Skip to main content

President's facebook townhall & creative online campaign tactics

So, Tim Pawlenty tweeted before the President's facebook townhall:
Have a tough question for @BarackObama's Facebook townhall today, submit questions that are unlikely to be answered here
When I saw this I thought that it would link to the facebook live page so that people would actually ask the President all the "questions that are unlikely to be answered" but no... it linked to a page at the T-Paw website with a condescending photo of Obama asking people to:
"Use the form below to let us know what questions need to be addressed but won't be asked at tomorrow's campaign event."
This is so wrong in terms of new media communications in Politics!

If T-Paw actually directed people to the facebook live page it could have been a really great tactical move to actually get his followers to ask the questions that "need to be addressed" at the actual event that they could have been addressed!

It could have been a really smart move by T-Paw to act open and transparent, ask followers to watch Obama and flood the facebook live wall with republican messages and questions that "need to be addressed".

Not to mention what the official http://www.gop.com/ could have done...

Harnessing online technologies to engage with people can provide many opportunities for actual communication points; but the candidates need to do one thing first: Actually harness the opportunities and ask supporters to help! That's it!

Anyhow, I expect to see more smart and creative online campaign tactics; hopefully the 2012 campaigns will use more creative thinking in the coming months.

Now, on the President's presence at facebook HQs: I would say that it was a great event, really good organized, however, I expected more questions from facebook users rather than questions from facebook employees.

You can watch the President's facebook townhall here:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John Kerry and Digital Diplomacy

John Kerry delivered his first remarks as the new U.S. Secretary of State. In his first speech at the State Department, he noted :  "...We get to talk about empowering people through our ideals, and through those ideals hopefully they can change their lives..." This is really important to underline;  given that public diplomacy now has a much more crucial role to play. In utilising new and social media, people now have the opportunity to engage through digital diplomacy.  As Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine has said :  "...we have to introduce more and more virtual exchanges and the use of social media particularly to reach young people where they are..." Secretary Kerry Tours the Ops Center Also, I came across a tweet from the State Department which informed that #SecKerry will be tweeting from the  +U.S. Department of State  twitter account . #SecKerry will start tweeting fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Social Media for Communication & Conflict Resolution

I came across an OSCE update on facebook asking: "Can social media help us prepare for peace?" In the new Report " Preparing for peace Communications in conflict resolution " the OSCE explains the role of Social Media in conflict resolution, detailing challenges and opportunities. OSCE/Curtis Budden Definitely recommending reading this OSCE publication. It is great that an Organization such as the OSCE is keeping active in Social Media, and at the same time "Mapping the blogosphere, reporting on negotiations, using social media to overcome divides" . Credit to the OSCE PPIS, Ireland’s 2012 OSCE Chairmanship, the US Mission to the OSCE and the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the OSCE.  Having worked for the OSCE in 2009 , I launched the official OSCE presence on facebook and twitter , along with Issuu . It was an excellent start, and I am happy to see that the team in PPIS are keeping up with the OSCE presence in Social Media and are launc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blogging the 2012 campaigns

The 2012 campaigns for President have been very interesting in terms of Internent communications and voter outreach. In this article I have collected all of my comments during the past months and years leading up to election day. These are my unbiased honest opinions as an observer, not as a voter.  I have Blogged on numerous issues, mostly focusing on Internet Political Communications, Political Marketing and Political Issues that I felt passionate about. You can browse though my articles here:   The problem with political emails asking for money: TV Ads  I do not oppose online fundraising, I understand that both campaigns are tapping into their hardcore supporters; The problem is that for the most part both campaigns are asking contributions in order to outspend the opponent on TV air time! Barack Obama Vlogs on YouTube   During the past few days I enjoyed the videos coming from the Obama campaign on YouTube. #debate politi...
Post a Comment
Read more