Barack Obama has 3,882,057 friends on Facebook. That number makes up only 6 percent of the total number of people who voted for him in 2008, but it's a very important 6 percent.

Mr. Obama has exactly 144,000 followers on Twitter, a number so precise it either represents an artificial system limit or constitutes proof of biblical prophecy.

He is the most popular person on Twitter, a fact that says more about his demographic appeal, and more about the future of this country, than any poll number I can think of.

Facebook has gone mainstream, but Twitter is the digital frontier.

Twitter users are movers, shakers and alpha-consumers. These folks are the future of the Internet and the future of the country, and if Mr. Obama doesn't speak their language, someone on his staff certainly does.

Judging by how skillfully Mr. Obama has managed his digital footprint, I'd say quite a few of his staffers understand the Internet -- not just as a communication tool but also as a cultural touchstone.

We can give the Obama campaign credit for how well it has handled its Internet presence, but I think the cart has pulled the horse this time.

Mr. Obama attracted a young, Internet-savvy demographic to his cause and those people rushed to volunteer for his campaign.

Most of the praise belongs to Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media. Whatever you think of Mr. Obama's politics, you have to give the administration credit for top-notch Web design.

Whitehouse.gov has been the same for 10 years -- dozens of tiny menu items crammed into long skinny columns -- and one of the most conventional, and most boring, sites on the Web.

Mr. Phillips' design sends a strong visual message; breaking out of the traditional 3-column mode, filling the screen with a side-to-side features box that puts the choices in front of you: 1, 2, 3, 4.

This demonstrates a welcome reversal from the Web trends we've been slaves to for the past 15 years. For years, our goal has been to pack as much information as possible into the space of a single screen. It led to dozens of menu items, hundreds of choices, layered, listed and jammed together in an overwhelming jumble of information.

Now, Whitehouse.gov gives you four choices -- four core messages that the administration wants to deliver. Visitors with specific requests can drill down into the site map.

A site that provides 50 choices runs the risk of overwhelming visitors or driving them away. But four is a number we can understand. I wish every site on the Internet would follow this example. Pick the four most important things your organization needs to communicate and say those things first, in big, colorful displays.

It's particularly smart for a political organization. Narrow the agenda to four things that people can remember, four things that they care about most.