Comments on: Beyond Campaigning: Social Media’s Growing Role in Politics http://www.digitallyapproved.com/2010/02/16/beyond-campaigning-social-medias-growing-role-in-politics/ Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:34:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Beyond Campaigning: Social Media’s Growing Role in Politics « AndrewGermer.com http://www.digitallyapproved.com/2010/02/16/beyond-campaigning-social-medias-growing-role-in-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-11831 Beyond Campaigning: Social Media’s Growing Role in Politics « AndrewGermer.com Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:33:31 +0000 http://www.digitallyapproved.com/?p=1207#comment-11831 [...] political campaigns and interactions in the communities with which they participate.  Click here or on the image below to read the article and let me know what you [...] [...] political campaigns and interactions in the communities with which they participate.  Click here or on the image below to read the article and let me know what you [...]

]]> By: Jeff Pfaff http://www.digitallyapproved.com/2010/02/16/beyond-campaigning-social-medias-growing-role-in-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-11622 Jeff Pfaff Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:12:28 +0000 http://www.digitallyapproved.com/?p=1207#comment-11622 Great post, Fanscape! The political world has only just scratched the surface of what’s possible with social networks – the emergence of simple, low-cost tools that lower barriers to connecting people is probably the greatest revolution in communication since the creation of the Internet itself. We wrote a recent blog post about this ourselves, pointing out the way Social Media is energizing our American democracy. Just as having a campaign website became table stakes (even for local campaigns) in the early 2000’s, so every campaign around now offers a Facebook Page and a Twitter feed. They’re still learning how to use these tools, but with so many young, energetic people willing to volunteer on campaigns they’re getting it figured out pretty quickly. The next big wave is clearly campaign iPhone apps. You point out the Obama app, and a quick search of iTunes today will show that campaigns are latching on to this new strategy quickly. Apple has been slow to accept the use of the iPhone as a social organizing tool – we spent months arguing with Apple about whether and how we could use iPhone apps to solicit contributions on behalf of political campaigns and nonprofit organizations – but they’re finally understanding that people really want to use it this way so they’re making app approval easier. But just think about all the connection power that social media provide – and then bundle that up and stuff it in your jeans pocket and the opportunities are limitless! As campaign iPhone apps developers ourselves it’s been fascinating to see Republicans be much faster out of the gate than Democrats when it comes to mobile technologies. Sam Brownback was the first gubernatorial candidate to offer an iPhone app and Republican Senatorial candidates have many more apps than their Democratic counterparts. Democrats seem to have fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to mobile, and they’ll have to do some serious scrambling to catch up. Thanks again for lifting up this exciting trend! Jeff Pfaff MTBMobile.com Great post, Fanscape! The political world has only just scratched the surface of what’s possible with social networks – the emergence of simple, low-cost tools that lower barriers to connecting people is probably the greatest revolution in communication since the creation of the Internet itself. We wrote a recent blog post about this ourselves, pointing out the way Social Media is energizing our American democracy. Just as having a campaign website became table stakes (even for local campaigns) in the early 2000’s, so every campaign around now offers a Facebook Page and a Twitter feed. They’re still learning how to use these tools, but with so many young, energetic people willing to volunteer on campaigns they’re getting it figured out pretty quickly.

The next big wave is clearly campaign iPhone apps. You point out the Obama app, and a quick search of iTunes today will show that campaigns are latching on to this new strategy quickly. Apple has been slow to accept the use of the iPhone as a social organizing tool – we spent months arguing with Apple about whether and how we could use iPhone apps to solicit contributions on behalf of political campaigns and nonprofit organizations – but they’re finally understanding that people really want to use it this way so they’re making app approval easier. But just think about all the connection power that social media provide – and then bundle that up and stuff it in your jeans pocket and the opportunities are limitless!

As campaign iPhone apps developers ourselves it’s been fascinating to see Republicans be much faster out of the gate than Democrats when it comes to mobile technologies. Sam Brownback was the first gubernatorial candidate to offer an iPhone app and Republican Senatorial candidates have many more apps than their Democratic counterparts. Democrats seem to have fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to mobile, and they’ll have to do some serious scrambling to catch up.

Thanks again for lifting up this exciting trend!

Jeff Pfaff
MTBMobile.com

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