Nine out of 10 videos watched during the 2008 presidential campaign that mentioned Obama and McCain were produced by citizens trying to influence each other. An explosion of political conversation is happening on these networks, and the last people to arrive at the party are the politicians themselves.
Interesting insights to what’s going on in the political arena and especially how the public has led the movement to political use of social media. Some of the claims and stats are really eye opening.
We are in the midst of a charged political season with the high profile campaigns using anyway they can muster to get their messages out, engage volunteers to help their efforts and engage voters. Campaigns have effectively and ineffectively used social media to engage. I mean to use the next several posts on What’s To Come to explore these dynamics.
Effective uses:
Increase the number of “touch-points” with voters, donors and volunteers. Use frequent updates on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs in concert to increase the “Buzz” around your campaign. Encourage supporters and volunteers to re-tweet and share posts to their friends and followers.
Create a personal connection between the candidate and supporters. Candidates and campaigns who take the time to become part of the social networking community can realize the benefit of direct and personal connections with their supporters. This is much more personal than a mailer or commercial and creates solid, grass-roots support.
Get more mileage out of video. Debates, interviews and commercials and be captured and reused using YouTube or other video sites then spread through links on blogs, Twitter and Facebook.
Promote an event. Facebook and Twitter are perfect for creating and event and inviting others to attend. Great for parades, fundraisers, forums and yes,,,, Election Day! A great way to engage in a positive and participatory fashion.
Over the next few days as we edge in on the August 3rd Primary elections, I will discuss some of the ineffective uses of social media in campaigns, elaborate further on things that do work and point to a number of articles that discuss these uses.
What campaign related social media hits are you receiving right now? How does it affect your opinion or level of activity?
After my last post on Net Neutrality, I received some feedback from one of my friends who is in governmental affairs for a major service provider. He pointed me to some very thoughtful articles on the subject and I wanted to share them with you.
The Net Neutrality discussion is getting hotter. The following short article from PriceWaterhouseCoopers gives an overview to the discussion and conflict between the likes of Google and AT&T. It truly is a battle of the giants!
Dustin Jacobsen – Social Media Director at Barkley and I gave this presentation to about 60 people for a Lenexa Chamber of Commerce Lunch and Learn. Enjoy
Lenexa, Kansas – my city, is one of 600 or so cities across the country vying for the Google High Speed Fiber project. Our city staff, community and City Council has been working on this since it was initially announced. To find out more information go to http://www.yeslenexa.com. Of course we are hopeful that our wonderful demographics, positioning in the Bio Tech, Bio Science, education and IT sectors will make us an attractive candidate for this test. We’re a city of roughly 33 square miles, 50,000 population with over a 1,000 miles of fiber already in the ground, 20 of those belonging to the City.
Take a look at the following article from Wired.com. 190,000 People and 600 Cities Want Google’s Fast Fiber
Last week the National Broadband Plan (NBP) was released by the FCC. I have a special interest in this plan due to my work on the Information Technology and Communications committee for the National League of Cities. On December 2007 our committee released a resolution calling for a National Broadband Plan. See my post http://www.finitytech.com/wordpress/?p=75 with the resolution.
The NBP asserts that broadband is the first 21st century national infrastructure play, on par the with grand projects of the 19th and 20th centuries — the transcontinental railroad, rural electrification, universally available telephone, radio and television services, and the interstate highway system.
If you are really interested in finding out more, go to http://www.broadband.gov/ with lots of information, FAQs, and detailed looks at the NBP
It is somewhat mind-blowing to see the stats in the following video. Enjoy!
This is another official update to the original “Shift Happens” video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence…
Facebook’s 300 million users collectively spend more than 8 billion minutes on the site each day
These are eye opening statistics about Facebook and their usage as recounted this week by Facebook’s VP of engineering, Mike Schroepfer. Also, 1.2 million photos are served on Facebook each second. Wow! See the article Facebook Users Spend 8 Billion Minutes/Day on the Site from Gigaom.com
