Technology and Politics Links from ORS 03/01/2009 (a.m.)
-
Barack Obama: How Many Web Gurus Did It Take to Elect Obama?
Here’s the Obama tech dream team identified. Here’s the difference between this effort and what ORS is doing. This was an effort I’ve heard estimated at $75-$100 million and it’s the biggest election in the world. YOUR campaign needs similar strategy and tools without the $2500/day price tag. Well…we’ve got you covered. Tax Day. Until then…
-
Forbes.com: Digital Rules By Rich Karlgaard
More commentary from Forbes Flying Publisher Rich Karlgaard. Quite a leadership line up eh?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of operationredstate group favorite links are here.
Obama Campaign: Did it Half-Right, Doing it Half-Wrong
Social Media (SM) is a powerful tool. I can’t say it enough, even if you’re getting sick of hearing it. However, as social media “experts/consultants” say, there’s a right & wrong way to do it. In the political arena the Obama campaign did a phenomenal job of utilizing social media to organize and execute. Whether it was publicizing where they were or raising funds, it was their avenue to reach the masses. BUT, they only did it half right and now their doing it half wrong.
Social media is not a do it and leave it tool. You can’t sign on to Twitter and expect masses to follow you. You can’t expect to post 300 videos (McCain) when your opponents post 1800 videos (Obama) and get the same results.
What is the half-right way? It’s building that cult-like following that enables you to send message, videos, or 140 character updates to millions & millions of people.
What is the half-wrong way? Stopping when you win! As an entrepreneur would you stop utilizing SM after you hit your annual goals? Heck no! So why, as an elected official would you stop communicating with your constituents? SM isn’t for candidates, it’s for individuals that care about our country, their constituents, and the vitality of the American way. It’s a constant stream of communication back & forth that enables both parties (representatives & constituents, not elephants & donkeys) to express their ideas and act on them; before & after election!
I decided to check out President Obama’s and Vice-President Biden’s social media profiles. By the way, Vice-President Joe Biden doesn’t even have his own website! No, I didn’t check out Senator McCain’s because honestly, what’s the point? I was very disappointed with the results of my search.
@barackobama’s last two updates were January 15th & 19th for obvious reasons – Inauguration & MLK Day. Before January 15th his last post was November 5th! Even worse, @joebiden’s last update was August 13th! He couldn’t even make through the election.
Obama’s notes have not been updated since November 10th, his feed has had updates here and there, and his last photo album was August 26th. Biden’s last notes update was September 25th, last feed was December 5th (4 months after his second to last update), and his last album was August 25th.
I think you get the point now. Check out the other pages here to see how seldom they’ve been updated since election:
Myspace/barackobama | Myspace/joebiden
Youtube/barackobama | Youtube/joebiden
After looking at Youtube, President Obama has maintained video updates, but relative to pre-election updates the numbers are negligible.
SM must be maintained. While I’m sure President Obama is busy I’m sure he has an aid somewhere that could keep it current. Or match up one network with one aid. Point is – He’s doing it wrong.
Even more important are the implications of doing it half-wrong. If President Obama isn’t updating his social network what is the likelihood he’s listening to those who supported & followed him on his social network.
If you are running for office on any level you must do it ALL RIGHT! SM has a pre-election use and post-election use. Even if you lose, don’t be a Senator McCain & stop using it period. Build your support pre-election & LISTEN to your supporters post-election.
Glenn Beck: The US Collapse of 2009
Glenn Beck has done an incredible job of showing the devaluation of the US dollar since we left the gold standard. This is something we all need to hear and something we all need to share. Democrat or Republican, we are digging ourselves a grave that may be too deep to climb out of. Call your Senator & Congressional Representative & let them know we can’t afford this anymore.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)
Mayor Daley: Local Politics Get Social
Filed under: Campaign Technology, Social Media
I was reading an article today about the Mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, and how he’s been utilizing Youtube because he’s “convinced he’s not getting a fair shake from the mainstream media.”
Just from reading the article you can tell Daley has a plan and is executing it beautifully.
- Social Media Keeps Costs Low:
- Social Media NEEDS Consistency:
- Daley has already uploaded 23 videos created by him (and staff) to emphasize what he wants and says he will be doing so on a very regular basis.
- Social Media HIGHLIGHTS the Best:
- On his Youtube page he has videos highlighting President Obama’s praise for his hometown mayor (Daley) and a meeting with a Danish Ambassador.
- Social Media Builds Relationships:
- One of his videos takes you through his City Hall office as he talks about the different things he has in there including a variety of gifts like “knives, statues, [and] boxing gloves.”
- Social Media is Not Always Used to get Elected:
- He discusses how this Youtube site is being used to promote Chicago through him. Yes, this does help him get re-elected, but the mere fact that he is using it outside of any campaign shows he does have a message he wants you to hear.
Don’t get me wrong, there are things he’s not doing right, such as using some tax 
payer money to run it. I’m not sure of the details between the Google pro-bono work and the use of the city funds but his office insisted no funds were used that were not already budgeted for their municipal television channel (not that that makes it right).
Daley was asked by reporters if he was trying to bypass main-stream media, he replied “No. I have press conferences every day with you […] It’s all new technology. You have to understand that. …Politics has changed. Business has changed. If you don’t change, you live in the past. And if you live in the past, you’re gonna die.”
Typically I would just tweet this article on Twitter but it’s a great example of how social media can be used outside the campaign trail. Social media is not just a tool you use. It requires strategy and objectives just like any other tool you would use in the business world or political arena. It’s very apparent Daley has a plan and if you’re going to use social media you should too.
*Article & Quotes referenced by Fran Spielman for the Sun Times
Related articles by Zemanta
- Twitter = YouTube. (John Battelle/John Battelle’s Searchblog) (techmeme.com)
- Mayor Daley Debuts YouTube Channel (huffingtonpost.com)
- Google and it’s other Tools and Apps on Twitter (read2know.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d0d11c52-c321-4e40-b327-9b5657bc1ee5)
Technology and Politics Links from ORS 02/26/2009 (a.m.)
- Image via Wikipedia
-
http://www.andydrish.com/2009/02/24/seth-godin-on-blogging
Seth Godin and Tom Peters on Blogging…just WOW. I hope I say it half this good in my classes. Unreal. Please take a listen to this minute and a half clip. You’ll fire up your blog immediately afterward I think. Whether business or politics the same power applies. This is the most powerful marketing tool in the universe…and it’s FREE!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of operationredstate group favorite links are here.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8ad06c20-e064-4489-b2e3-36f56f9fece3)
Purchasing Power of Social Media
Filed under: Campaign Technology, Social Media
I was pilfering through my Google Alerts today and found some interesting stats I had never seen. We all are well aware of the success of the Obama campaign with social media. The numbers though are astounding if you look at four of the major social networks.
These stats were compiled courtesy of Jeremiah Owyang’s blog.
Internet Usage in United States
- United States Population: 303,824,646
- Internet Usage: 220,141,969
- Penetration rate: 72.5%
- Growth from 2000-2008: 130.9%
Stats from Internet WorldStats (Census, Nielson)
Obama: 2,379,102 supporters
McCain: 620,359 supporters
Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain
MySpace
Obama: Friends: 833,161
McCain: Friends: 217,811
Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain
YouTube
Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110
McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993
Obama has 403% more subscribers than McCain
Obama has 905% more viewers than McCain
Twitter
Obama: @barackobama has 112,474 followers
McCain: @JohnMcCain 4,603 followers*
Obama has 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain
Obama won the Presidential elections.
We were not just beat, we were left in the dust. Imagine if each individual that was following contributed just $100 to his campaign. Just from Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, and Twitter, assuming no repeat users, Obama would have raised $343,929,600! Let’ look at the actual dollar amounts raised according to the Federal Election Commission.
Obama raised a total of $744.9 million | McCain raised a total of $346.6 million
Here is how it happened. If you check out FEC.gov you’ll see breakdowns of donation amounts. 45% of Obama’s total contributions were $200 or less. Guess what the amount was….$334,636,346; very close to our previously calculated $343,929,600. Obviously the assumptions behind my calculation are inaccurate but I have read that President Obama had around 8.5 million followers across all social networks & his website. That would mean each follower would only have to contribute $39.37. That’s not much. Again, this is based on the assumption that those who donated $200 or less all followed online.
This is the power of social media.
On the other hand, contributions of $200 or less for McCain were merely 18.5% of his overall contributions.
It is blatantly clear that social media is a powerful and progressing force in the political arena and NO candidate on any level of government can afford to ignore or underuse these tools.
Furthermore, NO candidate can afford to use them incorrectly.
By leveraging social media tools in your campaign…no matter the level (local/state/national) you will raise more money, reach more people, increase your capacity to influence others, and position yourself such that you will always know what your constituents want.
That’s a winning formula.
Related articles by Zemanta
- How Obama Will Use Web Technology (techcrunch.com)
- Social Media and the Presidential Election – Obama 4 times more visible than McCain (webmetricsguru.com)
- Snapshot of Presidential Candidate Social Networking Stats: Nov 3, 2008 (web-strategist.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=4f05355a-4189-4c9c-9b5c-16c9cc58bae7)
Links that matter to ORS 02/25/2009 (a.m.)
-
The 10 most influential D.C. Twitterers – Patrick Gavin – POLITICO.com
Way to go Senator Grassley. He uses twitter to keep his constituents (we Iowans) informed of what’s happening with him and our gov’t. He’s doing a great job and keep in mind…he’s a bit outside the typically twitter demographic! Give ‘em hell Chuck.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of operationredstate group favorite links are here.
Operation Red State FaceBook Group Now Active
If you’re interested in supporting the ORS cause via our FaceBook Group, notice the shiny new Group Badge in the upper right sidebar. We will announce our official launch date this week. You’re going to love how this Interactive Learning Environment gets rolled out. There’s going to be a big party here in beautiful downtown Des Moines, Iowa. You’ll be able to see the entire thing via live stream. More to come and thanks again for supporting ORS.
Operation Red State Will Revolutionize How Grass Roots Campaigns Use Technology to Win Elections
Hello and welcome to Operation Red State. Our team is busy building an amazing arsenal of material that will revolutionize how campaigns leverage technology to solidify grass roots support movements. If you’re thinking that “technology wins elections” you are partially correct. I’d say however that:
Communication through technology wins elections.
What we see out there in our post-election political landscape is encouraging. Just about every campaign and politician I’ve encountered locally here in our great state of Iowa now tells me that, “I’ve got a FaceBook page and I have 350 legitimate friends and I’ve heard of Twitter and I’m not using it but Chuck Grassley is.” While that’s good news, it’s barely the beginning. There is a distinct lack of true web strategy and execution in candidates online efforts.
We’ve also seen hundreds of what we call the “manifesto groups” out there. “Sign up here and voice your support for changing the party direction!” I love those groups and encourage them. But we’re taking this a step further.
Operation Red State is delivering an online education system to propel candidate and campaign understanding and leveraging of technology to the next level well ahead of other parties.
In its simplest terms, Operation Red State is:
- A membership based system or “Interactive Learning Environment” that will deliver technology training to campaigns and candidates through rich multimedia and online experiences.
- A system that will be affordable for all campaigns at all levels.
- A system that will be updated constantly in exchange for a monthly subscription investment.
- A community with forums that will help you get answers, strategies, tactics, and advice faster than you can possibly imagine.
- A valuable meeting point for politicos and strategists from around the United States so you’re getting the best information from the best in the business in real time.
For now, we’d just ask that you subscribe to our site via RSS or Email updates and we’ll get you in the loop when the membership portion goes live. You will need your entire campaign on this system so we’ll make it worth your while to get everyone on board.
Clearly, we can’t plunge in and digest the full scope of how technology can be applied to our campaigns in a day, a week, or even in a month. So begin educating yourself and laying the foundation NOW for your elections in 2010. If you’re under the impression that this is for the “big campaigns” (either big money, big markets, or big publicity) think again. Sure heavy hitters will subscribe but so will Joe Candidate for his local election to City Council in Anytown, USA.
We’ll also provide an a la carte menu of services for candidates but for now, our focus is on bringing education to the masses. Let’s see what we can do together.
Sincerely,
Doug Mitchell, Chief Online Strategist
-
Social Media
