EchoDitto

The Hill has an article today about Members of Congress trying to use Facebook. I am quoted:

Brian Reich, author of Media Rules! Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience, sasays lawmakers must focus on building relationships with other members by using innovative ways to communicate a common cause.

“It’s about what the audience on Facebook wants and expects out of a relationship with a member of Congress,” he says. “The key to having that relationship is a combination of things: information, some kind of experience, or stuff the audience really values.”

I published an article in the most recent edition of the NTEN newsletter about what I see as a lack of true innovation in terms of the use of technology to advance the political conversation this cycle.

Here is an excerpt:

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The web has certainly played a big role in this election cycle and is helping campaigns on both sides of the aisle collect millions of dollars in small contributions. But, the major campaigns have been slow to incorporate some of the best ideas from the last four years, instead relying on glossy new versions of the same old tactics and tools.

The 2008 campaigns have perfected some existing tactics and ideas... and technology is at a place now where some campaigns are able to operate more professionally and efficiently than ever before (the use of video being the best example). But there haven't been many earth shattering innovations, our democracy has not been revolutionized, and the prospect of radical change in this upcoming cycle remains limited.

Hello, my name is Brian. I am the newest member of the EchoDitto team/family/gang – effective today.

I have been asked to write a post introducing myself – announcing my arrival. For days I have been trying to figure out what to write, how to make myself sound smart, creative, funny, warm, interested, professional, passionate and accomplished – in a word, awesome. I could post a bio, but that seems boring and certainly doesn’t scream ‘awesome.’ I could offer some thoughts on politics, technology, PR, marketing, or sports – all subjects I spend a lot of time reading, writing and speaking about -- but there will be plenty of time for that going forward.

[Editor's Note: Brian Reich is the editor of Campaign Web Review,a blog examining the use of the internet during the 2004 election cycle. Reich also authors the weekly Webwatch column for National Journal's Hotline. EchoDitto is pleased to welcome Brian to the discussion evolving here.]

Ok, I get it.

White House West, the three-minute minimovie featuring veteran Will Ferrell in a reprise of his Bush impression from Saturday Night Live, is funny.

And, the Jib Jab short, which a cartoon John Kerry ("a liberal wiener") and a cartoon President Bush ("a right-wing nut job") trade insults in a campaign parody of "This Land is Your Land" is popular because it skewers both candidates equally.

But what impact are these highly touted web movies having on swing voters in this ultra-tight election year?

Nielsen/NetRatings reported that JibJab.com attracted over 14 million unique visitors in July, and AtomFilms, the creator of the parody, drew another 13.7 million unique visitors during the same period. A contact of mine over at America Coming Together, the ultra-Democratic 527 organizing machine who created White House West, says their parody was downloaded 3.5 million times so far in August, and they are now seeing about 100,000 downloads a day. (Note: My ACT contact also suggested "the 30 million number for jig-jab is a bit of smoke-and-mirrors.").

The Pew Research Center found that 22 percent of Americans went online in 2002 for information about the elections, up from 15% in 1998. So 30 million people viewing some silly political sing-a-long shouldn’t seem that extraordinary, right? But consider this: only 28.5 million people tuned in for the Vice Presidential Debate between Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman in 2000, and the Commission on Presidential Debates estimates viewership for the three Bush vs. Gore Presidential debates ranged between only 37.7 million and 45 million. That’s still a lot of people – but don’t you think a 90-minute discussion of healthcare, education and foreign policy is more important for voters to see than a faux American Idol showdown?