The Role of Blogs in Media Advocacy

Photo credit: BuffaloBeast.com

In this week’s discussions and readings on media advocacy, we learn that an organization’s message is nothing without a platform to disseminate the message; the media helps to shepherd the message from a source to its audience. With the rise of the internet and social media, advocacy organizations hope that their audience will utilize tools such as Facebook or Twitter to accelerate the spread of their message.

With this in mind, consider recent events in Wisconsin. Earlier this month, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced his intention to diminish the power state employees by eliminating their collective bargaining rights. State unions staged large demonstrations in Madison to protest the governor's plans. Amid the protests, the governor received a phone call from a man he believed to be his friend and advisor, David Koch. But the guy on the other end of the line wasn’t actually David Koch; he was Ian Murphy, gonzo journalist and editor-in-chief of BuffaloBeast.com - a satirical blog based in New York and self-proclaimed as "the world's only website." Murphy impersonated Koch well enough to gain access to the governor and record their conversation. Let’s just say that the conversation wasn’t pretty. At one point, Murphy (as Koch) says, “…once you crush these bastards, I’ll fly you out to Cali and show you a really good time.” Governor Walker agrees to the idea, saying that that would be outstanding.

That prank phone call could become a turning point in this battle. Walker lost control of the media's framing of the issue. While the media continued reporting on Walker's policy position, coverage now included personal statements from Walker's unflattering conversation with Murphy. Mainstream media outlets throughout Wisconsin and the country reported on the prank phone call. The transcript and video were available through not only Wisconsin's major newspapers and blogs, but nationwide newspapers as well, particularly after Murphy's site crashed after receiving too many hits. The story broke four days ago and since then, Murphy's post has hundreds of comments on the post and they're still coming.

Advocacy campaigns use the media to help advance their message. Murphy's story provides an example for how mainstream media advocacy is not exclusive to corporations, advocacy organizations, or political campaigns. One person's agenda has the potential to carry the same weight as a large organization. Because of Murphy's post and the ensuing media coverage, many people in Wisconsin have a new perspective on Governor Walker and his position on this issue. Murphy's story has the potential to help influence the outcome of this heated union debate.

Update: I just read this post from e.politics that emphasizes the compelling nature of multimedia content (in this particular case, audio). Multimedia has a long history of impacting politics, from JFK's first televised debate to the 2006 U.S. Senatorial campaign in Virginia. In that case, Senator George Allen was caught on camera using a racial slur to describe his opponent's staffer. The video went viral and Allen was ultimately defeated by Jim Webb.

"Weapons of Mass Mobilization"

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Clay Shirky predicts that the ease of forming groups will continue to improve collective action. This video from Aljazeera gives an overview of how social media served as the collaborative channel in the recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and now Bahrain. Shirky actually sits on the panel that is featured in this video, and while his time is limited, it is interesting to hear his perspective on recent events. Shirky continues to posit that the success and failures of collective action cannot be properly measured from a slice in time, but that we’ll have to wait well into the future to determine their true impact. The panel reaches a consensus in acknowledging that while revolutions are inherently contagious, it was the combination of a desire for justice to prevail and new media tools that contributed to the series of uprisings.

When asked specifically about the role that the Internet would play in the future of these countries, Shirky claimed that after meeting with Tunisian officials he believes that the future government institutions would work toward creating a more tolerant environment toward social media tools. Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! underscored the important role that journalists will play in facilitating the transition from a people’s uprising to a Democratic revolution by continuing to hold the government(s) accountable.

Reading Log: Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky’s, “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations” sets the foundation for understanding sociology in the digital world, and provides evidence for just how powerful groups can be when they change their behavior and adapt new technologies.

Even though Shirky’s book was published in 2008, many of the elements still ring true today – three years later – on the verge of another major national election. In light of recent events in Egypt, Shirky’s book poignantly describes what can happen in a society when information sharing leads to conversation, collaboration, and ultimately culminates in the form of collective action.

Shirky explains group dynamics in a primitive form, analogous to a beehive:

When we change the way we communicate, we change society. The tools that a society uses to create and maintain itself are as central to human life as a hive is to bee life. Though the hive is not part of any individual bee, it is part of the colony, both shaped by and shaping the lives of its inhabitants. The hive is a social device, a piece of bee information technology that provides a platform, literally, for the communication and coordination that keeps the colony viable. Individual bees can’t be understood separately from the colony or from their shared, co-created environment. So it is with human networks; bees make hives, we make mobile phones.

In his TED talk, Shirky emphasizes that new technologies don’t infiltrate societies at their inception, but rather when people’s comfort with a technology almost reaches the point of boredom. It is THEN that innovation happens. Shirky claims that the intensity of innovation capabilities we are currently experiencing is the most explosive it has ever been. According to Shirky, the medium in this present environment is unique in that it allows groups to talk to each other, whereas previous media (printing press, telegraph/telephone, recorded sound/picture, and broadcast) only allowed for either conversation or message dissemination, but not both. This is an important distinction between past and present media for three reasons: (1) groups can now converse, share, collaborate all at the same time; (2) the Internet has become the platform for all of the old communication media – we can send emails, talk on the phone, watch movies, record movies, read books – and furthermore, the source of information is also a place for discussion; (3) the consumers of information are now producing the information.

In short, Shirky says that we are in a world where media is “global, social, ubiquitous and cheap.”

Two Rhams Walk Into a Bar...

This article from the New York Times addresses the growing trend of fake Twitter accounts; most of them are created to poke fun at their real-life doppelganger, but they are simultaneously serving a real and serious purpose.

The article links to the fake account of Rahm Emanuel, who tweets about his life on the campaign trail in Chicago. His tweets are filled with profanity and hilarious happenings (like making m***** f****** snow angels); but probably the most humorous aspect of the fake Twitter accounts is how dangerously close they tread to the real life person. In the case of Rahm Emanuel, it’s no secret that his reputation inside the Beltway imitates that of a cussing pitbull (without the lipstick). The fake Rahm is addressing the same political issues as the real Rahm - but with a parodic flare - and provides the real Rahm with a much-needed ego check. (Speaking of pitbulls with lipstick, Sarah Palin has a few fake Twitter accounts too.)

The NYT article focuses on the anonymity of these accounts, and how it has become a favorite pastime of Washington’s political insiders to crack who is behind the curtain. There is a broader message gleaned from these fake Twitter accounts, however, at least in the realm of online politics. In electoral campaigns, these fake Twitter accounts have the potential to serve as third-party validators (or message disseminators). During a campaign, the fake Twitter account can be an outlet for opponents to distribute negative messages; alternatively, they can serve as a platform for candidates (through a phony twin) to respond to negative messages, or possible hot water in general, in a humorous and satiric way. It is yet to be determined if a real candidate is actually witty enough to pull one of these off intentionally without being outed. Until then, we'll continue to laugh at the professional phonies.

Do It Yourself Facebook Ad

A friend of mine, who recently lost her mom to breast cancer, signed up to walk the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure that will take place in the fall. Despite the fact that the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is a pretty well known organization, and probably has their own potential Facebook ad campaign planned, I haven’t seen any ads targeted at me. We all know that there are a lot of people on Facebook, but before this activity, I had a difficult time grasping how many people there actually are. And I only targeted within the U.S.! The first step was to assign a URL for people to jump to if they click on your ad, give the ad a title and description, and upload a picture. The first picture I tried to use was of a woman’s face with a pink ribbon painted on her cheek. It was too detailed and the tiny frame couldn’t really do the picture justice so I switched to a more common logo.

Next came the targeting. I couldn’t believe the seemingly endless possibilities there are to target people: likes and interests (which is what I used, as you can see below), age, sex, sexual preference, date, time, birthdays – the list goes on. I also realized that you can target people using the groups that YOU belong to. I thought this could come in handy for groups on Facebook that want to advertise an upcoming event such as a happy hour or lecture.

After you’ve decided on the ad’s appearance and who you want to see the ad, the next step is to set up the budget. The default is $50.00 per day, which I kept because I pretended to be operating on the budget of a very large foundation.

Overall, this was a very informative and entertaining activity. I could not believe how user-friendly the process was and how many possibilities there are for trimming the cost and tailoring the ad to only reach the people you want to reach. Facebook also allows you to evaluate the success of your ad and opt to make changes to your ad buy.

Reading Log: Put Your Money Where Your Mouse Clicks

After reading some of the case studies from this week’s theme of online advertising, it’s hard not to accuse any candidate that doesn’t allocate a decent amount of funds/energy/time/strategy to online advertising of being foolish. Aside from online ads yielding a high return on their investment, advertising online allows for some pretty incredible micro-targeting opportunities.

Josh Koster used Senator Al Franken’s campaign as an example of successful long-tail nanotargeting, which is the process of using campaign messages and finding the right niches to execute those messages. Koster explains that this process is two-fold: the use of persuasion and the use of acquisition. These two strategies are pretty much how they sound. Persuasion involves finding your niche market, and hitting them with your best persuasive message in “their” space (in the case of the Franken campaign, people that used the Internet to research gas stations with cheap prices or fuel efficient cars saw Franken ads about his position on energy efficiency). Secondly, acquisition uses online ads as a way to implement a call to action strategy (again, in the case of the Franken campaign, they recruited interns using Facebook ads). In another case study, Koster, alongside Tyler Davis, described how nanotargeting directly contributed to the demise of Lou Dobbs’ tenure on CNN. Koster and Davis’ consulting company, hired by clients supporting immigration reform, put pressure on the network for supporting Dobbs’ xenophobic rhetoric in the immigration debate by reaching out to CNN employees through Facebook’s capability to target advertisements based on workplace disclosure.

Online advertising isn’t reserved for the high-profile candidates and nationwide campaigns. As Kate Kaye from ClickZ underscores in her article about the January 2010 special election for Virginia State Senate, the affordability and practicality of online advertising is redefining the way that third-party groups support candidates, particularly in down-ballot races. Resources that might have been spent on traditional advertising like television and print are now being allocated for advertising online. Another advantage for down-ballot races is Google’s Mobile Ads that allow campaigns to advertise on mobile devices. CNN’s Eric Kuhn points out that this is especially useful for Election Day campaigning if voters are standing in line, phones in hand, possibly doing last minute research of barely-known candidates who may not have been able to hand them a piece of Election Day lit.

Source amnesia was not a term I had seen or heard before, but Julian Sanchez explores how political campaigns can exploit this psychological condition. According to Koster, voters remember the information, but cannot recall where got the information. This is an interesting dynamic for any political campaign, as it can be useful for some slick maneuvering by the opposition to plant negative messages without being held completely accountable. Of course, there is also a positive angle, if you’re the side doing the planting!

As if the articles and case studies weren’t enough to convince stubborn offline politicos to wake up to the world of online advertising, Google’s Public Sector Blog covered a report (another product of Josh Koster) providing evidence for the effectiveness of online advertising. By conducting a survey before and after an online-only advertising campaign, researchers were able to gauge the impact of the ads, as well as ad recall. Unsurprisingly, the online ad campaign worked like a charm and now they have the survey data to prove it.

I Guess This Town Is Big Enough For the Two Of Us

I heard on NPR’s All Things Considered that President Obama is no longer king among the who’s who of online campaigning. A new report from Pew Internet claims that Republicans, Tea-Partiers and others have filled the gap. Democrats (circa 2008 election) used to have a clear advantage over Republicans in the online arena, but the Pew study claims that there has been a power shift and the former disparity has been wiped out and replaced with a level playing field. There are probably many reasons for this, but NPR points out two: (1) back when President Obama was Candidate Obama, he was utilizing tools that the rest of “us” had yet to completely get on board with. Now that more people are online and becoming increasingly comfortable using social networking sites and the like, it’s not a surprise that campaigns from every side are reaching their base using the same tactics; (2) apparently being President is boring. A lot of the information that comes out of the White House is “real stuff” and isn’t all about rallying the troops. This is admirable, but President Obama has lost some of the online community.

With this report in mind, I decided to do a little case study. I picked a race from The Fix’s 10 best races of 2011 (Indianapolis Mayor: Greg Ballard, Republican incumbent versus Melina Kennedy, Democrat) and decided to compare the website home pages of the Democratic and Republican candidates. Here are the two screen shots:

I realize that this is the most basic of comparisons and definitely not scientific, but I think it gives us a good idea about what is becoming the norm. Colin Delany’s Online Politics 101 outlines some of the must-haves for campaign websites, so I kept those in mind when reviewing. Each website easily fulfills its duty of being the campaign’s online headquarters. Links to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc. are easily found on the homepage; however, the websites were missing an RSS feed, which as Delany points out, is extremely easy to set up and must be included.

Bottom line: I agree that Republicans et al have closed the online gap, but I think it’s more likely a function of more and more people getting on board than it is about President Obama’s failure to maintain his online prestige.

Reading Log: The Basics

This week, I got a pretty decent handle on the fundamentals of online political strategy. Colin Delany’s, Online Politics 101 provided a framework for the must-knows about running a campaign online. It touched on the basics (things to remember when creating a website and maintaining it as an online campaign HQ; how to treat and respect the blogosphere), and also some more technical suggestions (the different kinds of online ads; a cursory view of fancy software to help manage email lists). Sprinkled with funny anecdotes, Delany gives a humorous but helpful guide to campaigning in the digital world. Before delving into the different pieces in the online campaign toolkit, Delany outlined the five simple rules for online politics. I’ve decided that these rules would serve as a nice mantra, both as a reference for class, but also as a “rulebook” for any future online advocacy. This is my interpretation of Delany’s rules; you can find his (complete with his stellar delivery) here.

1. Don’t forget the end goal. As with any task, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds and forget your main objective. Sometimes I’ll walk to the kitchen with the intention of completing a task, but by the time I get to the kitchen, I’ve forgotten why I was there. The same applies for creating an online campaign – keep the broad strategic goals in mind. Just because a successful online campaign exists, that doesn’t mean that every online campaign has to mirror the one successful example, or that your objective supports an online campaign at all. In terms of the day-to-day, it’s easy to get distracted in all the new friends the campaign has on Facebook, or how many retweets a tweet received. The online campaigning can be critical (and fun!) but make sure that the individual online elements are properly contributing to the overall strategic online goals.
2. Persistence pays. If something doesn’t work, try it again. If it doesn’t work a second time, try something different. Then try something else. Put the pressure on new ideas. Put the pressure on old ideas and keep trying them until they work. Adapt new concepts. Stay fresh.
3. Integrate. The online campaign should complement the offline campaign. They’re supportive partners and work together. Delany emphasized putting the campaign URL on everything that leaves the shop. Even more specifically, each division of the campaign should be working to support and “mesh” with other divisions of the campaign. The strategies should relate and flow with one another.
4. Say something worth saying. Delany constantly stressed how important it was for information that the campaign disseminates to actually say something useful or helpful to those that read it. Factsheets, candidate bios, press releases, anything that is on display or sent out needs to be solid, meat-and-potatoes kind of content. Fluff has its place, but if a campaign makes a habit of it, the unique visitors (and supporters) will start dropping like flies.
5. Market a campaign (or candidate) like you would market any good or service. Delany equated selling an idea (or candidate) to selling a bar of soap because the marketing strategies are the same.

In addition to Delany’s Online Politics 101, Dr. Rosenblatt wrote a 4-part blog series outlining the three dimensions of online campaign tools. These dimensions provide a useful guide to categorizing online campaign tools depending on how they are being used. 1-D is the level of information sharing; 2-D incorporates transactions; 3-D advances to networking and building online communities. As I read my way through these introductions to online campaigning, a few words kept popping up. I started to feel like a subject in Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning. I hear “online campaigning” and I involuntarily salivate the words, CONTENT! ADAPDABILITY! INTEGRATION! I’m sure that as the semester goes on, my understanding of these words will evolve. I’ll probably start salivating a few new words, too.