CQ POLITICS NEWS
Corrected Feb. 21, 2009 – 4:18 p.m.
Tweets And More in an Increasingly Digital Political World
By Tracie Powell, CQ Guest Columnist
Remember those annoying automated calls on your home phone from political campaigns just as you sat down at the dinner table, or settled in front of your favorite TV show?
Good news!
Those calls may soon be a thing of the past.
But don’t get excited too quickly. The newest thing on the minds of political strategists is text messaging.
President Obama made expert use of it during his campaign (remember how he texted millions with news of his vice presidential pick at 3 a.m., bypassing traditional media while ramping up excitement among his supporters at the same time?) And Republicans want to become just as adroit.
Five years ago, when she was covering the 2004 Republican National Convention, the GOP was the party at the cutting edge of technology, said Amy Webb.
“This was the same year they did some very dramatic and interesting things on their Web site that made it really interactive, and it really engaged young people,” said Webb, who is now the principal of Baltimore-based Webbmedia Group.
Last cycle, Sen. John “McCain’s campaign had pages on Facebook, MySpace and a lot of other social networking sites, as did Obama,” she said. “The difference is that the Obama camp used e-mail and Facebook in a really smart way. And because they produced really great content and geared it toward the right audience, it became viral. The Republican side engaged the same tools but it just wasn’t as believable.”
Well, when a party’s No. 1 candidate admits to being illiterate when it comes to the Internet (and the president that belongs to your party can’t even pronounce the word,) there’s no wonder the party message gets lost in what some might consider just “a series of tubes.”
Now Republicans might be finally catching on as evidenced recently at its Technology Summit, where grass-roots activists and elites like Chairman Michael Steele and former Speaker Newt Gingrich talked about using digital tools to help expand its reach.
So far, the summit is getting positive reviews in the blogosphere.
“After getting our behinds handed to us throughout the last few election cycles, it’s evident that the Republican Party has many opportunities to grow and improve,” blogger Melissa Clouthier said on Right Wing News.com. “For me, watching the Obama campaign win over and over in the technology arena was especially frustrating. The tools to influence and encourage, teach and reach out, raise money and awareness were there and our side simply couldn’t effectively utilize them.”
Clouthier seemed enthusiastic about the prospects for campaigning by text message, since “Nearly everyone has a cell phone and can receive a text.”
Scott Goodstein, who headed up Obama’s social networking and mobile technology outreach, is enthusiastic, too.
He said Democrats only scratched the surface when it came to mobile technology during the last election.
“Text messaging is the fastest way to get your message to people. More than 151 million Americans are currently text messaging,” said Goodstein, who is now helping nonprofit groups better utilize technology. “More people have a telephone on them than are walking around with a laptop.”
Smart phones, like the popular i-Phone, come equipped with a camera and GPS navigation, applications that can help mobilize the troops and allow everyone to share in a particular experience, much the same way Obama supporters who couldn’t travel to Washington, DC were still able to view and virtually participate in inaugural events from home.
Phones are also equipped to run all kinds of software applications, even the kind that allow for interactive voice messaging or multimedia text messaging.
When it comes to technology and election campaigns, the political possibilities are endless.
But while this kind of technology increases voter participation and allows for faster, more efficient mobilization of the party base, there is a down side, experts warn.
Constituents may soon find themselves bombarded with messages, especially those who subscribe to sites like Facebook or Twitter, a popular online resource that puts text messaging on steroids.
Currently consumers have the option of joining these text messaging or call lists, and can opt out just as easily. That may change as people subscribe, knowingly or unknowingly, to more lists, Goodstein says.
“No matter what the message has to still resonate,” he says. “If the campaign doesn’t figure out the best and most effective way to use the different tools in a campaign’s toolbox, then people will opt out. You want to use the technology to energize the base, not annoy them.”
Social networking tools, if not used correctly, can also pose political problems, as one congressman learned the hard way after he tweeted (that’s Twitter speak for sending a text message.)
The ability to directly communicate with constituents is exactly why social networking sites are now so popular among politicians. There is even a new Web site that tracks members of congress who now use Twitter, and heckles those who don’t.
Karl Rove does it. So do Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd .
Sending out boring text messages that say nothing is just as bad as robo-calling during the dinner hour.
McCain’s daughter Meghan says it well: It’s not about who is or isn’t on a digital platform, it’s how they use it.
Perhaps it’s time for McCain and other Republicans to talk with Meghan.
Tracie Powell is associate editor at Diverse Issues In Higher Education magazine. She is a former American Political Science Association congressional fellow.
First posted Feb. 21, 2009 10:48 a.m.
Correction
Corrects to say Webbmedia is based in Baltimore.
Comments
This is an excellent article and present us with additional questions about the use of technology. Just as you said that Obama campaign was able to reach their core audience through texting, email and the internet successfully, one must be aware that no amount of technology or reach can out sell a true message that people want and need to hear. Very simply, technology is not designed to be human thought but to promote it. This is why the Republican candidates, the RNC and the DNC failed to do what the Obama campaign did with success because he was able to attach human emotions with a message of hope.
All the technology in the world can reach an audience if it is the wrong message.
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