Whew, it’s good to have that little article series about the Obama campaign done — except that it’s not quite. I wrote those six pieces over a period of four months, and they do need a few changes before I’m completely comfortable with them. They could ALL use a couple more rounds of editing, for instance, and the earliest in particular will benefit from some new facts that have surfaced since they were originally published. The final goal is to edit them all together into an e-book similar to the Online Politics 101, which can then provide an opening to new audiences and (one hopes) new speaking and consulting gigs.
With the PDF conference taking up a good chunk of next week and the July 4th weekend coming right after, the next couple of weeks aren’t an ideal time to drop a publication on an unsuspecting world. I’m assuming that I’ll put it out in roughly two weeks, which should be a relatively slow time in the political news world but still comes before DC disappears for August vacation. But now, off to PDF.
– cpd
June 27th, 2009
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It’s a classic promotional tactic, online or off: see a story in the news, figure out a connection to your issue no matter how remote, and try to use it as a hook to get extra exposure. When the potential news angle involves a scandal, though, you’d better be careful in your approach or you’ll risk looking crass or exploitative.
This week’s example comes courtesy of the “Appalachian Trail” angle in the saga of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his Argentinian “friend,” and it’s the Sierra Club that’s making the connection, in this case via an email to their membership promoting their Sierra Club Trails website. They want to help Gov. Sanford find the Appalachian Trail, which he seems to have lost, you see, and they need our help filling in the gaps in their trail guide…nice, even a social media angle! Despite the explosiveness of the underlying scandal, Sierra’s message is actually fairly tame all around. The only harsh note comes in a postscipt, in which we’re reminded not to forget our “(moral) compass” along the way — pretty tame compared with what Jon Stewart had to say.
BTW, “hiking the Appalachian Trail” would seem destined to become a political catchphrase, no?
– cpd
June 26th, 2009
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Once again, the official arbiters of taste and decorum have lowered their standards sufficiently to allow an errant Texan to slip past the velvet ropes and sneak in to blast a crowd both innocent and unprepared with that special e.politics magic…i.e., a couple of conferences are coming up, so I get to babble at length and in public without the risk of being gagged or (openly) shunned. Huzzah!
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June 25th, 2009
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The Conclusion of a six-part series
As the presidential race heated up, the internet grew from being the medium of a core group of political junkies to a gateway for millions of ordinary Americans to participate in the political process, donating odd amounts of their spare time to their candidate through online campaign tools. Obama’s campaign carefully designed its web site to maximize group collaboration, while at the same time giving individual volunteers tasks they could follow on their own schedules.
“Propelled by Internet, Barack Obama Wins Presidency,” Sarah Lai Stirland, Wired.com, 11/4/2008
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June 22nd, 2009
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It’s Christmas in June! One of those common requests that floats around the email lists is, “does anybody have a copy of a sample _______ that I can take a look at?” Maybe it’s a contract, maybe it’s specification or a bid, but it’s usually something the sender has never written before and could really benefit from seeing a template of.
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June 19th, 2009
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Hmmm, looking more like Sunday for that final Obama piece — packaging up a design and specs for a site took more time than I expected this week. I’m doing the design, the marketing plan and the site spec, but another firm is building the actual technology, and nothing will make you realize how much stuff you usually decide on the fly like having to specify everything in advance. But that’s done now, and the article is moving along nicely. It’ll be damn nice to have it finished.
– cpd
June 19th, 2009
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Back in the day, my Dad’s favorite technique to get me to do something a little beyond my self-assessed abilities was to “make a deal with me.” He’d say, I’ll buy this model ship kit that you wish to possess and place it on top of the refrigerator, and I’ll make a deal with you: you can have it when you finish XYZ book/project. THAT’S how I ended up diving into John Toland’s 1000-page history of the Pacific War from the Japanese point of view (in paperback, thank god) while on the bus on a FIFTH-GRADE field trip…starting with 200-odd pages of 1930s Japanese nationalist politics, which at least was full of plots, assassinations, coup attempts, ritual suicides, and other exciting stuff. I finished it, too, after a couple of months, and it was a hell of an antidote to a whole lot of flag-wavey military “history” I was destined to read later.
Alas, not all of those model ships themselves got the same full and complete treatment, and quite a few languished on the shelf with that last 10% remaining undone. One (big) motorized PT boat sat in the closet for years, never able to get its motors mounted and itself under way, though I had managed to glue a very nice 57mm anti-tank gun from some other kit to the foredeck, actually a reasonably historically accurate hack (not bad for a ten-year old) and even to scale.
But I digress — which is exactly the point. So remember that Obama article series? A friend wrote in on Friday to ask for a link to the concluding piece, promised since March or so, assuming that he just couldn’t find it. And of course he couldn’t find it because it’s sitting safely right here on my hard drive, reveling in its current status as my Unfinished Symphony — though at the moment it’s more of a minuet, or a haiku…perhaps a limerick, only without the rhyme. Anyway, we don’t want to leave that series with those last words unwritten, particularly with the PDF conference only a couple of weeks away now.
So I’ll make a deal with you: I’ll write it this week, if you all promise to read it. Not bad, eh? Your part’s the easy one…. So: draft (to myself) by Wednesday; final publication Thursday. On my honor. Now mush, doggie, mush!
– cpd
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June 15th, 2009
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The e.politics bunker has reverberated lately with a familiar sound, words like “&%$#,” “*&%$” and “7%$#,” often combined into phrases like this: “you &%$#ing hateful little &%#@ing b*stard piece of &%$#ing @#$%!” I.e., it’s been time to learn a new piece of technology, and few things can bring out the blue language in such great and creative profusion as that process. It must run in the family — I can remember crashing noises coming from the basement 25+ years ago as my father hurled an offending disk drive (then about the size of a toaster) across the room, as was only reasonable at the time. (BTW, Dad’s latest technology project is all the rage in Ghana right now; more on that soon.)
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June 13th, 2009
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Cross-posted on techPresident
What matters at the polls? The candidate, the message, and the moment: everything else just sets the stage. You can have every endorsement in the state, tons of money in the bank, a flashy online volunteer-mobilization center (see screen-capture below), the endless attention of political observers around the country — and still lose badly.
In this year’s Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary, Terry McAuliffe’s national prominence and fundraising prowess had one measurable outcome: he spent $90 for every vote he received, and no doubt made a lot of local television stations very happy in the process.
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June 10th, 2009
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Working on a presentation for tomorrow’s Vocus user conference, I’m stuck by how often I keep coming back to a simple model for online organizing: the tripod. The basic idea (which I stole from Josh McConaha a while back) is that most online advocacy campaigns end up with three essential components:
- An online hub (usually a website although it could be a MySpace profile, a Facebook fan page or a blog)
- Some way of keeping in touch with people (usually email though it could also be Twitter or a social network)
- Online outreach (everything from blogger relations to video to social networking)
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June 4th, 2009
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Pull out your earbuds and listen, DC — that distant rumble you hear is the sound of Rock and Roll, still echoing around Foggy Bottom and its environs after Friday night’s Burning Sensation show. Only one thing could put out a fire like that one: a flood of booze…which in turn washed up one very happy group of Tonic bartenders (sample quote — “you and your friends can come back ANY time you want”).
Thanks to all 120 people(!) who made it, and if you were somehow tied to a chair and unable to come, here are a few shots to show you what you missed (try the Picasa version if you’re anti-Facebook). Note in particular the massive black-lighting in the second set, washed out alas by the camera flash. Mmmmm, black light — feel those retinas smolder.
So, when will your next chance come to Feel The Burn? Only DC’s show-bookers know….
– cpd
June 3rd, 2009
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- Update: As Obama’s speech looms, “Security agencies in Egypt ‘do not know what to do with connectivity’ — the ability of bloggers, Twitterers and Facebook users to share information and quickly assemble a crowd.”
- Update: Startup Green Energy Tech Installs First Small-Wind Concentrators. The promise of distributed power-generation blows me away…
- NJ GOV [election], Tweet By Tweet.
- White House Won’t Tweet Cairo Speech.
- China Censors: The Tiananmen Square Anniversary Will Not Be Tweeted, plus Iran Blocks Facebook, Outlet for Opposition.
- “The Government Moving at Internet Speed.” C.f. White House 2.0: It’s All Fun and Games Until Somebody Becomes President.
- Tiller remembered at D.C. vigil. Organized online by friend-of-e.politics and getter-of-things-done Tanya Tarr.
- How the Pickens Plan Recruited 1.5 Million Volunteers in Nine Months.
- Defining Sonia Sotomayor.
- RNC slams Obama over GM bankruptcy (via YouTube). But no amount of online video will save you if your message sucks.
- The Asimov story in which a mother invents Twitter.
- Social Networks Eclipse E-Mail. Hmmmm, let’s keep an eye on this one, as well as another: Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication?
- Bill O’Reilly doesn’t understand blogs. On the practice of “nutpicking.”
- Three (DC) Area TV Stations Form Local News Service. Look for more similar arrangements in the future as big regional papers pull back/disappear.
- Defense Dept., Industry Join to Protect Data, as Obama Says Hackers Got Into Campaign Computer Systems. But, Fake web traffic can hide secret chat.
- Kate Kaye’s Campaign ‘08 Book Fills In The Blanks for Me On What Happened.
- The City Of San Francisco Now Lets You Submit Complaints Via Twitter, as the Transportation Safety Board Begins Posting All Accident Reports.
- Payoff Over a Web Sensation Is Elusive. Via A Loyal Reader (thanks Pops!).
- Irish candidate eschews real world for online campaigning (your mileage may vary).
- A Facebook profile can reveal the real you.
- China Mobile in strategic partnership with Huizhou gov’t. Multiply times thousands…
- Report from an online advocacy campaign to remove tariffs on books in the Phillipines.
- The Myth Of The Myths Of Social Media Marketing. C.f. The ROI of Social Media.
- Tories rule online.
- Why Haven’t Conservatives Built Their Own ActBlue Around Twitter?
- The Next Frontier: Decoding the Internet’s Raw Data.
- The Trauma of 9/11 Is No Excuse. A brief departure from our normal fare. C.f. David Frum: Lies about me, and the lying liars who tell them.
- The Robert Wone Killing Remains ‘a Head-Scratcher’: Alleging Coverup by Housemates, D.C. Police Probe Theory of Bizarre Attack in Dupont Circle House. THIS is how to tell a story (and what a story to tell).
- A Netroots role in a Democratic challenge to Specter?
- In Defense of Splash Pages.
- Google’s Top Policy Executive to Join Obama Administration, as RNC and Bush Campaign Vet Joins Connell Donatelli as CEO.
- Netflix Queue: Twitter as a Weapon.
- Red Cross wins 26% of $3 million pie; Target adds nearly 100,000 new Facebook fans.
- Is Twitter for Old Folks? And other gems from TWTRCO.
- AIDS.gov — another public service blog that gets stuff done. C.f. The U.S. Government comes to YouTube.
- Search Engine Optimization: Evolution, Trends, and the Future.
- The 4 Must-Haves of a Successful Web site Redesign.
- Social Media Listening Tools.
- Social Media & Politics.
- Is Direct Mail Dying or Dead? Hogwash!
- Earned Media: How to Stay Relevant and Track It.
- Lessons from a Webby-Winning Web Site.
- How to Share Your Results with Donors.
- Beware Google: Microsoft’s new search engine isn’t half-bad.
- Social change takes more than social media.
- And now for something completely different: Barack Obama’s Facebook Feed (a must-read).
- Pleasure Yourself. As you command, my dear…
- Craigslist’s Forced Censorship of Erotic Ads Saves Journalism Industry. Now THAT’S an unintended consequence!
– cpd
June 2nd, 2009
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Advocacy campaign sites are a distinct breed — whether about human rights or business taxes, they generally do the same things and even usually LOOK quite similar. Why? For one thing, hard experience: online organizers have now had enough years in the business to have a good idea of what works, so it’s relatively straightforward to put together a list of necessary features and handy extras. Another reason is time: advocacy sites are often created quickly, even overnight (for example, I designed and built this one in two days back in 2007), which tends to encourage a certain uniformity of appearance (creativity takes time!).
(more…)
May 29th, 2009
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Okay, I’m a sucker for pitches like these, I admit it:
“In response to Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court, mobile music site mSpot.com has pulled together a list of five (and certainly there are many more) ringtones that speak — or rather, sing — to the big news. The beauty of these ringtones is that mSpot.com allows you to edit up to 30 seconds of your favorite law-abiding tone — you don’t have to download what the carrier pre-selected.
“We went ahead and selected a few choice lyrics for you…”
-
Daughter of Justice — The Undecided
“We live in a world with so few answers, where is the justice that she seeks? Who will end this poverty?”
- Courthouse — Chris Isaak
“People take their places, down at the courthouse / People stand in line to see you fall.”
- Ladies’ Choice — Zac Efron (from Hairspray)
“…shop around little darlin’, I’ve got to be the Ladies’ Choice, Ladies’ Choice.”
- Judgement Day — Whitesnake
“With only love to light the way.. on the road to judgement day”
- She’s the One — The Ramones
“Yeah yeah she’s the one.. When I see her on the street, you know she makes my life complete”
————————————–
Hmmmm, not a bad start (the Whitesnake and Ramones tunes counter Zac Efron, if barely…), but let’s see if we can do better. How about one for the Republican talking points?
- She’s a Rebel — Green Day
“She’s a rebel, She’s a saint, She’s the salt of the earth, And she’s dangerous”
Or one about Obama and identity politics?
- Black Dog — Led Zeppelin
“All I ask for an’ all I pray, Steady rollin’ woman gonna come my way”
You’re next! Leave results in the comments…
– cpd
May 26th, 2009
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Hmmmm, whatever Wordpress function that handles URLs on this site seems to be broken — none of the article links are working right now. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on, but for now it’s a bit hard to read anything here…
Update: We’re back in business after a relatively simple fix, but I’m still not sure what caused the underlying problem, which briefly made the site essentially unreadable. What were we saying about the glories of technology?
May 26th, 2009
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Cross-posted on techPresident
Update: Check out Henri Makembe’s related piece for a different angle on the topic.
Fascinating experience a few days ago — I got to do a presentation/discussion about online fundraising with a group of Democratic state-level staff, most in their 20s and 30s and most affiliated with state parties, state legislative caucuses and the like. The upshot: man, does it seem as though that world has changed since I worked for a member of the Texas Legislature in the early 1990s, and judging from this experience, we’re on the verge of a real explosion of online state-level U.S. politics.
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May 23rd, 2009
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Hi y’all, today’s discussion with Karen Jagoda is now online — listen directly [mp3], or check out previous editions of the Digital Politics Show. Our official topic was voter engagement over the ‘net, but Karen and I covered a ton of fun subjects ranging from Twitter to political organizing to building that all-important personal fan base. Give it a listen.
– cpd
May 21st, 2009
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