Web 2.0 in the White House?

I’ve been feeling the chorus rise on the subject of whether a President Obama would follow through on his promise to institute a Chief Technology  Officer at the cabinet level and who that person might be.

But the bigger question surrounds the fate this massive online social movement Obama has created.

His campaign has demonstrated the power of social media by involving so many people in the political process an undeniable legacy.  The real litmus test of this legacy though is whether his netroots will die at the end of this campaign,  or if it will live on through a cabinet level post or by other means.

I think the latter will occur.  But, a LOT of questions remain unanswered.  Questions such as:

• What will be the CTO’s role in the White House?
• Can a CTO make the White House more transparent?
• How much access will a CTO and the department give to the electorate?
  

  Image Credit: Ben Zvan

David Lazer of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science and the Program on Networked Governance, asks the right questions.  I highly recommend that people read his blog post for an insightful and brief analysis of how the powerful netroots movement Obama has created a lot of questions that loom the day after the election.

David writes:

The potential impact on our democracy is both thrilling and troubling. On the thrilling side is the potential for a long standing increase in the engagement of people in politics– most notably, among the youngest voters, who have always been the least engaged. On the troubling side is the potential disintermediation of our (small r) republican institutions.

Essentially, Obama has used online social networks, as I’ve argued, to set the promise that peoples’ voices, dollars and energies are heard and make a difference.  So far, that promise has been kept.  The rewards have been manifold, least of which is the record-breaking September fundraising numbers.

But what happens, as David Lazer rightly points out, if in the White House Obama is not able to direct the energies and actions of this great network he has built?  It very well could result in widespread disillusionment amongst new voters and young voters.

Clearly, Obama has built a movement.  Let’s hope that he and his campaign understand and appreciate that this movement must live beyond this election – win or lose – for Obama’s legacy on American political life to be positive.

The question remains: How will Obama engage his network after Nov. 4th and will that network be engaged enought for them to be satisfied?

Why Blog in Local Politics?

I was involved in a race for state representative here in suburban Chicago a while back where the campaign was not sold on the merits of starting a blog. If you read my blog, you know which side of the fence I stood on. The other side wasn’t against blogging because they thought blogging didn’t make sense or wasn’t worth it. Rather, those against blogging were more concerned the candidate would not have time to write posts to keep the blog fresh and updated.

For several reasons, I thought they were misguided. In a local race, often information about candidates is hard to come because big city media only pays attention to the largest races and/or national issues. Candidates or elected officials’ websites and their blogs, are the best sources of information in the absence of media coverage.

For a local or state race blogs offer the advantage of:

• sustaining conversation with constituents or voters where paid or earned media offers only one-way communications
• putting the candidate on record on important issues so community members fully know where the candidate stands
• blog posts are shareable, meaning if you are “word of mouth worthy,” your blog visitors are empowered to share what they believe is meaningful with others
• regular blog updates (which don’t have to be long-winded essays) are great tools to build community and sustain momentum in a long campaign

Looking back on my “to blog or not to blog” discussions with members of the this campaign for state office, the argument “not to blog” because the candidate would be too busy, actually presented a huge opportunity for others close to the campaign to fill in. What better way to outreach than to give supporters, volunteers or donors the opportunity to guest blog on a candidate or elected official’s website?

Presidential Politics and Online Branding

I recently received an email from Sen. John McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis asking me check out the new McCain campaign video, “Fan Club.” This 30-second spot mocks Sen. Barack Obama’s status as celebrity while sarcastically asking you to support Obama’s positions that would increase taxes and placing your faith in an inexperienced leader.

There are several problems with this approach. First, McCain has defined some of his opponents flaw but offers little (or nothing) in the way of his own ideas or policies. So, we walk away from this video knowing what McCain isn’t about…but not what he is about. In other words viewers are left asking, what are McCain’s brand attributes?

Second, pushing out the campaign’s newest 30-second spot reminds me a lot of the failed Giuliani primary campaign that used social media to broadcast, rather than engage his target audiences. The video’s landing page has no room for commenting, nor does it offer users to forward the video to a friend. All it does offer is for the user to sign-up. And even the most basic online user knows this simply leads to more one-way emails.

It appears McCain’s campaign team is ready to employ their own marketing tactics without first recognizing their brand. McCain has created the persona of independent-minded politics, doing what’s right – even it’s not popular – and having a clean image (campaign finance). Where are the tactics using these brand attributes?

The McCain team had better take a lesson from CPGs. Once they start competing on price, products become a commodity. Consumers will move on to the next product.

The good news for McCain is that there’s still enough time coming out of the conventions to get back in touch with the brand McCain has built over his Senatorial tenure.