VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

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-P...

Joe, (VP Joe Biden) emailed Organising for America supporters yesterday, regarding the " Promises Kept Report ". As he states in the email:  Friend -- Telling the story of the past two years will be critical to the fights ahead. And it's not just the story of this president or this White House -- it's your story. And it is literally proof that the organizing you do on the ground -- the conversations you have with your friends and neighbors -- is working. I understand that emailing OFA supporters with the outcomes of the first 2 years in office is a strait-forward move. Nothing new here, and probably, something that is expected from OFA, which is on a campaign mode all the time.  I want to focus on the donation aspect of OFA. When you visit the "Promises Kept Report" website , you can download a pdf of the document, or you can donate $10 dollars or more, to receive 5 print copies. In the donate page it states that: Your donation will cover the c...

Rogue candidates are gaining publicity for single-issue campaigns. Do take the time to watch these videos, it is impressive, and at the same time very positive, that people are turning towards real and straightforward messages. Rent Is Too Damn High If it's real, it's simple. Definitely something to watch in future elections!

Last week I took part at the 6th International Political Marketing Conference, you can read the full abstract of my presentation: Blogger Outreach strategies and New Media Engagement . It was great to talk with fellow political marketers, and academics, and learn a lot from interesting presentations on the topics of political science and marketing. I presented on how political campaigns need to engage with bloggers in creating and running blogger outreach programs to communicate with influential people online. As people in new media understand, the argument of Blogger Vs Journalist was raised. My take is that Bloggers should not be treated as main stream media journalists or reporters. Political campaigns need to target them with new media tools and technologies that have proven to be effective in creating personal links, and valuable in gaining trust from online communities. The campaign should be able to provide bloggers with relevant insightful and bundled information, in order ...

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...

Yesterday I saw these updates on facebook, they were identical, both from Barack Obama and the Democratic Party . They directed to a website, part of the 2010 get out the vote web campaign to " Add your name as a strong supporter of comprehensive energy and climate reform" I would argue that this can be quite excessive use of Internet campaigning from both these accounts to communicate one message. BUT that does not matter. Internet campaigns don't matter, raising money in running for office don't matter. Votes Matter. This is what Alvin Greene said, the 2010 Democratic Nominee for Senate in South Carolina. Alvin Greene is an unemployed Army veteran who had been completely unknown until becoming the state’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. Who can disagree with "Votes Matter". Alvin does not have a website and does not have any presence on social media. So, Who’s Alvin Greene? Alvin is running against Jim DeMint, a United States...

The above two poster campaigns have a common theme, Conservative 1980s, a message that started by the Labour campaign and then utilized (kindly donated by the Labour party) as a smart rebuttal by the Tories; brilliant. The UK general election of 2010 will be held on May the 6th. Read all the details from the UK Electoral Commission , and the dedicated About My Vote website; these sites make sure people understand and follow the rules on parties and elections, publish details of where parties and candidates get money from and how they spend it, set the standards for running elections and report on how well this is done and make sure people understand it is important to register to vote, and know how to vote. In addition, do check the Swingometer - a cool way of measuring the switch of voters from one party to another, an  online political map with all the constituencies and the number crunching details and an election poll tracker  with all the latest developments. Also, ...

The UK General election is due to take place on or before the 3rd of June 2010. The above banner is from the Conservative party's online shop , but I believe it makes a valid point. Both David Cameron , and Gordon Brown are embracing and using the word " Change " in their respective campaigns. The Conservatives say " Vote for Change " and New Labour " Be The Change ". The Labour party has a great project called Change We See , you can also connect on facebook and  flickr ; calling on people to send photos of actual change the government of New Labour has achieved. It's obvious that both campaigns want voters to shop for change. I do believe that the change motto is very powerful but needs to be targeted. A new study, by the Scientists in Government Project , suggests little change under the Obama administration. In is clear that expectations about the so called change in American politics have exceeded the capacity of the US government. Very i...

In a recent event at the  Progressive Book Club ,  David Plouffe explains that campaigns matter. It is very interesting to hear that "voter anger" is such a powerful thing to tap into when running a political campaign.  I beleive that this will be a crucial theme with  Tea Parties  gaining more and more momentum and the upcoming Mid-Term election at the end of 2010. It is always good to hear a senior Barack Obama advisor talking politics, and giving insights into the political arguments that the Democrats will use, if healthcare legislation is passed... David Plouffe's new book: The Audacity to Win , is a must read for any person interested in political communications and campaign politics. Watch the Q&A discussion hosted by the GWU Graduate School of Political Management.

I had the opportunity to be in Corfu this weekend at the informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers . It was a great experience from any perspective, media and otherwise! This was the first informal ministerial meeting of the OSCE .  During the conference we had the opportunity, as OSCE Press and Public Information Section, to explore new ways to link with the media and the general public utilizing the twitter and facebook accounts of the OSCE. For the scale of the event we did manage to stream the event live and have multimedia (audio and video) of the opening and closing statements and a great photo gallery ! I believe that the most important thing is that we learned so much in preparation for the Formal Ministerial Council in Athens in December 2009.  One of the suggestions is to project the OSCE twitter to the Press Center, so as journalists, reporters, media people and volunteers to keep up to date with schedule, press center and pool updates, media appeara...

Hey Everybody, Maybe it was the Debates, maybe it was the huge amount of podcasts I had to listen to; or maybe it was me changing jobs that I didn't update my Blog… come to think of it I’m hooked on Bill O’Reilly’s “talking points memo” podcasts... So, now I know what I’m going to be doing during the 3rd and final debate: watch it and be logged on the Twitter election page . Its really sweet! This tool is great, an ongoing live opinion ticker. More importantly, the twitter election page gives politicians one very important information: direct FEEDBACK from active citizens. People who are active through social media and are in a position to be vital political advocates. So be there on October 15, 2008 !!!

The Republican attack machine at it again. I must say I have really enjoyed the exchanges of negative ads between the two campaigns. One distinct difference though, and one that you wouldn’t expect, the ads from the McCain campaign are better! exposing Obama in attacking his strong points (fame, popularity, celebrity status). The McCain campaign compared Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears , in response the Obama campaign compared McCain to President George W. Bush . The McCain campaign attacked Obama’s values, the Obama campaign attacked the President. A daring move from the McCain camp, that worked! Now everyone is talking how the elections would be a referendum on Obama, and if he is fit to become President, while McCain is ready to be President!

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...

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...

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