Tweeter-in-chief: Senior working in digital media for Obama re-election campaign

Anshu Siripurapu

Ever visited President Obama’s 2012 campaign twitter feed?
Chances are, the man behind the tweet may may have been senior Anshu Siripurapu.

Siripurapu, who is the ASB president this year, has been deeply involved politically since the eighth grade and is one of the digital media organizers of the Obama campaign.

“It feels kind of cool because there aren’t that many other high school kids involved,” Siripurapu said. “One of the assets I can bring to the campaign is engaging younger people and bringing a youth perspective.”

Siripurapu’s involvement with the Obama campaign started last summer after his application to the Summer Organizer program was accepted in an interview process. Siripurapu spent 20 hours a week working on the campaign during the summer.

Now, because of schoolwork, he spends three to five hours on the campaign’s Facebook, Twitter and website writing his own messages that are focused on spreading awareness of promotional campaign events or the blogs of campaign supporters. All material that Siripurapu posts is previously approved by the state deputy director.

In addition to writing his own tweets and other messages, Siripurapu has also trained others in developing their digital media skills for the campaign. Siripurapu later encourages the trainees to blog about their experiences with the campaign and helps them edit and share their stories.

“I think digital media’s a powerful way to campaign and a great way to increase awareness and get people involved,” Siripurapu said. “People can read it and retweet, reblog or share it with their friends on Facebook.”

Siripurapu said the greatest thing about being in the campaign is working with people who all believe in the same cause.

“Obama is really charismatic and a really inspiring person,” Siripurapu said. “He talks a lot about how his rise couldn’t have happened in any other country since he’s African American. It’s a real American story.”

Although Siripurapu does feel unique being one of the two high schoolers currently active in the campaign, he does wish that more would get involved.

“I really wish we could get more young people involved,” Siripurapu said. “The Obama campaign definitely attracts more young people, but it’s more like college kids and not many of the younger people and I wish we had more of that involvement.”

Siripurapu’s political involvement began when he went to a phone bank in Los Gatos in the eighth grade. Within the next two years, Siripurapu would go on to intern for Ira Ruskin, the former California Assemblyman from Redwood City and Jim Beall, the Saratoga representative of the California Assembly.

Siripurapu plans to stay involved politically during his college years and beyond. He would also consider running for public office, but only after finishing his studies and having more experiences in life.
“I feel like it’s a sort of duty, like a calling,” Siripurapu said. “After I’ve had experience as a professional of some kind, I could maybe use my experience in politics.”