I have so far been a yellow dog democrat on election day, no matter how uninsipring I find the dog to be. Now that Edwards is investing his energies in new media I fear that it looks like he did not learn from the John Kerry flop. “Check my website” is not a campaign platform in both of the “Two Americas.” One of those two Americas lacks computer literacy, computers, and internet connections. A cell phone is not an adequate platform to consume new media either. The impoverished class in America has grown during the Bush administration–the bigger of the Two Americas is the one to reach out to in a democratic election. As Aristotle wrote, a democracy is a tyranny of the majority.

Yes, new media is another way to spread the word. That is not enough. New media is not going to lure both Americas into voting booths and it will not motivate both Americas to choose you. Instead it excludes half of the “Two Americas” from a process that should be open to all. I sincerely hope that Edwards and the other democrats realize the importance of old media in the 2008 campaign. Otherwise, they will need Micah to stuff the ballot box if they plan to win.

hey thanks for your exclusive post

Best of luck to you and your crew Amy. I’m anxious to hear more from the campaign. CC had a call to have one of the candidates appear on Managing the Gray to explain how they are leveraging new media. I’d love to hear more about the efforts the Edwards campaign is undertaking.

It’s good that you brought these issues out and engaged the Edwards campaign in conversation. These issues, by the way, are not that different than approaching a more traditional media person and knowing who they are in advance, customizing your individual approach to their background and interests. (I write more about that in my PR and Marketing Mentor blog: http://CathrynHrudicka.wordpress.com).

I also applaud the Edwards campaign for responding so quickly. The “kid” who talked with you initially was probably an intern or someone who had the task of fielding contacts in a fast-moving campaign of overworked staff people—but they still need to watch the impressions they’re making, especially in the social media space, where word travels like lightning, which is why it’s great that they’re there in the first place. Thanks for opening up the discussion on political campaigns and social media.

~Cathryn Hrudicka, Chief Imagination Officer (and PR consultant/journalist)
Creative Sage(tm)/Cathryn Hrudicka & Associates

Of course in the UK I don’t expect any political party to ‘get it’ anytime soon.

- Neil.

CC is the consummate connector and influencer in this space. Only a foolish campaigner would ignore his advice.

I’m also very glad to see that you understood that this was aimed at being constructive criticism and nothing more. I want to see you succeed in leveraging this space and look forward to talking more about how that can be done.

Plus I’d rather point out the problems now before someone on the “other side” *grin* is accidentally called. Somehow I don’t think their response would be as constructive.

I wanted to take a moment to respond to this post and ensure you all that we are working hard to fully integrate new media into our overall campaign strategy.

As CC mentioned we are reaching out to our online influencers and working to provide them with the resources and support they need to talk with their communities as effectively as possible. While, as Christopher mentioned, it is often difficult to identify our online leaders and measure engagement we did strategically reach out to people for this program and did not simply blast all of our friends. Clearly, there is a huge difference between super-users of new media and everyday supporters who are enthusiastic and use these new tools. Do we need to do a better job of differentiating between them? Of course. This is a new effort and we’re always finding ways to hone our approach.

I also wanted to clarify, which CC also touched upon, we are not planning to simply say “hey, spread the message!” and then peace out. This is the first step in organizing our team. As we move forward, we’ll be learning too – and finding out from the team what they need and want from us to do what they are, in many cases, already doing – which is engaging with other people about the campaign.

Thanks for this nudge. We are definitely listening and this was some of the best feedback I’ve received since we launched this program three days ago. As Daniel hinted at, I would love to hear from anyone interested sharing ideas, criticisms or suggestions on how we can make the most of this great new world.

Feel free to email me at arubin at johnedwards dot com

We are ALL learning this stuff as we go along. No one is an expert because it changes to fast. Plus, I’ve been a firm believer in giving help to anyone that asks and those that know me know that I’ll give advice to anyone that asks for it.

I don’t care what color your politics are, it’s great to see them using new media and I hope they take it to the next step to learn to use it even better. I have faith they will.

It’s like playing with matches on the playground:-)

It’s no longer “push push push, call to action.” It’s more like “build relationships, understand the ecosystem, gather like minds, and exchange.”

In the end, some of the same stuff gets done, and sure, sometimes there’s a problem with immediacy. But really, is raw marketing/PR force really going to continue to get the job done the same way? Is it now? What’s the level of effort versus return?

They found the right guy to give them a schooling, C.C.

On another note, the topic of social media use by the candidates came up in BostonNOW today– ok, I know you know that, but the article links to thoughts on the issue from Scott Monty and Steve Garfield (ok, and me too). I am sure you have thoughts on this as well, beyond this most recent experience.

(holy mixed metaphors, batman)