Barack Obama yesterday gave the world an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at his election night triumph by posting dozens of intimate photographs on his personal Flickr account, the latest display of the technological savvy that marked his presidential campaign.

The series of 82 pictures were taken in a Chicago hotel room as the Obama family waited anxiously for the results to come in on Tuesday night. As the news networks declare at 11pm that he has won the election — declaring his victory across a television screen — more pictures show jubilant relatives pouring in, along with his running- mate Joe Biden and his wife, to share their congratulations with the candidate and his family.

Like no other presidential contender before him, Mr Obama has harnessed the power of the internet to give millions a sense of involvement in his campaign. Allowing the public to view election night pictures on their own computers was another example of galvanising interest online. Usually, people have had to wait for campaign officials to release one or two photographs to newspaper wire services, or to television networks, before they are given such a look at a candidate on election night.

Mr Obama launched the official website for his transition to the White House yesterday, inviting users to send in their ideas for the future of the country. It is a ploy that his team hope will harvest tens of millions of e-mail addresses while giving people a sense that they have a stake in how he will govern.

Continuing his theme that his historic victory was part of a “bottom-up” grassroots movement — even though he ran one of the most brilliant and disciplined “top-down” campaigns — the website asks readers to “Share Your Vision” via e-mail. As soon a person sends his or her thoughts, a reply says: “Thanks for signing up to join us in remaking Washington.”

Users can also blog and apply for jobs in an Obama administration via the website — www.change.gov — which featured a quote from the President-elect: “Share your story and your ideas, and be part of bringing positive, lasting change to this country.”

The website continues a tactic Mr Obama employed to such brilliant effect during his campaign: making people feel they have a stake in his strategy while simultaneously galvanising an army of supporters and new donors, who were kept in almost daily contact with the campaign through e-mails and text messages.

Mr Obama is prohibited by law from using the minefield of data to raise funds for his potential 2012 re-election campaign, because it is illegal for public officials to seek money for partisan political purposes using government resources. It is unlawful, for example, to solicit funds using White House telephones.

A new potential donor list is also not a top priority for Mr Obama. He built the biggest and most lucrative online donor base in the history of politics, raising almost $700 million from more than three million individual donors since he announced his presidential bid in January 2007.

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