e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Quick Hits — February 18, 2013

February 18th, 2013

Step One in an e.pol publishing revival: clear the Quick Hits queue. Let’s get ready to rumble.

• Marco Rubio’s water grab becomes the talk of Twitter and social media, as Sen. Marco Rubio’s mid-speech water gulp goes viral on Twitter. C.f. [Twitter Loves] Marco Rubio’s drinking problem, and for context, More than 1.36 million people take to Twitter to talk State of the Union.
• Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence? Lots of tech and social media talk, via a loyal reader (thanks Dad!).
• Republicans encourage digital collaboration on Twitter. C.f. [conservatives,] Quit Blaming the Media: Four Reasons You Must Blog
• Republican Party’s Technology Revival Hopes Hinge On Data and Data Analysis. Meanwhile, GOP firebrand rocks social media. Ted Cruz is a hit, and other news from the Republican digital frontlines.
• Reconciling conservative new media: How we bridged the gap between party and press on the Romney campaign.
• The dark side: “Obama phones” cause social media stir in Florence, South Carolina.
• Social media gives Indonesian women new voice. Meanwhile, [Balkan] Regional politics take to the web.
• How Organizing for Action Plans to Keep Obama’s Foot Soldiers Enlisted. C.f. In Minnesota, Democratic Grandmas Gather Data About Their Neighbors.
• As Obama heads back to office, a battle rages over the tech that got him reelected.
• President Obama’s OFA has Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton echoes.
• Who Will Fund Obama’s Organizing for Action?.
• How Analytics Made Obama’s Campaign Communications More Efficient.
• The Obama team’s 5 best strategic decisions.
• Data mining is new lobbying gold. RapIndex gets great Politico coverage. Plus, Lobbyists Use Campaign-Style Opposition Research to Turn Tables on Rivals, and c.f. an earlier Epolitics.com look at online oppo research.
• Why Democrats think they can retake the House in 2014.
• Obama Campaign’s Former Digital Analytics Director going solo. Plus, Obama for America staffers form grassroots firm.
• Ad Ade interviews Joe Rospars, includes Lady GaGa in headline for shameless SEO boost.
• Joe Scarborough, deficit hawks push “Debt Deniers” meme. “The positions themselves are not what is at issue here. It is the belief of the debt scolds that their issue holds such overweening importance that it can only be considered in moralistic terms.”
• ‘Star Wars’ Empire Strikes Back at Obama’s Death Star Refusal. C.f. How the White House Petition Site is Becoming a Digital Public Square for an idealistic take. I’ll side with these guys instead: White House Petitions For Death Stars Now Require 100,000 Signatures. Key quote: “And that’s how We The People went from a failed experiment in direct digital democracy to another online diversion for nerds and crackpots, in 15 months, the end.”
• Egypt court orders YouTube blocked for a month in case related to anti-Islam film. Egyptians mourn sudden drought of piano-playing cats.
• Social Media Has Been a Mixed Blessing for the Arab Spring.
• Al Gore Says The Internet Will End Government Corruption. Good luck with that.
• Scott Brown’s strange late-night tweets draw attention. Apparently needs breathalyzer lock on his cell phone. C.f. #Bqhatevwr, or why Scott Brown needs to address his tweets. Update! Was he just pocket-tweeting? You be the judge….
• Nebraska Lt. Gov. Resigns After Phone Calls Discovered.
• Booker Sees Bigger Role for a Senator. Hint: involves Teh Twittahs.
• Social media sentiment analysis for politics? Our own Beth Becker gets quoted.
• 5 things campaigns can learn from advocacy organizations, by Henri Makembe.
• Pollsters: More cellphones, more Internet polling in 2016.
• Text donations spread down ballot.
• How To Build A Key Contacts Program.
• How To: Using Optimizely to Run A/B Split Tests.
• Ramp Up Fundraising & Monthly Giving with Social Media. C.f. How to put peer pressure to work for your cause and How folks are using Facebook: Stats & take-aways for nonprofits.
• Facebook ‘Lookalike Audiences’ help advertisers reach users similar to current customers, others in their database, via Beth Becker. C.f. Facebook Ad Targeting Now Offers ‘Lookalike Audiences’.
• Need More Audience Engagement? Follow the News..
• Google Grant max bid increases.
• Repub group using Google, Facebook Ads in anti-Hagel campaign.
• Wired.com Online Ads Finally Caught Up to Print.
• Five tips for using social media more effectively in your [government] agency.
• More Members Are Using Social Media To Interact With Their Constituents. Fireside21 integrates social media into its CRM for Congressional offices.
• Yahoo’s Jack Lew Signature Generator. Or, how to ride a (very) briefly trending meme.
• A Chinese Web censor snaps, goes on public rant. Meanwhile, Police “visit” Chinese blogger who exposed sex scandal.
• Web Site Focuses on Rape Case in Ohio.
• Internet activist’s family blames feds for suicide. C.f. When the Law Is Worse Than the Crime.
• A nice roundup of anti-Obama conspiracy websites.
• Atlantic pulls Scientology “advertorial” after social media outcry, as Atlantic fiasco renews ethics concerns about advertorials.
• Making Local Leaders Part of Your Video Strategy.
• Help out with the FTC Robocall Challenge. Please help end one of the scourges of our age.
• How Steampunk Inspired IBM’s Trend Tracking for Brand.
• Why big data might be more about automation than insights.
• White House: NRA (online video) ad ‘repugnant’.
• Ad site snafu raises questions about FCC oversight.
• Facebook Announces “Graph Search” Launch.
• Pinterest Brings Social Image Sharing to Government.
• Facebook “Like” Campaigns Unliked, Perhaps Underrated.
• Study: Prime-Time TV Spending Wildly Inefficient, accounts for 54% of dollars and 34% of impressions.
• Content Strategy: 9 Secrets for Awesome Blog Post Titles, via Rachel Perrone.
• Blackbaud CEO announces departure from company, as NationBuilder taps Moschella as VP of organizing.
• Joe Biden Holds “Fireside Google+ Hangout” on Gun Control.
• Helmet-cam video alters our experience of war.
• U.S. said to be target of massive cyber-espionage campaign, as Anonymous posts file claiming to have information from 4,000 bank execs.
• Meet the American Company Helping Governments Spy on “Billions” of Communications. But, also Meet the groundbreaking new encryption app set to revolutionize privacy and freak out the feds.
• Hillary Clinton’s new website. At first, just a contact form, via PoliticalWire.
• Facebook to Make Targeted Ads More Transparent For Users.
• Silicon Valley’s “Obi-Wan,” Ron Conway, Pulls Tech Startups Into Politics.
• Online Publishers Goosing their Reach with Cheap Media Buys.
• This Is How Much Facebook Made Per User Last Month: 2 Pennies.
• Inauguration 2013: Fox News’s takeaway from Obama speech.
• Agency Wank. Via Shaun Dakin, “celebrating” the finest possible communications agency taglines.
• That crazy North Korean video of New York blowing up, now with English.
• And finally, Father Hires Virtual Hit Men To Assassinate Son in Online Video Games.

– cpd