Takeaways from Politics Online 2009
The Bivings Group attended the Politics Online 2009 conference in Washington, DC, earlier this week to listen to and participate in a large-scale dialogue on how technology is and is going to change the political landscape. Here are a few important lesions I learned.
1. Politicians are getting technical
Actual politicians, not just their IT and communications departments, are learning how to use web tools. Secretaries of State and members of Congress addressed conference attendees on how they’re using new technologies to make their jobs more effective and to improve communication with constituents. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is working with Google on the Google Voting Information Project.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen manages her own Facebook and Twitter accounts, rather than handing the task off to an assistant. The cost of stressing out her communications team a bit is worth it for Secretary Bowen to connect directly with Californians.
Bivings Group Speaks on Engaging a 1.5 Million-Plus User Base
Bivings Group Director of Client Services Andrew MacDowell spoke to a panel focused on gaining and utilizing a large supporter base for initiatives online. The panel, titled “Fishing with a Keyboard,” was one of dozens of break-out sessions included in the 2009 Politics Online conference held in Washington DC April 20-21.
Click here for information on The Pickens Plan by the numbers.
Did CNN really lose against Ashton Kutcher on Twitter?
Last week, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) beat CNN's Breaking News Feed (@cnnbrk) to the one million follower mark on Twitter. This was after a challenge that enjoyed some viral attention last week that even gained coverage by mainstream media organizations like the Associated Press. In response to his victory, Kutcher exclaimed: "We can and will create our media… Victory is ours!" He feels that Twitter will help people bypass old media news organizations — like CNN — to get information.
However, I'm not sure if CNN really lost in this challenge. Kutcher is a widely popular actor, and the fact that he could even rival it for attracting Twitter followers is evidence of this. That is why his challenge was actually a great thing for CNN, even though it lost.
During Kutcher's challenge many people flocked to the breaking news feed to follow. I'm sure that some people feel that it would be a disgrace if a celebrity was able to trump an established news organization. What would that say about our society's priorities?
Needless to say, this challenge inspired many to follow CNN's feed — if for any reason other than to help it beat a celebrity. Thus, many more people now will receive CNN's updates and links to its website now via Twitter. Let's not forget all the "free press" it brought CNN. CNN didn't lose here, especially since it won't suffer from the door bell prank its founder Ted Turner will suffer is no longer with the organization.
Energy Advocates Voice Internet Mobilization Strategies in DC Roundtable
Energy advocates and online mobilization experts gathered at the Center for American Progress Action Fund in Washington, DC, to talk about successes and challenges in gathering activists both on and offline.
Heather Lauer, director of online strategy for the Pickens Plan, talked about the process of gathering the Plan’s 1.5 million-plus participants and building a social network to connect members. (As the technical partner of the Pickens Plan, The Bivings Group has provided ongoing development and support on the Plan’s web communications network, including its primary site and its Ning-based social action network, Push.)
Other organizations, such as the Energy Action Coalition, built supporter bases through focusing on the goals of a particular voting group. The EAC spread its message among young people throughout college campuses and focused empowering the under-30 vote.
No matter the strategy, all members of the panel agreed on the importance of coming together in a combined effort to face energy challenges and the need to reach out to a growing base of supporters.
"We have a tremendous amount of education that needs to be done and we also have no time. This is not something that the good guys are going to win on the inside," said Brad Johnson of ThinkProgress.org.
In order to reach a broader base, Michael Silberman of 1sky.org emphasized 1Sky’s tactic of organizing community events around key issues, which can be effective both online and off. Silberman and his team worked with Greenpeace to organize rallies and push constituents to contact legislators during Congressional recesses.
While enticing audiences to participate in specific events can be a highly productive way of gaining new members, participants on the panel said it is not as effective as maintaining a long-term, sustained strategy of support.
“We’re relying on dedicated Moveon.org members to motivate other members,” said Michael Sherrard, who works on Moveon.org’s recent Power Up America campaign. “To make real progress is going to require a building crescendo of organizing.”
On top of organizational strategy, the panel discussed effective messaging methods of both within their supporter bases and with the public. Panel moderator and Associate Director for Online Advocacy Alan Rosenblatt recommended using a closed-audience SMS communicator to share messages within your group, and “leveraging Twitter makes that dynamic more public” if you are aiming for a broader audience.
The Center for American Progress Action Fund promotes regular InternetAdvocacy Roundtable discussions as part of its Wired for Progress program. Online attendees can watch live streams of discussions and submit questions online. A listing of past and upcoming Internet Advocacy Roundtables is available here.
The Race for E-Reading Intensifies
While Amazon is way ahead of the competition in the race for control over the soon-to-be billion-dollar e-reading industry, the game has just begun, and major players entering the field might make for a much more interesting battle.
Barnes and Noble, whose business has been slipping over the past decade with the increase in publishing costs and the slump in sales, in March paid nearly $16 million for Fictionwise.com, a Scott Pendergrast company launched in 2000 with an eye to corner the e-book market.
With an e-book supplier as large as Fictionwise, Barnes and Noble seems to be taking slightly different strategic approach than Amazon, which is focusing many of its resources to turn its Kindle and Kindle 2 into the iPod of e-readers.
Last month, Barnes and Noble released a free e-reader for BlackBerry devices, utilizing Fictionwise’s content, which comes in a variety of formats. The BlackBerry reader should allow Barnes and Noble to create a supporter base by the time it launches its own complete e-bookstore, which might happen before the end of the year, according to PaidContent.org.
A new online bookstore that competes with Amazon will take the pressure off of content providers and onto hardware developers, which is how the e-reading game becomes fun for consumers.
While the Kindle 2 has gotten rave reviews, emerging new models of e-readers threaten to challenge its success by giving e-readers a variety of options.
Readius, a pocket e-reader soon to be released, has one up on the Kindle for portability and uses a flexible “e-paper” screen developed by PolymerVision.
Readius market release has not been confirmed yet, but the company plans on launching in Europe and then North America.
Sony’s Reader boasts “e-ink technology” that makes the screen easy to see even in direct sunlight, a feature built after complaints that the first Kindle was hard to see in some weather conditions. Although the Reader is simpler and nearly $100 cheaper than the Kindle 2, Sony may need to boost their content partnerships to compete with Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s e-book selection.