Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #13: Rep. Ron Paul (R)

Social Media Analysis: Rep. Ron Paul (R)

Rep. Ron Paul has the following:

• Website: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/RonPaul2008dotcom
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/RonPaul2008
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/p/Ron_Paul/732025404 and Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2229718737
• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/RonPaul2008
• Digg: http://digg.com/search?s=Ron+Paul&submit=Search&section=news&type=both&area=all&sort=new
• justin.tv: http://www.justin.tv/ronpaul
• Eventful: http://eventful.com/calendars/C0-001-000071019-7/events
• MeetUp: http://ronpaul.meetup.com/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/ronpaul2008
• iPhone Network: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/iphone/
• Blog: http://ronpaul2008.typepad.com/ron_paul_2008

Website: No splash page at the Ron Paul website! You know how happy that makes me. Actually the site is clean, focused and VERY easy to navigate. The big news today is the November 5th Fundraising which is going on, spurred by some “grassroots” activism (see thisnovember5th.com if it still exists). Breaking fundraising goals left and right – and I do mean left and right! By 7:00 p.m. EST they had beaten Romney’s record. So the site right now is all about this. Nice graphic showing the money rolling in, news items reporting on the money…all quite focused.

The navigation is clean and it’s very easy to find out about the candidate and what he stands for. He includes the requisite issues section, which goes deeper – but the teasers give you a good feel without overwhelming the user visually or with too much information. One section on this site that is very interesting is the “Grassroots Guidelines” – it’s all mapped out on how to get involved in helping the campaign by creating websites.

There is NO ACTION CENTER here. And, there is no obvious blog here either (although its there). As I have read and heard more about the “Ron Paul Revolution” I’ve wondered what is really going on and here’s the thing. I’m not sure who gets it…but someone does. This website is the hub for a social media web – one that is not contained within the site itself, but actually embraces and encourages others to take their information and spread it around. No locked-in controlled space here. Nice!

One other note – this is the only campaign that I’ve noticed which is releasing news alerts about website stats, YouTube views and Meet Up Group members. They are doing a good job of trying to generate buzz in the traditional media about this campaign – since they can’t get coverage any way else, so the focus is on all the web traffic they are generating. So that is what the trads are talking about. Hmmm…hope they move to issues coverage pretty soon. The campaign risks not getting the right kind of coverage – this is the kind of thing that is a “blip” but doesn’t really dent the mainstream.

There is a list of social media sites with an emphasis on YouTube – click on that in the top portion of the site and it takes you directly to the “YouTube Video Network” which remains inside the site, however one click and you link right out to the YouTube space. Additional social media sites linked to from the home page are: Justin.tv, Eventful, Meetup, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Flickr, Twitter and the iPhone Network (this is new!). The campaign blog is actually a typepad site that is ported directly into the homepage of the site.

Here’s the thing, if you think about it. Finally here is a campaign that gets it – and is leveraging the power of connections on the web. Pay for the main website. Don’t do any fancy campaign action center and don’t spend any more money then you have to. Invite your constituents to donate not just their money but their resources and tell them to build sites and spread the word. Don’t pay for a fancy blog, use a free one at Typepad (or pay minimally). Use Feedburner (also free) to help connect it. Use YouTube for free and port in media coverage, ads, etc. and encourage your constituents to create their own videos. Use all the free social media sites you can to spread the word. Folks, this isn’t a revolution – this is what social media can do when a brand is willing to manage the process, not control it. Now, here’s the question…does it translate into anything?

Um…at the moment…looks like it at least translates into CASH.

Votes? Hmmm…good question. Get back to you on that one.

YouTube: This campaign has been really working the YouTube – the news release focused on 5 million views. Personally I go with subscribers. Anyway there’s a lot of video going on here – even radio ads. Like most of the candidates so far though, it’s all regenerated ads, pull-ins from TV shows, and news programs. I’d still like to see that personal grassroots type of YouTube – perhaps after today he’ll do one to thank that grassroots group for all their work. 35,259 subscribers.

MySpace: The MySpace site for Ron Paul is interesting on first examination – it, much like Edwards, is a different design and has some nice features – there is a flash animated magazine that is neat. I have to admit that I’m disappointed however. The site blog is from Oct. 28th. Given the action going on in the donation space right now, I’m STUNNED that this MySpace site is not up-to-date. The “friends” are posting, and that is good, but the site itself is static and not focused on something that is so vital to the campaign. Bummer. As I’ve said before, if you are going to do this, be sure to keep the main sites up to date! 78671 friends.

Facebook: Hey! No Facebook Page of Doom! Linked directly to the listing (nice!) so I can easily login and get to where I’m going. What I really like about this Facebook site is the use of the GROUPS functionality. Here’s a campaign that is directing people to the main group so they can harness that information. A lot of activity at the group around the fundraising going on today – there is a discussion thread. Also, they are pushing Facebook group members who are students to add in a student code when they donate so the campaign can track student donations. Nice. Good mix of widgets/applications going on this Facebook from RonPaulTV to the BroadCast Freedom. I would have liked to see something more current today – such as a new video pushing for people to donate. Again, they are close…but they need to do more to really keep these sites tied in and up to date. 35,885 supporters

FlickR: Lot’s of photos – nothing too exciting here although the campaign is capitalizing on the discussion feature in the FlickR groups. Lot’s of buzz about the fundraising. So here’s a question – why not images of the candidate reacting to the fundraising? Why not images of the fundraising meter? Perhaps I ask too much? 491 Members.

Digg: Lot’s of news articles being “dugg” here this evening. I could go off on a long tangent about the media coverage…CNN has a piece by their “internet reporter” during the “Situation Room” (um…ok folks…a reporter covering the internet. So much for convergence! How come the POLITICAL reporter isn’t covering this? Sigh…) and Fox News (remember, they are fair and balanced) doesn’t even have a reference to this at all on their political page. Hmmm…ok. See my note above about what the media will cover. There is enough activity on the CNN piece however, to get this to the home page of Digg at 2165 Diggs.

Justin.TV: Neat site. I’ve seen this one before and it’s the one place where there is a live chat going on – actually feels like some action! Too bad there isn’t a live video happening! And actually, like many of these sites it’s a small population that is actually engaging here. Looks like there are a total of 941 people on throughout the site – it doesn’t seem to be tracking those in the Ron Paul section. Could be a cool place to hang out if a debate is broadcast here.

Eventful: Here’s one of those…um…not so much sites. Given the numbers at meetup, I’d say this one is a waste of time. Only one event…that is linked from the site and only 2508 Demands around the country.

MeetUp: This is the one the campaign touted – 60,000 members as of last week I believe. The link leads to a page where I can input my location to find a meetup in my area. I think this link would be much more interesting: http://ronpaul.meetup.com/about/ the visual is great! A google map that shows all the different meetups around the world – including Iraq (I believe that is a troop base, actually), the UK, Australia as well as the U.S. and Canada. 64,644 members.

Twitter: Last Twitter – 11 days ago. Need I say more?

iPhone Network: Um…what’s the point? Frankly here in Vermont it really is a waste. Put your resources into updating the MySpace and the Facebook where there is actually something useful going on.

Search Results: I’m impressed. No, REALLY IMPRESSED. My search on “Paul” for this candidate revealed only ONE PAUL beat him out and frankly it did my Catholic heart good, especially so soon after All Saints Day, to see that it was St. Paul the Apostle who ranks first at Google through a WikiPedia.com entry on Paul of Tarsus– and Ron Paul the Presidential candidate comes up second in his WikiPedia.com entry, and third for his campaign site. Even that Beatle guy comes up ranking fifth (I think there’s something funny about that…but for the life of me I can’t remember what it is – that’s what I get for not knowing much, nor caring much about the Beatles).

Anyway…a search on “Ron Paul” hits the jackpot in Google with the campaign site at #1, then WikiPedia.com, then news information, the congressional site, a third party pac site, YouTube, MySpace…yep, it’s all Ron Paul on the first page. And…NO sponsored ads from the candidate or rivals. Now I’m stumped. Seriously…given the traffic Ron Paul is generating (see my earlier post on the stats), seems to me that there might be more action from a CPC standpoint here. At Yahoo! St. Paul still wins (grin). Searching on Ron Paul, the results are a bit different, and interesting. Campaign site is #1 followed by the congressional site, WikiPedia.com and then…um…his campaign site from his congressional run in 2004! Wow! Nice algorithm Yahoo! Eventful shows up too among the rest of the candidate specific sites. A lot more action on the CPC here – café press and comedy central being the big ones. At Live, well, I’m glad to see that St. Paul is still the WINNER! (Perhaps Microsoft is not so evil after all), but unfortunately for Rep. Paul, his candidate site doesn’t show. Not even in the suggested searches. Hmmmm…. but a search on the full name reveals all Ron Paul all the time.

Interesting observation on Rep. Paul and his online visibility/mentions…check out the “unofficial” url’s I discovered – some of the content is the same, many of it links together and most link to the candidate website:

• http://www.ronpaul.org/
• http://www.ronpaul.net/
• http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/
• http://www.ronpaulforum.com/
• http://www.ronpaulforums.com/
• http://www.ronpaulstickers.com/
• http://www.voteronpaul.com/
• http://www.ronpaulnation.com/
• http://www.ronpaulrally.com/
• http://www.ronpaulfacts.com/
• http://www.ronpaulquest.com/
• http://www.ronpaulradio.com/
• http://www.ronpaulforpresident2008.com/
• http://www.ronpaulhq.com/
• http://www.voteronpaul.com/
• http://www.ronpaulsongs.com/
• http://www.ronpaulpresshub.com/
• http://www.dailypaul.com/
• http://www.ronpaulpledge.com/
• http://www.ronpaulstamp.com/
• http://www.ronpaulblog.com/
• http://www.ronpaulonline.com/
• http://www.ronpaulradio.us/
• http://www.voteronpaulforpresident.com/
• http://www.ronpaulgraphs.com/
  

On this November 5th, when the Paul Campaign – or, excuse me, the grassroots effort for the Paul Campaign is running their $100 by 10,000 to raise $10 million for Paul (see ThisNovember5th.com) campaign, it’s fascinating to see the media frenzy that is going on. How everyone is talking about the internet use of this particular candidate. As a matter of fact, in the BFP article that was written about this series, one person commented on the website that it was crazy that the article didn’t mention Paul. That’s simple…I hadn’t gotten here yet! Anyway, what this looks like is a social media strategy. A true (red white and blue...sorry, couldn't help it!) all out consumer generated, give-up-control-of-my-brand social media strategy. Gotta LOVE IT!

Blog: So here’s another one that doesn’t have a real blog – no place for comments and no real push to get people engaged. Missed opportunity tonight – There is clearly a lot going on, but the blog isn’t really reflecting it as much as it could be. They have posted updates – but the last one was at 7:00 EST and it is now almost 10:30 EST and nothing new. This is what I mean by keeping a blog moving. In the case of an online event such as the one going on now (Over $3.5 million raised as of last count over at ronpaulgraphs.com), the blog should be cooking – it can add to the frenzy and get even more going. While I love the use of Typepad and the porting in of the blog info, it looks to me that this is how they keep the site fresh each day and they aren’t really capitalizing on it like they should. Again, why no posts from the candidate? Why no comments? You have a grassroots base that is moving things along quickly and doing some very cool stuff, and yet, the blog really isn’t doing what it should…or could…to engage. Too bad.

Recommendations: Here’s a campaign that is so on the verge of getting it I’m beside myself. I had heard a lot about this campaign and am glad I finally got to it. They certainly have utilized the web to capitalize on the grassroots ala Dean-style. Unfortunately they are missing some real opportunities that are illustrated by the lack of action on the main campaign sites and official properties like MySpace and Facebook and YouTube during a record-breaking, grassroots driven donation day. Also, like many of the campaigns jumping on the social networking/media bandwagon they are over extending themselves. Focus on the ones that can be managed so as to keep the base involved and engaged. Don’t jump on every one that comes by – especially when resources need to be carefully managed.

Update your MySpace already!

At the same time, this campaign is running perhaps the biggest risk of all – because they are popular on the web and are focusing a lot of their media efforts on web-based milestones (such as MeetUp numbers and YouTube), they aren’t getting issues coverage. At this point I suppose any coverage is better than no coverage – but it won’t be until primaries are won that there will be more focused coverage then there has been. Even CNN had to write about the fact that Ron Paul is low in the polls. They are going to have to work hard to get some balance – the point is the web alone will NOT do it.

Social Media Stats for the Presidential Candidates

Over at the Personal Democracy Forum techPresident you can find some great stats on the use of social media by the presidential candidates.

You can get a look at stats on:

• MySpace -- Total Friends Count
• Facebook -- Total Supporters Count
• YouTube -- Total Views Per Day Count (nice!)
• Technorati -- Total blog mentions per candidate name per day
• Eventful -- Total number of "demands"
• Meetup -- Total meet up members
• Hitwise -- Traffic to each candidate website

From the looks of these stats, the big winners are Obama and Paul. Since Ron Paul is next on my list for analysis, it will be interesting to see what is happening there. Many are talking/blogging about Paul's use of the web -- and how might that translate into votes.

Actually, that's the big question for everyone isn't it? At the end of the day, total friends, supporters, views per day, blog mentions, demands, site visits or total members won't matter if the people involved don't VOTE.

Several reporters have asked me how effective all of this. If I was working for a campaign I'd say VERY! But, I'm not. The reality is ... who knows? This hasn't really been done before (remember, Ho-Ho? he opened up the web to the political world, but at the time he had a website, and blog and was using this new thing called "meetup" to generate buzz...the tools the candidates are using now weren't around when he was running) so how do you measure effectiveness? You can't. Not right now. After the primaries we will know a lot more.

A little buzz for the Presidential Social Media Analysis

The Burlington Free Press has picked up on the 2008 Presidential Campaign Social Media Analysis I've been doing here at the blog -- written by Tim Johnson and published in today's issue. Overall a pretty good job by Tim who highlighted some of the comments I've made throughout the series. The photographer, Ryan Mercer also did a good job -- some pretty funky photos. Too bad I can't use them to put on my blog -- it would be SOOOO cool!

Anyhow, it's midterm grading time and that means I have to spend time with that -- but Ron Paul is next up on the analysis so stay tuned...

Final Brownback: FINALLY an update to the blog!

Well, the campaign finally updated the blog -- must have been Central time last night. There is now a thank you to all the people who worked on the campaign on the "Brownbacker" blog. This has also been ported into the MySpace site.

Hmmm...the blog. The one thing that is supposed to be continually updated and the most current. THREE DAYS LATER finally a post that tells people he is no longer running. Um, folks, not the best way to focus the social media.

Oh, and by the way, the main Brownback website -- still no notice! Just that ambiguous splash page message.

Brownback update part II: A splash page says thanks, nothing else is done

Well, as of tonight, Sunday, October 21 at 7:51 p.m. Eastern Time, the Brownback campaign site has been updated to show a thank you on the splash page -- but a click through brings you right to the site. The blog still looks like it did the other day (only three comments about the end of the campaign), and there is no update on the MySpace either. So if you go to the sites, at the moment you really aren't clear that the candidate has really dropped out of the race.

One interesting note -- on the MySpace there is an ad from the Huckabee Campaign! Opportunity knocking for another conservative candidate to see if they can get the Brownback supporters.

PCSMA Update: Brownback's Yellow Brick Road Comes to an End

Today, Senator Sam Brownback announced that he would no longer be a candidate for president.

Today I'm ending my candidacy. My yellow brick road just came short of the White House this time," said Brownback, who was flanked by a small group of supporters as he announced his decision from the state capitol in Topeka.

When one's campaign ends, how does it get handled on the campaign website?

A quick examination of the Brownback website tonight at 7:25 p.m. Eastern time revealed that there was NO update or information that showed the Sen. had announced he would be no longer running. NO mention of it on his blog either (by the way, a more updated blog with a url that wasn't available when I did my first analysis!) -- only the media alert from yesterday.

So it looks like, at the moment, no one is attending to the needs of the online community that is left behind. I'll check back tomorrow to see if there is a change/redesign/message.

We'll be getting more of these...it will be interesting to see how the others respond.

Shifting Cultural Gears and Facilitating Opportunities

Here's the thing. It's an important thing to know about me if you follow this blog. I like to think I'm culturally aware and able to really appreciate our global world. I talk about inclusion. I'm actually the Chair of the Faculty Senate Cultural Affairs Committee. However...

The reality is...I'm a privileged white woman who hasn't travelled much. I've been around the U.S. I grew up in New Mexico actually -- my dad was an teacher at a Navajo reservation school outside of Gallup, NM. I spent time in New York in the Catskills and in Virginia and now I live in Vermont. I've been to London when I was a teenager. I've been on two Disney Cruises. I've been to San Francisco and Phoenix and the Grand Canyon and Seattle...and well...that's it.

I'd like to think I'm not the norm, but I suspect really that I am and that more of my students are like me than I would like to believe -- people who think they have a handle on the global culture out there...but really don't.

And this brings me to my point.

I have a student. Yeah, I know...I have lots of those! In this case within the internship class, I have a student who is a citizen of our fabulous neighbor to the north, Canada. She is a PR and Professional Writing major who has stumbled upon the opportunity of a lifetime to shake her cultural foundation to the CORE. Her internship is a self-designed travel writers dream and she needed someone who would support the wild ride. Cue crazy professor like me (grin). I heard what she wanted to do and said...OK. WE CAN DO THAT!

Of course, I'm not doing anything.

She is the one who is going to Jordan. She is the one who is going to immerse herself into a culture so unlike her native Canada and her adopted Vermont. She is the one who is going to blog about her experiences and when she gets back, write about them for the Champlain College community and herself.

Jenica will be traveling to Jordan with Dr. Gary Scudder. She is interning with him in order to help him provide more information about our Global Modules project because Gary -- great guy that he is -- is a HISTORIAN...not someone who gets PR and gets how to break it down for the rest of us. So while she is in Jordan she will be observing classes in person that are participating in the online Global Modules with our students here on the ground at Champlain, she'll be interviewing the Jordanian students about their experiences as they engage with Americans in learning projects, and she'll be learning about the Jordanian culture first-hand.

And what will I be doing?

I'll be following her blog. Living vicariously and reading and wondering and even enviously viewing her experiences. Safe and secure in my office and home in Vermont and knowing that in some small part I have been able to facilitate Jenica's growth and development as she embarks on this journey of a lifetime.

Perhaps one day, it will be my turn.

Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #12: Sen. Barack Obama (D)

Social Media Analysis: Sen. Barack Obama (D)

Sen. Barack Obama has the following:

1. Website: http://www.barackobama.com/


2. YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=BarackObamadotcom


3. MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/barackobama


4. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/person.php?id=2355496748


5. Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/


6. Digg: http://digg.com/users/obamaforamerica


7. Eventful: http://eventful.com/performers/barack-obama/2008-democratic-presidential-candidate-senator-democrat-illinois-/P0-001-000000162-8


8. Twitter: http://twitter.com/BarackObama


9. Mobile: text GO to OBAMA (62262).


10. PartyBuilder (The DNC site): http://www.democrats.org/page/dashboard/public/gFdZp


11. BlackPlanet: http://www.blackplanet.com/barack_obama/


12. Faithbase: http://www.faithbase.com/barack_obama/


13. Glee: http://www.glee.com/barack_obama/


14. AsianAve: http://www.asianave.com/barack_obama/


15. MiGente: http://www.migente.com/barack_obama/


16. MyBatanga: http://my.batanga.com/profileFamily.php?familyname=batanga&id=batanga/barackobama


17. Eons: http://community.eons.com/members/profile/BarackObama


18. LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/barackobama


19. Blog: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/group/ObamaHQ/

Website: There is a lot going on at the Obama website. It is very modular and very segmented. I’m not sure personally how this resonates with me, honestly, I find it a bit overwhelming and too blocky with so many icons and things happening at once – however, at the same time, I can see why this can work pretty well in segmenting the market. Many social networking sites are listed along the bottom. News items are clearly available and there is an RSS feed for them as well. There is a blog, an action center, and videos (BarackTV – some of which are YouTube and others are not) and upcoming events. All of what is clearly becoming the standard fair. However…there are some very interesting differences on this site compared to the rest of the field I’ve reviewed so far.

It is easy to navigate the site for sure, and unless you are a white male you feel pretty included. As you can see from the picture – the “People” tab at the site includes many options – but if you are a white male, um…well…not sure you belong (smile). Anyway, that segmentation is very interesting here as each group highlighted has a slightly different look and feel and its own “banner” to put on your own social networking site. For example, the students for Obama section emphasizes the Facebook application, taking action and setting up a student group on campus. The African American section directs people to BlackPlanet.com, and highlights more of the candidate’s issues that might be direct concerns for that specific population. The same is true of all of the segmentations. Obama is not the only one to add groups of people to a list – many are doing it for states – and some campaigns are targeting young voters, or women or early primary states – but this one is probably the most aggressive I’ve seen so far. I understand the concept, however I’m not sure if I like it or not. It definitely is more obvious than others. It will be very interesting to see if this works really well for the campaign – too bad I can’t get a look at their analytics and do a real compare. Marketing theory would tell me that it should work well because I can go to the section of the site that appeals to me (as a woman, for example) and see information from other women, which may get me to engage more. However, the “Women for Obama” logo was annoying frankly as it was very stylized and well…um…womanish. Basically I felt a little stereotyped by the font choice. Yeah…I know…get over it. At least it wasn’t PINK!

Another feature on this site that is very interesting is the “My Policy” section. It’s hard to find – not on the home page at all, which I think is too bad, because this feature I really like. Under the Issue tab you’ll find it – it’s a feature that allows you to put in your ideas of how things should be improved. A place for you to give advice on specific areas such as foreign policy, faith, immigration, etc. The campaign claims they will take that information and utilize it in their policy development. I like this a lot. A great way to get involved and get information on what people really care about. This should be highlighted more…it should be on the social networks too. Nice application.

There is also a great page that is all about buddy icons, widgets and other gadgets to put on your profiles. I’m surprised I didn’t see more links to these options on the other social networking sites – such as “get great stuff for your site! check out url”.

Overall, the site is a bit blocky but provides a lot of good information, video and news items. The segmentation is aggressive and may broaden appeal – although I’m still not sure on that one, and it is very easy to navigate the site and get involved. There’s an action center called “My.BarackObama” which allows people to set up their groups and do their blogging thing – again, seem to be the item du jour on the campaign sites. A good site with good content and some intriguing approaches.

YouTube: The YouTube site is fairly current – video loaded within the past several days – the main one is from Iowa on the 12th. Fairly typical though – running speeches and TV ads and News spots. We already know that I’m biased towards seeing the more direct communication from the candidate – the blurry-eyed campaign trail, impassioned 2 minute vlog style. Oh well. 11,507 Subscribers.

MySpace: Fairly standard MySpace page, although there are links to many of the different social networking sites – graphic links which draw attention. There’s eventful, My.BarackObama action center link, YouTube, Facebook, partybuilder, linkedin, gather…great way to pull them all in and show where to connect. Those same links aren’t available at the YouTube site (hmmmm). There some video and a TWITTER application (which hasn’t been updated in 7 days!). 182096 Friends.

MyBatanga: (this one isn’t linked directly from the home page of the site, but rather is buried in the text of a blog post in the African Americans for Obama section of the site) The Hispanic equivalent of MySpace. Interesting set up – although it is important to note that I do not read Spanish! However, there is enough English here for me to tell that this isn’t a very active website. While someone from the campaign did log in today, there are only 5 friends and one comment. Not sure if that is because this is brand new…or if it is because there just isn’t any traffic to the site. Same standard profile information here as the others.

Facebook: So the direct link to Facebook actually worked here! Nice! Some good things going on here – links to YouTube, MySpace, the main site and Digg! (didn’t see that one at the website!). Also the Obama Application is running and ready for people to add! Nice little app, but could do more I think. I don’t think it is enough to just have a video or two show up, I think there should be something more focused on the action oriented piece – or even take advantage of the major segmentation that is going on and allow people to add specialized applications. They also have a direct link to a Facebook Group! You already know how much I think that is underutilized by campaigns. 9684 members of the group! Its focus is students – but that is ok. It’s GREAT to see it! Overall 153,998 Supporters.

FlickR: Lots of activity here – with pictures posted from today from all over the place – you almost want to see a map representing where these are all from AND then click on them – the collections link helps with this so you can see things broken down by state. Still nothing outstanding here though – some great fun to be had, but nothing really meaningful around issues. The profile is the same profile I’ve seen at all the sites. I suppose consistency is good. yawn.

Digg: Interesting site – they’ve posted some different news items, but nothing this month. And um…not many Diggs either. Perhaps they aren’t posting the right types of news items! Digg as part of a campaign has some great potential – but only if you get people to go there and “Digg” your stories. So here’s that action item. Digg isn’t listed from the website and I only found it at Facebook. There is no action that says “Go Digg your Favorite Story about Barack” to drive supporters there to generate some good content. Too bad. The candidate certainly has the ability to pull that off – especially in the segmented areas they are in.

Eventful: They’ve done a great job with the profile and information at this site. Finally a DIFFERENT profile and more information – something that I have become desperate for by now (grin). You get the sense that there is a lot of activity here with 36,858 people “demanding” an event with the Candidate. Nice touch with the Fred Thompson Banner Ad on the side though (yep, I’m being sarcastic!). This is linked to from the website and from the MySpace. Pretty cool.

Twitter: I’ve signed up to “follow” Barack who hasn’t updated his Twitter in seven days. Hmmm…wonder what he is doing RIGHT NOW? (grin). Love that Twitter! Find it at the mobile section on his website. 5,332 Followers

Mobile: So this section of the main site is good – mobile wallpaper, mobile alerts by topic area and even RINGTONES! Big winner here for best mobile experience…if you want an Obama speech on your phone…

DNC partybuilder: Here’s another candidate using this site – but is so slow to load and so uninspiring…why bother? 754 friends.

Search Results: Excellent results for “Obama” in the Google search. News items, then the campaign site, the blog, wikipedia, the senate site, MySpace, youtube and even cafepress – all relevant and all in a row. It’s like a search jackpot! And of the campaign is NOT messing around – the sponsored ad is right at the top. Nice! Sponsored ads on the side, however are interesting. One is a general youtube push, but the other is an ad for an organization decidedly opposed to the candidate. Interesting that no opponents are purchasing ads like we’ve seen in the past on some of the other searches. Hmmmm…. Over at Yahoo! it’s a mixed picture. The candidate’s site is right at the top and they have the top ad spot as well (I wonder if they’ve done the research on those ad placements? More expensive to get the top spot…but can often get more clicks at the third or fourth spot…). Anyway, here we find the candidate site, senate site, wikiepedia, news items, flickr, with MySpace at #9. They also have the sponsored ad at the bottom. Clearly a lot of action on “Obama” as the sponsored ads here at Yahoo! are numerous – including the same anti-Obama one from Google. There’s a different story, however, over at Live. The senate site comes up first and then the wikipedia entry. The campaign site comes up third and after that a host of news sites – nothing else specifically run by the campaign. The sponsored ads, however are the real treat! The top listed one is for “Barack Obama Dinner for 5” and it’s a promo to get people to donate and maybe win dinner with the candidate. It’s a direct link to the candidate’s site. The problem? Well…you have to do it by JULY 31st! Last time I looked, um…it’s October! Nice job paying for that ad. It’s really the things like this that surprise me. You would think they would know that it’s past the date and to update their AD CAMPAIGN! Oops! Overall though, great Google results, but not great results across the board. Nice to see the CPC consistency – but bad news on the Live CPC – they better get that one fixed.

Highly specialized Social Networks through CommunityConnect.com:

1. Faithbase.com: It is what it says it is…well sort of. Actually it’s a CHRISTIAN social network. Interesting that in the candidates profile he is “nondenominational” and doesn’t mention faith in his profile. Odd. Currently 145 friends.
2. Glee.com: A Gay and Lesbian social network site. The link from the Candidate’s site takes you to the generic space – not to a member page, but if you scroll down you can find a link to his profile. 1,099 friends.
3. AsianAve.com: An Asian Social Network. Interesting that his profile is the SAME as the ones on Faithbase and Glee. Actually, not so surprising as all three are built by the same company. Some different informational, video etc. Here the candidate has 1,209 friends.
4. BlackPlanet.com: An African American Social Network, also owned and operated by the same company as all of the above. Same profile again, but some different video and news items. 188,872 friends.
5. MiGente.com: The Hispanic version of all of the above. Same profile information, similar video to the others, some small news item differences. 20,244 friends

Eons: Pretty good profile here – a new one – not the one used on most of the social networking sites thankfully! Photos and video are posted, and the new “LifePath” feature is quite neat. They should show this on their website – found it only in passing. 147 friends.

LinkedIn: Turns out I’m only THREE TIMES REMOVED from Barack Obama! How cool is that! And there is a Barack Obama LinkedIn Group! This is pretty cool – except for the part where there isn’t much there and it is a rehash of the really bad profile stuff from the other sites. Ho hum.

Blog: The blog is wrapped up on the Obama site within the “MyObama” section. This is the “Action Network” where individuals can create their groups and do the blog thing. The main group is what is linked to within the site. The blog is up to date and easy to follow, with cross linked posts between groups – for example the top post is about an woman supporter and why she is supporting the candidate, and that is cross listed in the women’s section as well (there’s that segmentation). It’s an active area – with many different posts from many different people. Most of the posts are news items, there are videos and pictures. But um…where is the candidate? Still wanting to see the personal touch that is happening in some of the campaigns.

Recommendations: Wow! A lot of things going on throughout the social media web the Obama campaign has created. The site as a starting point is good. A lot of recycled content within the blogs with the same information posted in many different places, which ensures visibility but also runs the risk of being too redundant. Overall I think this campaign is utilizing a lot of social media and segmenting their audience aggressively. The mix of the two can work really well if there are enough social networks to support the segmentation – and a strategy to keep them linked, driving content between the two and ensuring that you give people actions to take. This is what I am not seeing the campaign doing. They also run the risk of trying to do too many things and be on too many sites. The campaign will need to be careful here – they’ve got some good numbers and good things happening and yet there are cracks – no update to Twitter in 7 days, not keeping content current on the smaller niche sites, and not differentiating the profile information enough between the sites to better speak to their audience. This may explain why the FaithBased social network is so much smaller than some of the others. Also more clear linking between all of the social sites and the websites. I didn’t find all of them through the main site, but “discovered them” as I went along. While that can be fun – it certainly doesn’t fully leverage the power. The campaign is in a good position to really get people to take action – not just in blogging but in actually mobilizing on social networks to “Digg” a story, or write a letter to the editor or buy campaign things…all of these should be linked and the people running each social network should be encouraging more activity. Once again I miss the personal touch in the videos and the blogs. Talk to me and bypass all the spin and the speeches. Give me something new. Remember the upside to social networking is that I can see lots of stuff – but it is more obvious than ever when it is the same thing over and over – just in different “venues”. That’s the big challenge for this campaign.

Good news and Bad news

Well, the GOOD news is I received my dissertation edits from my committee...the BAD news is that I've had to spend the last several days focused on that, which means a holding pattern for my social media analysis.

I've sent off the edits tonight though, so I should be back at it in a few days.

Next up? Sen. Obama!

Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #11: Sen. John McCain (R)

Social Media Analysis: Sen. John McCain (R)

Sen. John McCain has the following:

• Website: http://www.johnmccain.com OR http://www.exploremccain.com
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/johnmccaindotcom
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/johnmccain
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/person.php?id=2307258706
• Eventful: http://eventful.com/performers/P0-001-000016098-5/demand
• Huddlez.com: http://www.huddlez.com/hotdiscussions.jsp?s=1187115252203078
• Blog: http://www.johnmccain.com/Blog/ AND/OR http://mccainblogette.com/index.shtml (read below for more on this!)

Website: The McCain campaign site has some surprises in store. First of all from a design perspective, they’ve gone with a black and white and shades of grey motif which actually looks pretty good! It’s a clean and easy to navigate site – like most of the others this campaign has an action center which they are calling “McCain Space”, there’s a big red contribute button (several as a matter of fact) and a lot of video on the site. The campaign has actually done a good job of incorporating video that is quick to load and well placed. They’ve done a mix of YouTube and internal video. The press section is by far the best I’ve seen so far with a good mix of information including campaign photos, a spot for the media to join and news. Unfortunately they are leading with a story from Sept. 15th, and their news roll is below that – small mistake, but one that they should rectify. The issues section also provides a great mix of text and video. Nice touch!

From the home page there is information on social media sites: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and eventful.

There is also a blog, where I got quite the surprise! Just several days ago John McCain’s daughter launched her blog called “McCainBlogette.com” which, while not part of the Senator’s presidential campaign, IS following the campaign from a different point of view. So there is the main campaign blog site where staffers are dumping in video and news items (not much of a blog) and now there is the daughter’s “non-official” blog. Read more on both of these below!
Overall this site is strong – the layout is clean and easy to follow and there is a good mix of video. The downside? The social media are present on the home page, but once you leave the homepage they are gone. Also this campaign is trying to get people to stay on their site (like many of the campaigns) so followers can create their own site at the McCain Space – but again, why would someone do that? None of these are being found in the search engines. What’s the point? (But…more on this point of view at the end of the series!)

YouTube: The campaign has done a great job of tying together the main website and the YouTube site. It’s clear they belong together. Still, not the YouTube I’d like to see – less advertising and more one-on-one conversation – that whole straight talk thing that McCain is pushing could work very well here with some more direct and shorter pieces. Back off on the polish a bit and go more edgy. Not much depth here at all – and no real push for a profile and groups to really capitalize on YouTube. 1,644 subscribers.

MySpace: Don’t bother clicking on the MySpace icon from the home page of the McCain website – it doesn’t work! It takes the user to the home page for MySpace, not the MCCAIN MySpace site. Oops! This site is also tied very nicely to the campaign site. Good continuity. Overall there are a lot of different videos and a link to Eventful. The most recent MySpace blog entry is from August! The most action this site is getting is from the “friends” – doesn’t seem that there is much updating going on here. 39,159 Friends

Facebook: The Facebook account for the Campaign requires that people log in – I guess the folks at the campaign haven’t set up the public search feature yet. Basic information here. They have incorporated the newsvine application, are listing groups and have photos up. Not much else – doesn’t look like they have created an official Facebook group either. 11,576 Supporters

Eventful: The McCain campaign is running a “Demand” through Eventful. Currently the Candidate is demanded by 2,649 people in over 200 places. I wonder if he’ll make them all.

Huddlez: A social grouping site for discussion. Doesn’t look like much is going on here – only a few people and the posts were from August. Not sure if this is even worth linking to.

Search Results: An initial search on Google for “Mcain” (yep, I typed it wrong) revealed a sponsored link at the top for the John McCain Campaign! Nicely done folks! There is was also a paid ad for the Fred Thompson campaign. Looks like that’s where the Thompson campaign sees a threat! A correctly spelled search on Google resulted in top organic results for the campaign site, WikiPedia.com, the senate site, and news results. The MySpace site was listed at #7. Sponsored Ads were purchased here as well by the campaign. Over at Yahoo! the campaign site comes up on top, then the senate site, WikiPedia.com, news items, the McCain PAC: Straight Talk America, and MySpace at #9. The campaign has also purchased sponsored listings here. At Live, it’s a different story. Live hasn’t indexed the candidate websites homepage – or at least isn’t listing it. The first sites are the senate site, then the food company (which is mixed in on the others as well, just not third!), WikiPedia.com, then the exploratory committee site for McCain, (which is now a mirror image of the main site) and then a deep link to multimedia for the candidate site – but not a direct link to the home page! The campaign has also purchased a sponsored link here too. Someone is on the ball at the McCain campaign!

Depending on which option you click, you get a different part of the site – either the splash page or the home page.

Blog: So there are two blogs. The official candidate blog which is really a video show case with little notes interspersed. Of course, the comments are always the fun things to read! Overall though, this blog is ho-hum. Not being picked up by the search engines, opportunity really missed. As to the daughter’s blog, it is too soon to tell, but from the beginnings there are a few things that are missing – no RSS feed (whoops! but there is no RSS on dad’s either) and no ability to comment, so it’s more of a reporting then a blog, really. There are three contributors to it, and it will be interesting to see how it progresses and what type of visibility it gains. Already a quick search revealed several different bloggers blogging about the blogettes (um…did I just do that?). I suppose we will have to check back in on it – at the moment there are only a few postings and they are about parties…not political ones, but rather fundraising ones…so I guess one could argue that they are political. Here’s an interesting one to watch. [Spoiler – perhaps this is a nod to the Romney campaign and their blog “Five Brothers”? More on that in the Romney analysis!]

Recommendations: Interesting mix of pros and cons for the McCain Campaign. From a search perspective they are clearly leaving nothing to chance and are using CPC – which IMHO is a good way to go. The site is clean and easy to navigate and clearly communicates his message. There is continuity among the social networking sites the campaign is using which also ties things together. At the same time, the campaign is not fully leveraging the opportunities for social search. Every site should be linked from every other site – and this is not happening consistently. Also, because they are choosing to keep things within the action center they are loosing opportunity for greater online visibility – this certainly isn’t the only candidate to do this, however. Overall a good site. They are focusing on only some of the social media, which I think is a good strategy, however they aren’t leveraging each one nearly enough to its fullest potential. More could be done and more needs to be done if this candidate is to increase his presence online.