While we’re on the subject of social networking, here’s a quick Facebook tip: on a confence call today, Farra Trompeter mentioned that a she’d received Facebook message from a pro-Obama group she’s joined, asking her to change her Facebook Status to “voting for Obama.” I’m sure this isn’t new, but I hadn’t thought about it enough before to see it as a communications tool. Clever, since regular Facebook users see their friends’ Status messages (”Colin is…”) often.
Update: More news on the Obama surge from the Cafe Press primary: “After being nearly tied two weeks ago in weekly candidates sales (Obama at 28%, Hillary at 26%), now as of last week, Obama has surged to account for 48%, while Hillary is down to 19% of weekly candidate sales.” More here, and thanks to John Hlinko for the tip.
Hillary Clinton’s Online/Offline Town Hall. She’ll take questions via email, text and video, with Bill and Chelsea (among others) hosting satellite town halls around the country.
Republicans make Fox News sick. “To recap New Hampshire for Fox News: Hannity was pursued by a Republican mob, O’Reilly got into a shoving match with an Obama aide, and CNN grabbed more viewers. Now that’s a week to remember!”
The Day After. The end of the Edwards campaign, through the eyes of his blogger outreach staffer.
Australia wild party child turns party pro. My teenaged near-namesake uses MySpace to promote a party, 500 “friends” show up and do $20,000 worth of damage. Delanys everywhere are extremely proud. Via my friend Doug McCammon.
Sarah Lai Stirland continues her excellent coverage on the online component of the 2008 election with a profile of homeschooled evangelical twins who are key to Mike Huckabee’s online support — and its conversion into offline action. We’ve already heard about Huckabee’s powerful email list; in this article, Stirland paints a detailed portrait of more of the candidate’s online grassroots mobilization, which may be critical to the success of his underfunded campaign. Extensive excerpts are below, but I recommend checking out the entire article. (more…)
That little orange button on the right isn’t a lie — it’s been a long time coming, but e.politics is now a full-time consulting business. As of January 1, I left my day job at the National Environmental Trust to devote my time to helping a diverse array of advocacy groups, companies and campaigns use the ‘net to help spread their messages and achieve their political and communications goals.
My plan is to help clients choose the most effective options available to them in the ever-expanding world of online communications, and then implement those technologies efficiently and with the highest chance of success. When outside vendors are developing the tools, I’ll work with clients as needed to understand the process and make sure that the project goes as smoothly as possible — effective planning and oversight can save a lot of time and money down the road. I’ll also help develop strategies for the best use of specific tools including social media, social networking, email lists, databases and blogs and blogger relations.
Here’s a sneaky way to use the web to put a knife in the other guy: leak an ad targeting your opponent to an online media outlet which can then post it for mass distribution. Combine that with the journalist’s own email distribution list, and you have instant publicity (thanks for the note, John). Besides using Romney’s own words against him in brutally effective fashion, the ad is also interesting in that it was produced by a media group now working for the Romney campaign — they’d been on Team McCain originally but left when he ran into trouble earlier in the year. Kudos to Dickerson and Slate for putting the piece out in context rather than simply running it straight, as you’ll see below.
For more background and analysis, see Slate. For Romney’s reaction, listen for the distant sound of wailing, moaning and gnashing of teeth.
Update: Why do I like this idea so much? Everybody loves a scoop or a leak — something that feels as though you’re getting an insider’s glimpse, and it makes someone like me that much more likely to link to it. It’s just a little naughty! I bet the TV types pick up on it like crazy. When your campaign is short on cash, free media exposure is priceless.
In honor of my brother’s flight to Tokyo today, let’s take our own little trip to the always-worth-it world of Japanese TV, in this case a game show that features live-action Pac-Man. Thanks to Danielle Kriz for sending along this Laughing Squid find:
Japan: once again, winning the award for most bizarre industrialized culture on the planet.
Don’t forget Tuesday night’s fundraiser for NOI — it’s shaping up to be one hell of a party. I work right across the street; you’ll have to be pretty quick to beat me to the bar at 5:30. Here’s the scoop:
The New Organizing Institute (NOI), the Washington City Paper, DCene, Solidarity DC , and MCCXXIII in Washington DC bring you an unforgettable event on June 12, 2007.
More than 500 young progressive professionals will come together for a happy hour at MCCXXIII (1223 Connecticut Avenue, NW ) on June 12, 2007 to benefit the New Organizing Institute. Expect an evening filled with great people, dancing, and the sounds and visuals of DC-based producers Reehee & Shred.
100% of all proceeds benefit the New Organizing Institute, and MCCXXIII is donating $4/person. So the more friends you bring, the more gets donated. $12 suggested cover donation. The event starts at 5:30 PM and will go until 9:00 PM.
If you’re in New York this weekend or looking for an excuse to head to the Big City, why not check out the second day of the Personal Democracy Forum Conference, the unConference, on Saturday? It’s a very cool idea — rather than the usual canned presentations by Big Names, it’s you and me passing information back and forth in discussions that we choose to put on. The unConference is a self-organizing community, which is about as Web 2.0 as you’re going to get. And, it’s only $35, which includes lunch (mmmmmm, lunch).
So come on out, whether or not you’re planning to go to PDF’s main event on Friday — I guaran-damn-tee you it’ll be worth it, if you’re into this crazy online politics stuff at all. I went to something similar put on by the New Organizing Institute soon after the ‘06 elections, and it was like a summer camp for online advocacy nerds. I.e., a hoot and a half. Come up and say howdy if you’re there, and be sure to thank organizer Nancy Scola, who’s a badass and is working her heart out to make this thing happen.
One Hit Too Many: New site for eHarmony rejects. Designed for people who are “gay, ‘unhealthy’ or even just obstreperous” — you guys should fit right in.
Want to know how your organization/campaign matches up to the other guys, at least as far as email list performance goes? M&R Strategic Services’ Eve Fox writes in with the company’s summary and comparison of three recent email list benchmarking studies. Some findings? Bigger lists work better, overall online fundraising is on the rise, and rapid response pays off. Also, online donors tend to be younger and to earn more money than direct-mail donors. A summary quote from the report:
The three recent benchmarks studies capture online program metrics from a variety of nonprofits that focus on a multitude of issue areas. Though the data differs (sic) somewhat among the studies, one point is perfectly clear: the Internet is the place for nonprofits to invest!
You can make those “investment” checks out to Colin Delany, c/o epolitics.com. Large-denomination unmarked bills are also welcome.
Next, Beaconfire Consulting takes a look at one of the oldest forms of online community, the email list/email group. The company spent months monitoring 64 environmental discussion groups and figuring out what makes them tick, and they’ve put together a list of seven secrets to list success along with an analysis of list dynamics. One interesting conclusion that Beaconfire’s Eric Eckl points out in an email:
Of particular note for nonprofit organizations, concerned citizens formed many of these groups on their own initiative without any assistance or participation from a formal organization, and participants on most of these lists pay little attention to the activities of the national environmental groups. Those national organizations that figure out how to overcome this gap and successfully engage with these outspoken citizens stand to reap some big rewards.
…if you’re an experienced online advocacy guru. The New Organizing Institute is looking for “guest consultants” to volunteer a couple of hours to work with one of the 50+ organizations (nice Google spreadsheet, Roz) that will be attending the NOI training next week. Includes lunch! (Mmmmm, lunch.) Sign up today or contact Roz for more information.
Woo ha! The day is almost at hand…time to Cry Havoc and Loose the Dogs of Rock! Details below…
[Note: the upstairs at Solly’s is fairly small, so come early to guarantee your spot on the dance floor. You can always grab a pre-show drink at the first-floor bar. Come say howdy if you go — I’m the guy on bass.]
So, e.politics had a sizable bump-up in traffic yesterday, both compared with the day before and with a normal Saturday. Everybody must be trapped somewhere for the holidays, already tired of Uncle Bob’s stories and the squalling of that lovely new cousin. I’m worn out from chasing adorable nieces around the house (apparently, I make an excellent scary monster — perhaps a career change is in order), but I’ll see if I can’t crank out a couple of articles that have been simmering for the last few weeks to do my part to give you an excuse to hog the family computer. My chance to help you have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Joyous Kwanzaa or a Kickass Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant.
Wall Street Journal whaps bloggers upside the head (apparently, most popular blogs are “downright appalling”). Micropersuasion and Beltway Blogroll reply.
HRH: The Ellen Show. According to Hotline, liberal bloggers are targeting centrist Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher.
Join Rudy 2008. Rudy Giuliani’s exploratory committee site launches.
Two more PDF articles, this time with Justin Oberman going mobile: he looks at SMS in Venezuela’s Election (”nearly 8 million voters used SMS to find their polling station”) and listens to the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered wildlife ringtones.
Burt Edwards has pointed out this excellent Flash map of recent polls in particular congressional races, with a nice drill-down to details about the district and the surveys.
Writing in Personal Democracy Forum, Micah L. Sifry looks at a bunch of new political applications, including election day polling problem-reporting mechanisms and election-related citizen journalism projects.
Hey kids! I’m off for a few days, heading to Kansas to see what’s wrong with the place (hint: it’ll involve a serious shortage of liquor once we’re through with the joint). Two of my best friends are getting married to each other, and seeing as they also just happen to be my comrades in Burning Sensation (DC’s most startling sonic entity), we’re gonna be forced to whoop it up in classic style.
In the meantime, if you haven’t read Online Politics 101, now’s your chance to give it a try:
Download the PDF [2.4 megs] — right click and “save as” to grab your own copy. You can’t hardly beat the price.
Or, follow the links to the right to browse by chapter.
