Archive for October, 2010
Hi folks, today’s a big day — I’m leaving New Media Strategies to head back to the nonprofit space. It’s been a fascinating time working here and I’ve learned a ton, and I’m also leaving behind some very cool people whom it’s been great to meet. But life evolves, and you need to know when to move on.
So far, I’m interviewing for positions with do-gooder organizations this week and next, and we’ll see what transpires on that front. More news soon….
– cpd
October 29th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
A new article from Google alum Chris Talbot, continuing the focus on getting out the vote in the last days before the election. Find out more about Chris at the Talbot Digital site and on Twitter. Also see his previous article covering online rapid response.
Switching to Guns: Political Air Wars Come To The Internet
Chris Talbot
“Too close for missiles, I’m switching to guns….”
Much like the onscreen aviators in Top Gun (cue the nostalgia, YouTube!) American politicians find themselves in a dogfight this week — and have taken to the airwaves to do combat. But with seven days to go before elections, the television advertising market is swamped with political messages from all corners, marking a challenge for campaigns that need to distinguish themselves among undecided voters. To boost their impact, campaigns are putting more resources into digital advertising — a match made in heaven for their fat TV budgets. But how can a campaign make the most of those final dollars? While the objectives are quite the same as those of traditional media purchases, the methods and strategies of the online media space are unique.
(more…)
October 26th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
A little bird just whispered this in my ear, soon after said bird got off the phone with Google’s political advertising team: rates for Google/YouTube’s “in-stream” ads in certain states have doubled or tripled in recent weeks, and it’s because of the glut of political television advertising right before the mid-terms. But the trend isn’t so much driven by political advertisers themselves buying in-stream ads, which run before YouTube videos and hence are difficult for viewers to skip. According to this source, the primary driver is the fact that political ads have eaten up so much broadcast and cable television inventory that businesses are running out of places to hawk their wares. Consequently, THEY’RE cranking up their online video advertising buys, using in-stream ads to reach potential customers viewing videos online instead of over the airwaves.
Now of course, plenty of political advertisers are running YouTube ads, including the source of the story above, so companies aren’t the only ones eating up the video ad inventory and causing rates to rise. But the primary political effect seems to be indirect, in that it’s the campaigns’ (and outside groups’) television spending that’s driving other advertisers to less-crowded outlets. In the process, they’ve pushed in-stream ad rates from a typical $8/thousand impressions ($8 CPM) to something closer to $20 or $25 in active political areas. Next up: once advertisers get a taste of the effectiveness of advertising over YouTube, will they stick with it? Google’s got to be happy about this one.
– cpd
October 26th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
The latest from E.pol contributor Henri Makembe! Check out more from Henri at LocalPoliTechs and Twitter, plus his previous contributions to Epolitics.com
Integrated GOTV: Getting Out the Vote Online
Henri Makembe
On October 14th, I had the opportunity to be a presenter for NOI’s New campus GOTV series. My presentation centered around integrating in a campaign’s GOTV efforts, with an eye toward showing how conscious integration of your online presence can boost your efficacy and reach and help your campaign expand capacity in many ways.
In the slides, I attempt share best practices of integrating your online program for GOTV, and show helpful tricks to increase productivity as you move voters to the polls. Whatever else you take away from the slides, I’d like to highlight two items from the presentation:
- Empower your supporters and volunteers (to help with your new media efforts)
- Online efforts should amplify and support existing offline organizing efforts.
(more…)
October 25th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Howdy folks, Epolitics.com is back in business — I’m back from 10 days in Paris and London, centering around presentations at the World E-Gov Forum in Paris and at the London School of Economics a few days later. I’ll be posting photos and details about the trip soon, but it was a hell of a time all around. Both cities are fantastic places to explore, and I was lucky enough to meet some terrific people through the conference and at the LSE. And I can’t tell you what a relief it was to be spared U.S. political coverage for a few precious days — the group-think among American political “analysts” is suffocating, and it actually seemed easier to see things more clearly from afar. We’ll see what happens in a week…I hear there are some elections of some sort or another coming up.
– cpd
October 25th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
So here’s the scoop: remember that “Ten Who Are Changing the World of Politics and the Internet” list from a few months ago, the one in which all of you voted for e.politics? Well, I’m a finalist (one of the Top Ten) and am heading to Paris for the World E-Gov Forum next Tuesday….
Wow! Pretty damn cool all around, and THANK YOU to everyone who was able to vote, since I wouldn’t be going without your help. It’s a great honor, and I’ll be at the conference for two days to give a short presentation about this site and the work we’ve been doing here (thanks, guest authors!). Then, it’s off to London for that discussion at the LSE. I’m burning off my remaining vacation time from NMS in the process and am actually flying myself over there, but what the hell — life’s short, and opportunities like this don’t exactly come along every day. European capitals, here we come….
BTW, here are more details about the London presentation, written in typically genteel fashion by my friend Charlie Beckett. And please, if Epolitics.com doesn’t get updated much in the next few days, forgive me — I have clients to feed and care for before I go. Plus, anybody want to watch my cat while I’m gone?
– cpd
October 5th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Karen Jagoda has what looks to be another top-notch Digital Politics Show today, broadcast live at 3 PM Eastern:
With one month to go until Election Day, the topic today is how online ads and mobile apps are being used in the ground game and how campaign narratives are being shaped by dirty tricks and attacks.
The show today features Robin Wheeler, Category Director, Politics and Advocacy, AOL Advertising, contributing editor Gary Bivings, The Bivings Group, and Jack Dubie, co-founder, PatronApps.
Karen’s conversations are always worth the time, and this one will also feature a friend-of-e.politics, AOL’s Robin Wheeler, who’s in charge of the company’s drive to be the third leg of the online political advertising stool. Listen live at 3 at WSRadio.com, or check out past shows in the archives.
– cpd
October 5th, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Hello, e.politics readers in the UK! If you’re in London, you’re in luck — I’ll be in town for a few days around October 20th, and at noon that day I’ll be giving a presentation at the London School of Economics.
Digital Politics 2010: The Reckoning
Sure, the Internet may have helped elect Barack Obama President of the United States two years ago, but what has it done for us lately? In fact, American campaigns up and down the scale have been putting the lessons of 2008 to work in this year’s mid-term elections, and in the process they’ve invented new tactics and experimented with innovative new tools.
This discussion will look at how candidates and interest groups in in the U.S. are using Facebook advertising, Twitter, Google Ads, mobile phones, location-based services and older technologies like email and blogs to raise money, mobilize support and get voters to the polls in an important election year, with an emphasis on practical results and the implications for future political campaigns around the world.
Date: Wednesday, October 20th, doors at noon, presentation at 12:30 pm.
Venue: The U8 Lecture Theatre, Tower One, Clements Inn Passage, LSE (map and directions)
For help, further details or to reserve a seat, please email Polis@lse.ac.uk
And if you’re not in London, spread the word to your friends and colleagues who are! I’m really looking forward to this one — I bet we get some great questions during the Q&A. If you ARE a digital politics enthusiast in London, drop me a line — let’s go get a beer.
– cpd
October 1st, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
A message just flitted across an online politics listserv that illustrates a new form of political dirty tricks: using Facebook’s reporting system to mark your opponents’ information as spam. Someone wrote in to report that staff from their opponent’s campaign have been marking their messages and Wall posts as “inappropriate” or reporting them as spam, causing Facebook to lock the targeted candidate’s account twice in one day, despite many calls to the company to get the problem resolved.
Dirty tricks are nothing new to online politics (DDOS attack, anyone?), but with Facebook still relatively inexperienced in the political space, the company itself doesn’t seem to be prepared to respond as quickly as campaigns need. Perhaps it’s time to take a lesson from Google and build out a sizable team dedicated to working with campaigns full-time — their needs are unique, and even just a few hours can make a big difference. Particularly during a GOTV frenzy or a fundraising push.
– cpd
October 1st, 2010
Trackback
Bookmark on del.icio.us
