Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Crow and Conversations

Wow. Congrats o the HRC campaign, and kudos to her NH field team. Though I am not eating quite as much crow as the national media, I do want to defend a few earlier thoughts given her revival.

The Obama (and to a lesser extent Paul and Edwards) campaign's use of social media in its broader sense is revolutionary and highly effective. As our attention continues to be fragmented, it is critical
for campaigns to get involved in the conversation. Hillary's demeanor over the past few days has lent itself well to this new dynamic. The format of the Facebook debate Saturday night of a sit-down conversation also fit this new paradigm, though we can go further. And of course, her moment of vulnerability Monday helped the voters of New Hampshire see past the spin and rhetoric to the person underneath.

Simple, one-to-many messages no longer have enough bite to cut through. Inciting, fostering and otherwise engaging in the conversation drives significant impact. Word-of-mouth discussion has always been powerful, but the tools of digital social media make it efficient. Power + efficiency = an effective tool for political campaigning.

There is still going to be a flood of opportunity to continue to hone these new tools over the coming months, mistakes will be made, but I still believe a tipping point is at hand, if not for Obama for social media.

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