Sci-Tech Today | ABC News Reaches Out to Facebook Users

This is an interesting article because it highlights the increasing collaboration between "old media" broadcasters and "new media" social networking sites - and how political organizations might benefit. One concern not voiced in the article is whether these add ons and collaborations will be seen as intrusions by the users - who, in Facebook's case - tend to cherish its simplicity/ease of use.

The most visible evidence of the new partnership is on Facebook itself, where ABC News and Facebook have collaborated on their own profile page entitled "US Politics." At the top of the profile page is a button for a "US Politics" application that adds a new section to the individual profile page of Facebook users.

The new section allows Facebook users to "browse politicians" that they support, as long as the politicians have set up a Facebook page. The entry for Hillary Clinton, for instance, lists 53,000 supporters on Facebook, while Barack Obama's page lists more than 164,000.

The "US Politics" section enables users to list the debates in which they've participated. The current question asks "What should the federal government do about same-sex couples that want to be married?"

To promote interest in the new partnership, ABC News and Facebook will jointly sponsor debates among the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on January 5, just three days before voters cast their ballots in the opening primary.
Impact on Campaigns.

Read the whole thing at:
Sci-Tech Today ABC News Reaches Out to Facebook Users

''Citizen 2.0'' Will Impact 2008 Election, According to New Study From Yahoo!, HCD Research, and Hall and Partners

''Citizen 2.0'' Will Impact 2008 Election, According to New Study From Yahoo!, HCD Research, and Hall and Partners

“More candidates are using the Internet to reach voters, but overall, politicians are spending a tiny portion of their budgets online, just as most corporations were doing several years ago,” said Richard Kosinski, vice president of political advertising for Yahoo!. “We don’t think the 2008 election will turn on which candidate has the best blog or wiki. But we are saying that many campaigns are missing the important opportunity to tap into the great enthusiasm that Citizen 2.0 brings to the political process – and it’s easier than ever to do given the innovations in technology, the rise of social media, and the advancements in online advertising.”

...In identifying behaviors and characteristics of Citizen 2.0, the new research highlights the unique opportunity for candidates to help feed these voters’ insatiable appetite for political information from a variety of sources. Citizen 2.0 likes connecting, sharing opinions, and discussing political views, and is more likely to volunteer time and contribute money to a candidate. Researchers also found that these voters rely on the Internet as their most trusted, and frequently used resource for gathering information, and communicating about politics:

- 87 percent use news Web sites to gather information and learn about politics
- 82 percent use search engines
- 56 percent use candidate Web sites
- 51 percent use blogs and politically-based Web sites
- 40 percent use online political groups"

Good article on Google Adwords

One of the strategies that has worked well for many businesses, including mine, is the use of Google Adwords advertising. Yet, for the most part, politicians have been slow to adopt it. Hopefully that will change soon.

Here is a good article in Newsweek regarding those that are using it successfully. Peter Greenberger from Google, by the way, is a very smart guy and a good resource for those of us in the space.

If you have questions about how to employ Google Adwords strategies into your campaigns, please contact me.

New site for Dave Aronberg is up

Dave Aronberg Website

(Political advertisement paid for and approved by Dave Aronberg, Democrat for State Senate, District 27.)