Shop Talk: Turk, Henke, Dybwad Join New Firm

Seasoned new media veterans Michael Turk, Jon Henke and Matthew Dybwad have signed on to the budding GOP media firm Craft Media Digital, which launched less than two months ago.

The firm's two founding partners, Brian Donahue and Justin Germany, count among their clients Republican Reps. Joe Wilson (S.C.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), and Thad McCotter (Mich.).

Yahoo Partners with Twitter to Boost Social Features

The partnership will allow web surfers to view the short, 140-character messages created by Twitter users, dubbed Tweets, directly within Yahoo sites as well as to publish their own Twitter messages without leaving Yahoo.

The move, which Yahoo announced late on Tuesday, comes a couple of months after Yahoo announced a similar deal with Facebook, the world's No.1 social networking site.

Facebook's Capitol Presence

Facebook doesn’t just run itself — especially not in Washington.

At the helm of the D.C. bureau is a three-man team with one goal: to expand the site’s political presence in  Washington.

And this operation is not just about amassing friends. Tim Sparapani, director of public policy, says politicians are learning to see Facebook as “a tool that continues communications both to their constituents that they’re serving and from their constituents that they’re serving.”

How to Use "Us v. Them" Stories to Create Social Media Envangelists

Us vs them is one of the oldest, and most powerful marketing ideas. Apple is a quintessential example: from their beginnings they’ve portrayed themselves as the small guy against the big powerful bully. In 1983 it was IBM and more recently its been Microsoft. The company turns customers into evangelists who are more than happy to spread the word about the good fight, but how exactly does it work?

13 Ways to Move Your Facebook Fans to Action

Perhaps you have a Facebook Fan Page and even some fans.  But now what?  How can you encourage your fans to act and interact?

In my prior post I covered the various sources and types of content you can post on your Facebook fan page. I also talked about the importance of consistent updates.

And if you're in the DC area, you won't want to miss this Heritage Foundation event taking place tomorrow, Thursday, February 25th at 12:00noon in its Lehrman Auditorium.

Telecosm Revisited: Why the Government Should Not Set Rules of the Road for the Internet

Speaker:

George Gilder; Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute

Host:

James Gattuso; Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy,
Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies,
The Heritage Foundation

Details:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski warns that we are at a crossroads and should act now to set "rules of the road to protect the free and open Internet."  George Gilder - author of Wealth and Poverty and Telecosm - argues this is exactly the wrong prescription.  Instead, he maintains, that the Internet will only fulfill its promise of freedom and prosperity if government does not intervene.

As the FCC and Congress move forward with plans for Internet regulation, we hope you can join George Gilder for a look at the evolving technology of the Internet and its implications for competition, innovation, and the future.

Be sure to RSVP.

The Sunlight Foundation’s Luke Rosiak reported on Friday the Republican National Committee spent $1.4 million on the redesign of GOP.com, a figure which totals more than five times what the RNC’s Democratic counterpart spent to host and maintain Democrats.org. Sources familiar with the RNC’s digital makeover, however, contest Sunlight’s report, calling it “ridiculous.”

Rosiak writes:

The biggest disparity seems to be bandwidth costs–the RNC paid Smartech Corp., a Republican-focused hosting firm, more than a million dollars, plus $22,000 to Eloqua, compared to the DNC’s $203,000 to Sprint, Switch and Data and Servint Corp.–despite the fact that the two sites’ traffic, which determines bandwidth usage and, largely, hosting costs, was the same.

But the design of the site itself was costly, too. In the months prior to the October 13 launch of GOP.com, the committee paid $328,000 to 11 firms for Web development.

For an organization that prides itself on investigative research, the Sunlight Foundation is comically inept at reading campaign finance data. “They should learn to read an FEC report,” remarked my source.

The most outrageous of the RNC’s web-related expenditures, Sunlight’s exposé goes, is the $1 million-plus disbursement to Tennessee-based Smartech Corp. for hosting services. Smartech, considered by many a heavyweight in Republican web hosting, began consulting for the RNC in 2000.

“I can tell you from my tenure there that the Smartech bill includes a lot of things that aren’t GOP.com,” said former RNC eCampaign Director Michael Turk. “If you go back and look at that bill over time, I suspect it has always been high, regardless of who was Chair and regardless of whether they were rolling out a new GOP.com.”

The range of services provided by Smartech extends far beyond pricey bandwidth support for the party’s new website. According to party officials, Smartech facilitates internet at the national headquarters, hosts 31 state parties’ websites on the RNC’s platform, and provides broadcast email capabilities to the RNC and over 40 state parties. Additionally, a vast majority of the data aggregated by Voter Vault–the RNC’s voter microtargeting database, which compiles state voter files, information from commercial marketing companies, and census data to predict voters’ partisan tendencies–is hosted by Smartech.

Sunlight correctly notes the DNC’s expenditures for bandwidth services are well below that of the RNC, but what they neglected to report is perhaps more telling: the DNC does not provide website and email hosting to state parties.

RNC officials were not willing to disclose exact figures related to the party’s new digital threads, but offered assurances it was “well in the average for the services rendered.”

To that end, Turk said of the RNC’s web development budget: “subtract the million from the $1.4, and then deduct the $328k for development, and the big ‘shock’ here is that they spent $100,000. As is often the case with Sunlight attacks on the RNC, this one can be summed up with ‘Show’s over, folks. Nothing to see here.’”

Speaking of ‘Sunlight attacks,’ it is worth noting that all are not equal. Transparency and skepticism should be reserved only for some — specifically, Republicans. When reporting on the Obama administration’s fiscally irresponsible $18 million redesign of Recovery.gov, Sunlight officials sought to quell criticism, writing at the time, “you can’t presume that the government isn’t spending its money wisely unless you know both what Government is paying and what they’re paying for. We don’t know what they’re paying for.”

But Sunlight presumed to know exactly what the RNC’s web development expenditures were for, presumably because their targets were, well, Republicans.

Crossposted at Red State and Skepticians.com.

Why I told Naymz to Go F**k Themselves

About a month ago I received an invite from a friend to try out a social network called “Naymz”.  I’m always one to take a look at such things, especially if recommended by a friend.  So I clicked through and signed up.  That was mistake number one.

Mistake number two (and ultimately a bigger mistake than actually signing up) came in the form of clicking the “See who you know on Naymz” link.

Special Bonus Feature - Naymz founder writes back!

Top 7 Twitter Tutorials on YouTube

YouTube (YouTube reviews) is not only a great way to watch endless hours of cute kittens doing people things, but a way to learn about a range of topics visually. Users have put up thousands of tutorials ranging from animal care to our favorite microblogging tool, Twitter (Twitter reviews).

Whether you want to get your best friend started on Twitter or want the scoop on some of Twitter’s best desktop apps, the following YouTube videos will keep you entertained while educating you about various aspects of the Twitterverse. Oh, and be sure to look out for the video of the man in the fur suit.

Twestival: A Case Study in Using Twitter for Fundraising and Community Organizing

What could you do with $2?

What about $250,000?

On February 12, Twitterers in 202 cities around the world asked exactly that of charity: water, raising more than a quarter million dollars online in just a few short weeks. The event, Twestival,
wasn't the first to use Twitter for fundraising -- but it was the first
to do so at such a large, networked and volunteer-driven scale.

The success of Twestival has a lot of non-profits and organizers thinking carefully about the opportunities -- and challenges -- of using Twitter.

Bear with me, this might cut a little close to the bone.

When I first came to Washington, DC, I roomed with a former top communicator at The White House who had just finished up a major position overseas. He was 31 and I was 23.

After talking with me about what I hoped to accomplish he gave me some free advice which I'll paraphrase, "Before you came to Washington, 50 percent of the people in this city hated you simply because you were a Republican. Of the remaining 50 percent, 25 percent of the people you will come to know will hate you because of something you'll say, do, or become. The other 25 percent is on your side. Understand that basic premise and you'll do just fine."

I've always thought of that advice as I've made my journey as an aggressive communicator in the House, Senate, and on the campaign trail. I've recently found his advice to ring true in the blogosphere and in the daily struggle of running a small business. In other words, that piece of advice seems to provide comfort in just about every facet of political life - where competition meets you at every corner.

These past few days have been reminders of that reality.

Two individuals who I have considered friends and colleagues whether they have or not, Erick Erickson and Michael Turk, have posted public mantras on why, essentially, "David All" is an over-zealous self-promoter with only one goal in mind: his own.

They rhetorically kick over just about every sand castle I've built over the past year. And they question my allegiance to the Republican Party. Another Redstate contributor has said as much via email and I'm sure others will surface publicly or privately.

More after the jump...