Archive for October 31st, 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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