Archive for October, 2006
K. Daniel Glover over at National Journal has a great look at political campaigns’ use of paid bloggers in this election cycle, using campaign finance records to name names and amounts.
With increasing frequency, candidates across the country are paying bloggers to write, develop Web sites, connect with energetic allies on the Internet, respond to online critics, and advise their employers about how to behave in the blogosphere. Others are paid to do more traditional campaign work like communications consulting and opposition research. Their pay scales range from a few hundred dollars a month to a few thousand, with some of the bloggers earning top dollar for their expertise.
Note that the article isn’t talking about Wal-Mart/Edelman-style flogs (fake blogs set up for marketing purposes), but about bloggers who are working directly with the campaigns, often to write the candidate’s official blog. If they’re established bloggers, though, they’re not always doing it with the knowledge or approval of readers of their regular sites.
– cpd
October 31st, 2006
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NPR continued its coverage of the new technology of politics with an interview with Joe Trippi on Morning Edition today. Not much new here, though the piece discusses YouTube and the rise of citizen journalism, MySpace, Google-bombing and podcasts. Trippi talked at some length about one of his favorite ideas, the concept that new online technologies, unlike television, reward authenticity in a candidate. Past NPR pieces covered YouTube ads and political databases. Thanks to Peter Davis for the tip.
– cpd
October 31st, 2006
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Despite the much-discussed problems that have arisen lately with email advocacy, mass messages and email newsletters are still a critical tool for most campaigns and organizations. We use them to educate supporters, spur them to take action when needed, and to raise money. MySpace and similar sites notwithstanding, email is still the best means we have of building and maintaining relationships with online supporters.
So, how to decide which mass email tool or provider is best for your group? Idealware has a great article that covers the basics of mass email communications, inluding the both the essential features and the nice-to-have extras. It covers just about every topic that organizations should consider, from list management to message formatting to after-action reporting, and it doesn’t lose sight of the fact that the content matters more than the tools used to send it. Once you read this, you’ll know the questions to ask the vendors.
Also, Idealware and N-Ten are hosting an online seminar tomorrow about choosing an e-newsletter tool, though it’ll cost you — $60 for N-Ten members and $100 for non-members.
– cpd
October 31st, 2006
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The Republican National Committee has asked their email list members to sign up to receive election-related news and action alerts via text message. Not the first time the Rs have used text messaging, since Californians could read notes from Ah-nold during the state Republican convention back in August. Is this the beginning of a new tool for the Republican turnout machine? Via The Bivings Report.
– cpd
October 30th, 2006
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An article by David Jackson in yesterday’s USA Today reminds us that email, just about the oldest online advocacy tool around, is still a useful weapon in the political communications arsenal. Jackson focuses particularly on the White House’s rapid response efforts, but campaigns and organizations across the spectrum are constantly sending out barrages of talking points and “fact” sheets to journalists, bloggers, editorial writers, talk radio hosts and other opinion leaders. These messages spead behind the scenes and rarely get discussed publicly, but they fundamentally shape the news we read and hear every day. Thanks to Ha-Hoa Dang for the tip.
– cpd
October 30th, 2006
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Two Washington Post articles this weekend serve as a reminder of how fast the online communications world is changing. On Sunday, Yuki Noguchi looked at the fickle nature of social networking sites’ audiences, wondering if MySpace will meet the same fate as Xanga and Friendster before it. One caveat: her evidence is largely anecdotal, and the average amount of time users spend on MySpace has stayed around two hours per month for the past year. Still, Facebook seems to be waiting in the wings as the Next Big Thing.
The previous day, Sara Kehaulani Goo examined Google’s aggressive expansion beyond text search ads into video ads and more comprehensive online campaigns. The company already has a 500-person team in Manhattan designed to work with large national advertisers.
As online persuaders, the tools open to us are constantly evolving. I sometimes wonder how we can keep up with them all.
– cpd
October 30th, 2006
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- Liberal Bloggers Try To Google-bomb Republicans. Chris Bowers of MyDD enlists the blogosphere to try to ensure that the “proper” articles about Republican candidates show up high in search results. Suggested by a loyal reader (thanks, Dad!). (The Bivings Report also takes this topic on.)
- Saving Democracy With Web 2.0. Wired News looks at online mapping applications and how they can be used to present political data — from campaign contributions to federal contracts.
- Strategic Online Communities. Alan Rosenblatt looks at the difference between non-strategic and strategic online communities — and why the latter may prove to be powerful political advocacy channels.
- Cantwell Folks Solve Tedstevens.net Puzzle. Parody site about Sen. Ted Stevens was created by a former staff member, not a fellow senator. Site appears to be dead, alas. Suggested by occasional contributor Burt Edwards.
– cpd
October 27th, 2006
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Today on Morning Edition, RNC Chair Ken Mehlman discussed some of the mechanics of using database-driven microtargeting to reach out to new voters. Specifically, he talks about the kinds of consumer choices that can indicate potential Republican leanings (hint: Lincolns and pickup trucks, not Subarus or Volvos). He attributes the Republicans’ doubling of their normal share of the Ohio black vote in the 2004 election to the party’s ability to reach out to the exact voters likely to respond to targeted messages and to not waste time and money on others.
During the interview, Mehlman also shifts responsibility for the “Call Me” anti-Harold Ford ad, which he doesn’t see as race-baiting. The NPR page shows it alongside other noteworthy recent commercials, including the Michael J. Fox stem-cell ad that’s gotten a lot of attention.
– cpd
October 26th, 2006
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Margarita recipes! Blogging dogs! (“Sometimes he sings to me and I dance and wag my tail…”). Indiana Dan (Burton), complete with bullwhip! These join empty pages, typos galore, “under construction” signs and the much-loved <blink> tag as ways to get on CNET’s list of the worst political websites.
Sweet Jesus, how I love sites that are this bad. I love them like I love hair metal power ballads, Teenagers from Outer Space, 1950s educational films and home-edited skateboard videos (actually, never mind, some of those are really GOOD). In this case, the small-timers, fringe-runners and also-rans have an excuse, but not the incumbent congressmembers. That’s what makes it fun. Via Politics and Technology.
– cpd
October 25th, 2006
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At this week’s Mobile Monday meeting, Alan Rosenblatt said something else that got me thinking: “Google destroyed message control.” He meant it specifically in the sense that he thinks Google has made obsolete the old rule that you should never repeat your opponent’s message. He argues instead that you SHOULD repeat it, so that your version can be found online by someone searching for it, but that you should reframe it in the process — the old subtle what-he-says-sucks-and-here’s-why strategy. If you show both sides, your credibility goes up. And if you package both your messages and his correctly, you’ll come out looking infinitely better.
I’d argue that Alan hit on a larger truth, though. Google, blogs, YouTube, good old email and all our other fun tools have significantly eroded the idea that campaigns can control their messages and corporations their brands. Yes, there are still intermediated media (if that’s a valid phrase), particularly television, through which you can spread your unfiltered talking points via ads or through surrogates pontificating unchallenged on “news” shows. They’re not going away any time soon.
But they have competition now of a very different sort: online information consumers have too much power for a top-down-only strategy to work for long. Campaigns swim in a competitive sea of ideas and information, and they’re part of an ever-unfolding discussion. They need to join that conversation and shape it, rather than shout their voices down from a mountain on high.
– cpd
October 25th, 2006
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YouTube, land of the free and home of the, well, really free. At least when it comes to political ads and any shred of responsibility for their content, acording to a segment on last night’s All Things Considered. Here’s an example from the race for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District:
Ron Kind even spent your tax dollars to pay teenage girls to watch pornographic movies with probes connected to their genitalia.
Oh, my. I must say, that’s one sentence I never expected to write on this site. For more excitement, listen to the piece. Besides describing mainstream campaigns’ use of online ads and the fact that video can occasionally backfire, it talks about how YouTube can get national attention for an obscure candidate, particularly if he or she does something outrageous. Like accuse his opponent of being a sex merchant because of a vote over NIH research.
– cpd
October 25th, 2006
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Last night’s first-ever Washington Mobile Monday covered the concept of digital graffiti, which consists basically of public screens that display the content of text messages sent to a particular shortcode or phone number. We played around with an example last night and it was a ton of fun — imagine blog-style collective conversation, but projected on a wall in front of us.
Stephen Randall, CEO of LocaModa, which developed the Wiffiti digital graffiti tool we were using, talked about rolling the technology out in coffeeshops and bars, possibly linked to social networking applications (hmmmmm, let’s find the profile of the person who just wrote that I was hot!) as well as on huge screens in public places (imagine a massive public conversation board in Times Square, also connected to the web and hence readable from anywhere in the world).
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October 24th, 2006
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Hi folks, I’m just back from a long weekend whitewater rafting in West Virginia — nothing like a solid dose of 55-degree water and sheer terror to focus the mind. A bunch of potential articles have piled up over the four days I’ve been out of the loop, so let’s get started.
First up, Kira Marchenese at Environmental Defense has been learning a lot in the past few weeks about using Facebook for political organizing, and she’s put together some quick bullet points about its strengths that she’s graciously allowed me to reprint. Rumor has it that Republican candidates and causes have been using the site more effectively than progressives — lefties, take note.
(more…)
October 24th, 2006
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14th Colony looks at 13 reasons websites fail, ranging from stale content to a shattered budget to a complete lack of promotion. Good reading for anyone involved in an online project — behind each of these points lie a lot of broken dreams and missed opportunities. It’s written from a business point of view, but many of the observations would apply to advocacy sites as well. Be sure to read the comments. Via Technology Evangelist.
– cpd
October 19th, 2006
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