She is currently the Associate Director of the Global Cooperation Initiative at the World Economic Forum.

As the Spotlight on Learning conference's keynote speaker, Harfoush excited the audience with her take on social media and discussed how we can use technology to better the work we do in literacy. While social media staples such as Facebook and Twitter received mention, she also highlighted these valuable new tools for learning:

Wikibooks - This tool is a collection of open-content textbooks that anyone can edit at any time to produce a new kind of instructional resource that is comprehensive and free.

(un)classes - A low-commitment way to explore a host of topics from managing finances to baking bread. People who want to offer their skills connect with others who want to learn.

P2PU - P2PU offers an online learning environment, with a community of open study groups for short university-level courses.

Popling - This tool uses flash cards with short, concise information that pop up on your desktop or mobile device. Among the 150 different subjects are languages, business and technology skills.