VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

During the past months both the Democrats and Republicans have send an abundance of emails, driving home their message for the future.  At the same time all emails asked for money in the form of donations or contributions. Here are some punch lines the campaigns used to urge supporters to click-through and donate: Please chip in $5 or more today. Chip in $5 or more before our final budget deadline. Your generosity and efforts can make a great difference. Chip in $5 or whatever you can today. Don't wait. Supporting this campaign once more will move us closer to victory. Please don't wait any longer. Help us out with a donation of $5 or more today. Donate $5 or more right now to keep this campaign strong straight up until the last vote is cast on November 6th. Contribute $5 now to be automatically entered for a chance to win. Chip in $5 or whatever you can and you'll be automatically entered. Close the gap -- chip in $5 or more now. Thanks to you, our camp...

To my surprise I got this email from Rufus Gifford and the Obama 2012 campaign:  Friend --  I am just so happy.  If you're proud of our president, this is a great time to make a donation to the campaign:   https://donate.barackobama.com/This-Is-Why Quoting from the Obama 2012 campaign site ( This is why ):  The President's support for marriage equality is a clear distinction in this election. We only get to move forward if we re-elect President Obama.  Please donate today. Is it just me, or is the Obama campaign chasing donation money by creating an election issue? If so, the wording is clearly wrong! The campaign should not ask people to donate money just because the Obama national finance director feels happy! To make it clear, I do not oppose donation emails, however this email does not sell the recipient on marriage equality, as it states in the website, but tries to sell the recipient just because Rufus feels happy and proud. Just an ...

The Mitt Romney campaign has the message "Believe in America" beneath the Romney logo ( my opinion on the 2012 Romney logo ) but just beneath that, it has a Donate button. In doing so the message becomes:  Romney - Believe in America - Donate So, Romney believes in America, you should too.. oh, and donate to the campaign..  I know that that this might be considered a detail, however, when you look at it, it looks like the message is with the word " donate ".  Anyway, I just wanted to bring this to your attention in order to point out that: The way you create an email newsletter can be proven to be crucial in changing or shaping your message.

In a recent email to supporters, the UK Conservative Party asks people to become full members of the party in order to help shape party policies, attend party Conferences and select the Party's candidates. Also worth mentioning.. members get a free Membership card. That's all good, but then the email also offers a £40 wine voucher if you register now! WTF? As an added bonus, new Members will also get £40 off at Naked Wines . After joining online, you'll be directed to the Naked Wines website - where you'll get £40 off any case of wine worth £59.99 or more. (You must be 18 years old to take advantage. Terms and conditions apply More info about the free wine at the Conservative website here .  I believe this offer from the UK conservatives is hilarious!  There are so many ways to rip on this move! But as they say in their email (after ordering the free wine):  join today and help shape the future of your Party and your country .  I wonder if the deci...

Email newsletters can be considered to be the first direct to citizen tool of online political communications, before social media or other engaging technologies.  The Obama 2012 campaign is using a style of email communication that started in the 2008 campaign. People in our days are so overwhelmed by email, because everyone is getting so many newsletters that clutter their inbox with advertisements, offers, promotional messages and, in this case, emails from the 2012 campaigns. So, how can you make your political campaign email stand out? What the Obama campaign understands is that you don't need fancy graphics, banner ads, or digital signatures. The above email was "sent out" by the President with "(no subject)" in the title of the email. It has no banners, no photos, no videos embedded. Just like an email you would receive from a friend. Simple, Short, Single-Issued. (SSS) (Hey! I created an acronym...) You would except that each and every email that c...

The upcoming election campaigns in the States, are probably going into full mode next week, and the Republicans have launched their new campaign bus along with http://www.firenancypelosi.com/ A cool move by the GOP in energizing grassroots campaigners in every bus stop. So where is the bus now? well have a look: Also watch RNC Chairman, Michael Steele talking about the bus tour... you know it's ON! What are the democrats up to? well, they have launched a new http://www.democrats.org  website and re-branded with the new "D" logo. I find the new website much more clean than the old one, but maybe thats because they kept a lot of white space. Anyhow, you can learn more about the new democratic branding changes reading "Democrats, the Brand" Let me also comment on the vast number of email coming from " Organizing for America ", I definetly receive around one per day, maybe more. In the latest one today, the Obama campaign is offering "canvas...

I am going to come back again and write about the outrageous emails send by the DNC . The latest one is signed by VP Joe Biden and informs people that this is a crucial week for Sonia Sotomayor and asks to support Sotomayor and take action ; Oh! and Please donate! It is incredible that " Organizing for America " asks US citizens to give money to support a Judge campaign for the US Supreme Court . Why would any candidate for Supreme Court need money for their campaign? and how come the DNC is fundraising through the Internet on behalf of Sotomayor? In these times of economic hardship, and with the financial crisis still in the forefront of political discussion, the DNC is asking people for private donations to support a judicial campaign. I also came across the following video "Nothing" by the GOP that explains how The Obama administration is devoting $18 million dollars to create a government website to show Americans just where their hard-earned tax dollars are ...

What I did about a year ago was to subscribe to all UK MPs that had email updates through their websites. Most of them just email automated bot-like RSS updates. Although I have to say that many have really improved since then, embracing and utilizing new media (I will be posting on online UK Political Communications next week). I recently received an email update from George Galloway , rallying his supporters to send an email to Canadian conservative politicians, and demand from Jason Kenney Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, to allow the UK MP to enter Canada and attend a number of events. I am not going to comment on the sort of events that Mr. Galloway is attending, or his political views. I was really impressed by the Step by Step Guide that the email gave DIY Instructions: 1. Copy and Paste the email of the Minister 2. Copy and Paste the emails (c.c.) of the entire Canadian Conservative Caucus 3. Don't Forget to fill the subject line with a specific message 4. Cop...

Browsing through my Mac, I came across a report I had written about the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election. I must say it was a good read. I want to share my 2004 views and some abstracts of this report with you. (7 days to go) Lessons Learned from the 2004 U.S. Presidential Elections A brief review of Internet Political Communications E-democracy E-campaigning Politics and the Internet The U.S. Presidential elections were held on November 2nd 2004; the two major political campaigns of the President, George W. Bush, and Senator John Kerry, started in early January of 2004, when the battle for the Democratic nomination was being fought. An interesting fact to mention is that the online re-election campaign of www.GeorgeWBush.com launched on the 19th of August 2003. Politics and Internet Communications Everything started with Howard Dean’s campaign. Of course, political WebPages existed before, but Dean’s move to involve people, gather a huge email list, create Blogs, and empower voters t...

Now Ralph Nader wants to share his mother's Apple Cake recipe... Seriously, he is in need of some sound campaigning advice, and not from his mother... Read the Email... October 20, 2008 www.votenader.org www.officialnaderstore.com It's that time of year again. Apple harvest time. I love apples. As a child, to help with the harvest in orchards, I picked lots of apples. And in New England, where I grew up, there were so many great varieties. Baldwin, Cortland, Golden Russet, Honey Crisp, Macintosh, Red Delicious, Rome, Shamrock. Honey Crisp was -- and still is -- my favorite. During apple harvest time, my mom would make a spectacular apple cake. It had lemons, and apples and cinnamon and butter. It remains to this day my favorite cake. And it got me to thinking -- with only two weeks left ...

Again, it seems that Hillary and Chelsea Clinton really need the money... on a recent email update they ask people to attend Mother's day celebration in NYC, depending on the amount you pay, a photo op awaits you... Check it out...

The Internet is a vital two way communication tool for sharing information and opinions and for building communities of people with common interests and ideas. According to the Greek observatory for the information society, there was a rise in the number of people that connected to the Internet over the last two years. Greek political parties have developed web sites in order to attract new members and improve communication with the public, especially during the election period. In addition, concerned citizens with political Blogs have entered into the political arena and added to the ongoing political discussion. In the past two years online communities and the Blogsphere have become as important as mainstream media, creating a new forum of political debate. The recent Greek national elections of September 2007 had three very unique characteristics. The pre-election period was very short (30 days) as compared to all previous elections over the last three decades. Two weeks before the ...

Hilary Clinton needs to win the upcoming OHIO & TEXAS primaries to be in the race, she also needs money to do that... I was really surprised of this quote from a recent Hillary Email update: It's just so I Need Money... Then again she says thank you...

Innovating political communication methods through Internet technology, gives the opportunity to connect people and provoke proactive policy development, by communicating and sharing strategies with key stakeholders. In line with the concept of political leadership, Internet communication strategies provide candidates and political parties a platform to showcase policy and strategy issues, and expand campaign financing. The content and qualitative analysis of the research revealed a progressive change in political campaigning, by the introduction of Internet Political Communications. As a medium of interaction, the Internet has shown signs of being a method of effective and efficient political Marketing and political campaigning tool. The Internet provides the opportunity to socially exchange ideas, plans, and policies with citizens and concerned organizations while asking voters for help, not just for their vote; it provides feedback, while creating an online constituency, in eng...