We’re enjoying a rare break in between sessions at a Starbucks on the corner of 36th/Madison. So far we’ve attended some great sessions and have used livestream to catch up on the one’s we couldn’t make due to conflicts. Lots to soak in.
By far, the highlight of the week (so far) has been Jonah Seiger’s review of Michael Bloomberg’s successful social media campaign of 2009. Jonah, founder of Connections Media, was generous in his presentation, sharing loads of insights most folks in his shoes would keep close to their chest.
Want to know what makes a Facebook Widget rock? Read on.
I’m not a big fan of the majority of available widgets, apps, and games that bombard Facebook. Most are garbage in my opinion, and do nothing other than clutter your profile or page.
The problem is many of these widgets were built with the old school marketing mentality of “if we build it, they will come.’”
The truth is, Facebook widgets fail for the following reasons...
This is probably the worst video of the 2010 election cycle and we're only 1 month into the year. What's next?
California senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina (R) has released a highly unusual attack ad featuring a red-eyed man in a mixed sheep-wolf outfit crawling on all fours in a meadow. There's also lightning. Somewhere in there is a message about opponent Tom Cambpell and fiscal conservatism. Skip to 2:25 if you just want to see the glowy eyes.
Grab insight on the video and a synopsis of the aftermath from TechPresident.
Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.
You know what they say these days: it's not enough to just hold a money bomb. You gotta have a theme. Scott Brown used "Red Invades Blue." Florida Republican Marco Rubio, running against Gov. Charlie Crist in their party's primary for the open Senate seat, is getting a bit more creative -- and timely -- with it.
Also the last HamNation - best of luck at the Examiner Mary Katharine.
Mary Katharine Ham, with the help of her favorite songwriter, explores life under the new rules and politics of an Obama administration that's in all your business.
First of all, RWN is now a group blog -- and not just on the week-ends.
During the week, I will be regularly posting along with Dr. Melissa Clouthier & Van Helsing from Moonbattery. I'll probably be adding one more regular guest blogger as well.
Also, you will be seeing occasional (probably 1-2 posts a week) from Atlas (an anonymous congressional aide), former congressional aide and tech junky, David All, and E.M. Zanotti from The American Princess.
Once I get the final guest blogger in place, it's going to mean that the amount of content on RWN is going to have roughly doubled each day from 6 posts to around 12.
Additionally, there were some other changes made, some of which you'll be able to see and some of which, you won't.
But Mr. McCain, as Ms. Fiorina put it, does “clearly not” share the views of her critics. To the contrary, he so proudly calls on Ms. Fiorina in her regular appearances with him on the campaign trail — he calls her an American success story “who began as a part-time secretary” — that he seems to be suggesting that Ms. Fiorina, true or not, might have a role in a McCain cabinet.
As a result, Ms. Fiorina has been buzzed about as a potential commerce or Treasury secretary or even as a McCain running mate, although some Republicans close to Mr. McCain swiftly dismiss the idea of her as vice president. But the view within the campaign is that it can only help Mr. McCain’s standing among women to have Ms. Fiorina mentioned as a possibility for high-profile office in a McCain administration, particularly when he is trying to win over the supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In the meantime, Ms. Fiorina has done little to tamp down speculation that she might run for office herself, including the California governorship in 2010.
“I would be disingenuous if I said it has never occurred to me,” Ms. Fiorina said about running in general. “And in part it occurs to me because people keep asking. When I give speeches, people raise their hand — ‘run, run, run.’ ” For now, she said, “I’m focused on getting McCain elected.”
It was a fascinathttp://techrepublican.com/node/add/bloging political odyssey for Arrington. He praises former Republican candidate Mitt Romney for having the courage to go first, braving his questions and his readers' "crazy comments." He dings Democratic contender Dennis Kucinich for hanging up before delving into any of the issues.
Arrington ended each interview with the same question: Are you a Mac or PC user? Most were PC users, except McCain, who professed to being computer "illiterate." McCain's campaign later clarified that McCain knows how to use a computer and surrounds himself with tech savvy folks. The message: This is no Ted Stevens referring to the Internet as a "series of tubes."
"Frankly, I don’t give a damn if McCain ever turns on a computer or not," Arrington said. Besides, McCain totes an iPod loaded with his favorite Beach Boys and Roy Orbison tunes, Arrington pointed out.
Angry, pugnacious, sophomoric, bombastic, prolific, internet savvy, occasionally funny and under-funded, John Hawkins the founder of the blog, RightWingNews, is focused on bringing down Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee.
While Hawkins, who calls himself a "mainstream conservative," is no big fan of Republican John McCain, he is certain that the Arizona Senator, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, would better serve America than Obama.
Who is John Hawkins, and why should we care about what he thinks or does? He's no Matt Drudge and some would call him just another bleater in the crowded blogosphere, churning out items faster than a Land O' Lakes butter factory. While he isn't in the top echelon of conservative activists, stories that appear on RightWingNews reach thousands of people and are geared toward consolidating conservative discontent behind McCain.
9. Viral market the heck out of everything: God knows the Obama people know how to use the Internet. Think Obama Girl. Creatively telling the positive stories about McCain in short clips on the Internet should be a bigger part of this campaign. The opposing team will do negative clips. McCain has to keep it positive and keep it real.
10. Reinvent the modern campaign: The Obama primary campaign was nearly perfect. It used the most modern techniques (heck, it invented them) to make Obama a true modern phenom. McCain’s people need to study what Obama did and adapt those techniques to the Republican’s personality and his strengths. The long-winded speech is not McCain's strength. But his personality, his courage, his integrity and his life story are strengths that can be highlighted in a truly modern campaign.
A plan by the nation's top telecommunications regulator to provide free wireless high-speed Internet service hit a snag this week over concerns about possible interference and a proposed censoring feature that upset free speech advocates.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press on Thursday that the plan will not be voted on at the June 12 meeting as first promised, but he hopes to present it to the full commission in July.
"I want to be clear that I am still very supportive of the cause of providing a lifeline broadband service across the country," he said.
Under the plan, the FCC would auction 25 megahertz of spectrum _ a sizable chunk _ to a single bidder who would use it to build a nationwide network and dedicate about 25 percent of it for the broadband service.
As Barack Obama wheezes across the Democrat primary finish line, many voters are still learning about the junior Senator from Illinois’ proposals to meet with rogue leaders instead of America’s generals, raise taxes on families and small businesses, and choke off funding for our nation’s soldiers.
MeetBarackObama.com features a compilation of research, videos, and criticisms from Democrat Party leaders in order to educate voters about Obama’s poor judgment and misguided vision for America.
Today I had an opportunity to meet and have a candid conversation with Carly Fiorina, the former head of HP, who is currently serving as the RNC's Victory Chair. Issues covered in the interview include her new role in support of John McCain and the Republican Party, Barack Obama's success on the Internet, McCain's strong opposition to Internet taxation, Net Neutrality/Open Internet, and her personal use of technology.
David All: Ok, it’s DAVID ALL with TechRepublican. I’m here with CARLY FIORINA the new Victory Chairman for the Republican National Committee. And what exactly is that Carly?
Carly Fiorina: Well, it turns out that my role really is to advocate for both JOHN MCCAIN and for the Republican Party. And to make sure that as many Americans as possible understand why this is the Party of the future and why John McCain is the right man to be President of the United States.
DA: Absolutely. A few quick questions. Do you have an iPhone or a blackberry?
CF: I have two blackberry’s actually. My husband is an iPhone man so we kind of having dueling technology in the house.
DA: Very interesting. And are you a Mac user or do you stick to HP?
CF: No I’m still an HP user I have to say, although the Mac is a beautiful, wonderful piece of machinery so we may get there one of these days.
DA: Very interesting. Well I actually wrote about you and Meg Whitman joining the team as a real great sign that some strong women who are Republicans are taking a very active role and a very vocal role in John McCain’s campaign. If you can just talk to me a little bit about what it means to be a female and at the top of the Party as you are, and possibly going up against Hillary Clinton and what that could mean?
CF: Well I’ve been a Republican all my life and I’ve been with John McCain on this campaign for the last 15 months. And I first met him in 2000 not associated with his campaign but on the subject of Internet taxation. And I think one of the things that is very important in this campaign is first, that the American people understand that John McCain wants the best and the brightest around him – and if we’re women so much the better – but I think it’s also really important for the Republican Party to reach out to more women – to reach out to all aspects of American society – because we need more than die-hard Republicans to win this election and I think John McCain is the man who can reach out.
DA: Very interesting. And when you were named Fortune named you what, the “Top Woman,” what was the actual title in 1998?
CF: For six years running I was what Fortune Magazine called the “Most Powerful Woman in Business…”
DA: And you didn’t like that right?
CF: I shouldn’t say it that way. Look, it was a tremendous honor, and I think highlighting successful women in business is hopefully an inspiration to others. But on the other hand, the point I made then was if you have one list for women, then what you’re basically saying is that business is like tennis or golf or some other kind of sport. You know, there’s the women’s ladder and there’s the men’s ladder. And business is better – politics is better – if everybody gets to play, so there shouldn’t be a special list for women.
DA: Very interesting. One issue I want to address quickly is what I call the Long Tail of Politics and the Long Tail of Fundraising. Of course this is off of Chris Anderson’s idea and Barack Obama is really tapping in to these folks who have never contributed money before and they’re giving in low contributions. How do you intend to help navigate John McCain toward that direction?
CF: Well first of all we have a very experienced and top-notch fundraising team and I have to say right up front that I’m not a fundraiser so I’m not the expert here. But what I would say is that it’s pretty clear that Barack Obama has done a fantastic job of tapping in to a whole new set of interested parties and in using technology to help him do that. And so we have to do more and more of that. I think it’s fair to say that we have work to do and John McCain says that but it’s also fair to say that we are using technology more and more creatively and aggressively here. So there is a lot going on with search engine marketing for example, and search engine optimization on the campaign. There were some cute things that were done by the RNC around eCards, Valentine’s Day for example. We do more and more in terms of Facebook independence. So we’re doing the right things, we need to do more of them, and I think we need to give Barack Obama his due and say he’s done a brilliant job and we can all learn from it.
DA: Fantastic. One issue I want to talk about is policy. Our community cares about technology-related issues. One issue, which is starting to bubble up more and more, is the issue of Net Neutrality and an Open Internet. I wonder if you had a position on that issue?
CF: Well let me broaden the question slightly because it’s relevant to why I’m supporting John McCain. Innovation is what grows economies. Innovation is what creates jobs. It’s always been true. But sometimes, some people forget that. And innovation can be fostered or it can be inhibited. The reason I went to meet with John McCain in the year 2000 many years ago on the subject of Internet taxation was to make the case that we can’t tax innovation. And John McCain “got it” immediately. He has since said that we ought to ban permanently taxation on the Internet or taxation on mobile technologies, etc. Now why is all that relevant? It’s relevant because if we are going to grow our economy, which is vital, particularly when you look at the jobs reports we’ve seen over the last couple days, then we have to be fostering innovative technologies and we have to be focused on policies that incent and reward innovation. And so that’s the context that I look at Net Neutrality in. Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I think that context is really important and we all know that where we talk a lot about free markets not all of our markets are free. And there are a variety of players today that impact on the Internet – cable companies as an example – I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have a completely free market on this issue today and so there’s some things that government could do to accelerate a true free-market.
DA: There’s a rumor going around saying that you may be in the hat for VP? Have you heard this?
CF: I don’t even think about that. Nobody else should either. The media loves to talk about the rumors of the moment. The media has been spending a lot of time talking about John McCain’s VP choice. John will make that decision when he is good and ready not before. At the very least, probably, I would guess, he’ll wait until we know who the opponent is on the other side. But look, I’m privileged to be able to make a difference I hope in electing a great man to be a great President. And as well, to help introduce the Republican Party to people who may not have thought about the Republican Party before and to invite people to this Party because I think this is the Party of innovation, and job creation, and growth. I think this is the Party of the future.
DA: Well that’s kind of a grandiose idea but let’s take a step back and if we can conclude here, if there’s one thing that you hope to accomplish that’s tangible, that you can reach out and grab, I mean you’re a CEO you have to do this stuff all the time, what would that be?
CF: We have to win in November that’s a really easy answer. We have to win the White House in November.
DA: Well there you go, there you have it. Well thanks very much and good luck and we’ll talk to you soon.
MA: If you look at the pure statistics, Barack Obama has done such a good job in getting friends and followers on the social networks and getting individual people to donate small amounts of money mostly on the internet. What are your plans, and I know its early still, but what are your plans in the near future to counter that and push McCain forward in those spaces as well. Do you have any specific ideas yet?
CF: It is too early for me to talk specifically about how were going to use the social networking sites although there are people thinking about that on Lou Eisenberg’s team. But what I would say is, again, every opportunity to communicate with people is an opportunity to ask for their contribution and as Barack has demonstrated small contributions can make as big a difference over time as big contributions, so nothing is too small. I would also say that it will be a focus of this campaign to go after young people more aggressively than we have to date. We need to broaden the appeal of the party and John McCain by making more diverse audiences aware of who he is and what he stands for and so you’re going to see John McCain reaching out to different members of the community than perhaps people would expect and you’ll see me doing that as well.
Heck, maybe even we'll see an uptick of donations for Team McCain at Slatecard. It'd be good if he were at least first in donations received as a POTUS candidate.
