LABOUR leadership contender Ed Miliband sent me a text message on Saturday.
“Hi it’s Ed Miliband,” it read. “Hope you don’t mind me contacting you about the leadership election. Can I count on your support? Reply Y or N. To opt-out text stop to 86888.”
I didn’t reply, immediately. But i did immediately give Miliband 10 out of 10 for using new technology effectively in a political campaign. [Read more →]
THE fallout over the Damian McBride smear campaign continues apace – not least amongst the Labour Party’s online community.
They are anxious not to panic and throw the baby (new media) out with the dirty bathwater (McBride’s smears) by suddenly rejecting the web-based campaigning epitomised so eloquently by Barack Obama.
The disgraceful online activities of McBride, Gordon Brown’s closest adviser has of course left Labour extremely vulnerable.
So the Fabian Society have put together a comprehensive and commonsense defence of blogs and the blogosphere, assembling a variety of Labour-linked bloggers in its support.
They celebrate the internet as a force for good, empowering people who have been disenfranchised and alienated, giving a voice to those who have been silenced and cannot be heard.
They also put forward an extremely robust defence for using the internet to expose the wrong-doing, lies and hypocrisy of the powerful. We couldn’t say it better ourselves: [Read more →]
MORE than six million people have so far been emailed a spoof video blaming them for electing Republican John McCain as the next President of the United States.
The video is going out to more than 30 new people per second as a direct and personal reminder to them to vote in next Tuesday’s Presidential election.
The spoof video is set after the election and “reveals” that Democratic candidate Barack Obama has lost by just one vote. The ‘missing’ voter is the person receiving the personalised video!
In the spoof news-style video, the missing voter’s name is blazed across headlines in the New York Times, is personally thanked by George W. Bush and is castigated by irate US citizens (including an hilariously foul-mouthed grandmother, pictured above) and a lonely goat herd who now fears his flock is about to be bombed by ‘President McCain’.
The video is witty, irreverent and extremely well done – and it may have the desired effect in helping to Get Out The Vote as well as becoming a global hit.
Research shows that this kind of social “nudging” is extremely effective. The organisers are aiming to reach 10 million people before Election Day in the USA – but look set to easily reach their target.
To see how it works, you can fill in your friends names and send the video to them today.
At 19.11 on Sunday 24 August, 2008, we received an email headed ‘Hello’ from Senator Joe Biden, new Vice-Presidential running mate to Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
The Obama campaign’s mastery of the internet and digital communications has already been noted: texting the choice of his No 2 direct to supporters was just the most recent demonstration.
So it was no surprise that, within 24 hours of being nominated, Biden had been plugged straight into the Obama campaign’s huge worldwide database and was sending out a personal YouTube video message.
Ten out of ten for lightning-fast communications and being so web savvy.
But the message was as equally impressive as the medium. [Read more →]
THE charge is damaging: that US Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama cancelled a hospital visit to wounded troops in Germany because he was not allowed to take the press with him.
It feeds into the popular global cynicism about politics and politicians: all spin and no substance. Obama is the cerebral dilettante concerned only with image and appearance rather than genuinely interested in the well-being of our brave boys.
And it undermines Obama’s campaign credentials as being an authentic voice who offers a clean break with the Washington machine politics of the past. Just like all the rest – a self-centred ego-maniac.
The allegation of snubbing wounded service men now appears a central part of Republican John McCain’s attack on Obama, potentially fatally undermining the Democrat’s credibility as future Commander in Chief.
Republic campaign ‘attack ads’ are being aired on TV and YouTube and McCain has started touring the TV studios, this week levelling the ‘snub’ charge on the influential Larry King show on CBS.
But what is the truth? [Read more →]
THE age of the citizen journalist has arrived – and that’s official.
YouTube has this week created a special ‘reporter channel’ where anyone can upload film about news and events in their local community, organisation or business.
The channel is designed to encourage ‘citizen journalists’ to share their own films about news and events with the wider world.
YouTube say their ‘reporter channel’ is specifically aimed at airing ‘on-the-spot’ film, student newscasts, interviews with community figures, comment on issues and even professional journalists seeking a wider public for their work.
It goes on to provide a wide range of examples of the work of ‘citizen journalists’, from interviews with a local Mayor in the US, to Tibet protests at the Olympic torch procession in Canada, captured on a mobile phone.
video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHfd1nDv48A
Now anyone can become a reporter – and they can broadcast from their very own YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, as Hillary Clinton bows out of the Democratic race for President of the United States, the Independent on Sunday greeted the dawn of a new era in political reporting thus:
“a first-of-its-kind election dominated by bloggers of all political hues, by citizen journalists armed with camera phones and cheap digital recorders, and played out on YouTube and across the web.”
It goes on to describe the dynamic and influential role so far played by ‘citizen journalists’ in the US election – a trend which looks certain only to increase as the battle between Obama and McCain intensifies.
Whether Britain will ever embrace this exciting new age of digital communication with quite the same enthusiasm, open-ness and commitment remains to be seen.
But one thing is clear – effective communication with global audiences is no longer the preserve of multi-millionaire media tycoon’s like Rupert Murdoch.
And that can only be A Good Thing.
HOW many people would watch a 37-minute speech by a politician?
Few of us would guess that five and a half-million people would have tuned in.
But that’s how many people have apparently so far watched Barack Obama’s ‘More Perfect Union’ speech on YouTube.
In its entirety.
The Democratic Presidential contender has other impressive on-line statistics: $235million dollars so far donated by 1.5 million individuals, 8.3 million people watching the ‘Obama Girl’ video on YouTube, record numbers of friends and supporters groups on Facebook.
All of which led to Obama being hailed as the clear leader in digital politics during a fascinating live debate on the impact of the internet on the American Presidential election, sponsored by the Financial Times, the US Embassy in London and YouGovStone.
OPINION polls can be notoriously unreliable.
But does the internet now offer an alternative, more sophisticated, more reliable, way of measuring and tracking public opinion?
The race in the United States between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination, provides a fascinating insight into ‘The Google Factor’.
And it may also point the way for British pollsters and political parties in the future.
A LOT of nonsense is talked about ’spin’ and so-called ’spin doctors’.
But now, thanks to the beloved Guardian, you can see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
Step Inside the Spin Room at the New Hampshire primary in America, earlier this year.
It was the development of these ’spin rooms’ in US Presidential TV debates which first gave rise to the term ’spin doctor’.
Supporters would gather to give their own, usually intensely loyal, verdict on their favoured candidate’s TV performance.
The phenomenon grew out of the demands of the mass media – and has now become a household term of abuse.
Notice the number of journalists gathered in the ‘Spin Room’.
No revolt against ’spin’ here – rather the journalists appear to be hanging on every word that is uttered.
Every cough and splutter is taken down. Every soundbite recorded. Every muttered aside captured.
