Final Biden and Dodd

So it's been a few days since the Iowa Caucus and the announcement from both the Biden and Dodd campaigns that they were ending their bids for the Presidency.

Biden: No change to the home page, but the blog has the following entry as of today:

Jan. 5 - Final entry, and thank you ALL for your courageous support of Senator Biden’s presidential candidacy. If only the Iowa Caucusgoers had heard Sen. Biden’s speech delivered in March, 2007 on the Senate floor:

“It’s about time we have the courage to stand up and say to the president ‘Mr. President, you have not only put us in harm’s way you have harmed us. I’m so tired of hearing on this floor about courage. Have the courage to tell the Administration, ’stop this ridiculous policy you have.’”

“So as long as the president keeps us on this ridiculous path, taking us off a cliff — I ask my colleagues, does anybody think they’re going to be able to sustain keeping American forces in Iraq, at 160,000, for another year and a half? How many times are we going to ask those 175,000 to rotate, three, four, five, six, seven times?”

“Mr. President, you’re leading us off a cliff. Stop!”

For updates on Senator Biden’s Senate legislation, please visit his Web site at:
http://biden.senate.gov/. Bye for now!

Over at the Facebook site there is no mention from the campaign or anyone that the campaign has ended. Comments on the wall from supporters show support for the candidate and are wondering if he'll be Sec. of State, and who he will endorse. But no message from the candidate or campaign. 9,207 supporters left.

Over at MySpace it's a similar situation -- only the blog import with the above message indicates that he has dropped out and supporters are posting their thoughts and well wishes. 15,253 left.

Dodd: No change here either -- the message that was posted right after the announcement is still on the home page, but the "live update" ticker is still running -- hmmmm...not sure how "live" it is anymore though. At the blog page there's no reference at all to the end of the campaign save for the "Post Caucus" speech ported in from YouTube. No text at all.

Facebook has no reference save for the supporters who are thanking the candidate. 2,414 supporters left.

Myspace similar results. Supporters want to know who he will endorse and are hoping that he will be Sen. Majority Leader. 9,095 friends left.

Final thoughts on Biden/Dodd

The question for the supporters/friends left behind is "what now?" and for the campaigns -- what do we do with all of our social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube plus the blog and the website? I imagine that there is a lot that happens when a campaign folds -- but the online legacy is lurking there in a way that we have never had before. Folding a campaign is tough. However, in this day of social media, walking away from the many sites you have launched without posting notifications on every one is like being the star of the party and leaving without saying goodbye and hoping that everyone in the ballroom will find out about it some how.

Lessons learned for second-tier candidates -- capitalize on the social media, but have a strategy to fold them if you don't succeed. Actually that should be a lesson for all the candidates. If we aren't careful the information superhighway is going to be full of political litter at the end of the campaign season.

Biden and Dodd...C'ya!

A quick check of the news the morning reveals that Biden and Dodd have announced they are withdrawing from the presidential race.

For Biden there is a video on the home page that says Thank You...but...no text...so in order to know if that is a "Thank you, but I'm leaving" speach or a "Thank you to his supporters in Iowa" speech you have to listen...(takes too long).

The Dodd Campaign has it right -- right on the home page a Thank you that says, "Thank You....unfortunately I'm withdrawing from the campaign tonight".

Social Media, Presidential Candidates and the Caucus!

My cell phone has been Twittering at me all day! I found out that Barack Obama was "Fired Up!...And Ready to Go!". Earlier today Chris Dodd reminded me that today is Caucus Day and I should go Caucus for Chris Dodd!

Yep...today is Caucus Day and as I blog it is 7:30 p.m. here in below zero weather in Waterbury, Vermont -- home of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Ben and Jerry's and some of the most amazing TEA (Vermont Liberty Tea).

Burning questions of course are who will move on from here to New Hampshire and who will find that the caucus goers have said "Thanks...but no thanks?" My question is actually simpler...well...maybe not. What does social media have to do with it? Did the Twittering and Facebooking and MySpacing and Action Centers and blogging make a difference and get more people out to caucus or help spread the word in any way?

Hard to tell...

But...how about we take a look at today's websites and a sampling of blog posts and social network sites. Alphabetical order of course and unlike the mainstream media, I'll cover them all -- not just the "favorites". Here we go!

Biden (D): Lot's of Iowa going on! Messages, videos and declarations that Iowa stands with him. Hmmm...we will see very shortly, won't we?
















Neither MySpace of Facebook have much activity going on tonight -- not much discussion and the MySpace Blog hasn't been updated.

The Candidate Blog, however, has some "live blogging" going on from one caucus precinct. There are currently 44 comments to the posting.

Overall...not that much activity.


Clinton (D): Surprise -- lot's of Iowa going on here too! This campaign is actually telling you HOW to Caucus...and showing you how with a video! Testimonials from individuals who are "late deciders" are also evident.

















Over at MySpace, there is a posting in the blog area yesterday with an appeal that if you stand with her for one night, she'll stand for you as president every night. Hmm....45 comments to that posting.

Facebook is current with the same blog posting and lots of current YouTube videos -- many well-wishes from "wall posters" -- not from Iowa (grin).

The campaign blog has the same post -- they are being consistent! 54 comments to that one.

Dodd (D): The Dodd campaign will help people find their caucus location. There are Caucus photos and blogging about the Caucus results on the main site.

















MySpace has posts from supporters wishing the candidate well, but not much interaction from the campaign about the caucus at all. Hmmmm....


The Campaign Facebook Site is certainly more up to date -- RSS feed applications and Twitter -- no video and minimal interaction from individuals though. One person indicating that they will be Caucusing for Dodd tonight.

While there is staff blogging going on...not seeing any comments from others there at all.


Edwards (D): Big Iowa focus here. Even the "Action Center" area is focused on Caucus information. The "Iowa Blog" has a personal message from the candidate and easy to follow "we can help" information.
















The MySpace hasn't been updated save for the posts from supporters -- even the Twitter feed is 50 days old. Nothing here are all about Iowa.

At least the Facebook info is porting in from the main candidate site so it looks more up to date. Words of encouragement from wall posters.

The blog, as I mentioned is really up to date and focused on Iowa. Images from the Caucus are all over.

Giuliani (R): This candidate has skipped Iowa and according to news reports is hanging out in Florida right now. Here's his website anyway.

















Not much about Iowa at Facebook -- some discussion in general. Nothing about Iowa at MySpace and very little discussion at all.

Gravel (D): Hardly any mention of Iowa here -- just a notation that they are on the ballot. Focus here is on New Hampshire.

















At Myspace, not much about Iowa at all. It's pretty quiet actually, with some Happy New Year wishes...but that's all.

Over at Facebook at least one person has publicly stated they are caucusing for Gravel. There is up-to-date information here to some extent.

The Campaign blog most recent activity is from December. Not much going on their either.

Huckabee (R): (projected winner of the Iowa Caucus for Republicans as of 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time from CNN). The site is stripped down and focused -- Iowa is front and center with news items and the option to join "My Huckabee".

















Nothing about Iowa at the MySpace site. And the discussion board/wall has been disabled, so there isn't anyone celebrating.

Over at Facebook the congratulations are already rolling in -- and the campaign had even created an event for the caucus!

The Huckabee Blog is up to the minute with current news items about the Iowa victory.

Hunter (R): Can't get the site to load. Not in IE or in FireFox -- don't know what that campaign is doing...but um...oops!

Keyes (R): Not much to report here save for the fact that the candidate posted an caucus night party announcement on the main site.















Kucinich (D): Not much about Iowa at this site except a note to supporters in Iowa to put in Obama as a second choice.

















No links out to the social networking sites save for YouTube.

The blog has not been updated in some time, so there is little to no information on Iowa.

McCain (R): This site is already thanking Iowa and moving on to New Hampshire. According to CNN, McCain came in fourth with 13%.















The Blog is posting tonight from New Hampshire -- no mention of Iowa at all.

No big links to social networking sites either. However, the Facebook site is fairly active and up to date with individuals declaring their support.

Obama (D): The Obama Site is clearly emphasizing Iowa and is keeping things up to date as he is declared the winner tonight in Iowa.

















His MySpace has a lot going on and the congratulations are rolling in as news comes out that he has won the Iowa Caucus.

Over at Facebook the congrats are also rolling in and the site is pretty up to the minute -- pulling in data from the main candidate site.

The site blog is up to the minute as well with projected winner posting and many comments.

Paul (R): This site is still calling for people to Caucus at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time! Not much specific for Iowa however.

















Not much going on at either Facebook or MySpace other than continued postings of support and hope for New Hamshire.

The "Blog" isn't referencing Iowa much either.

Richardson (D): This campaign is focusing on New Hampshire as well (came in a distant fourth in Iowa) with very little mention of Iowa.

















MySpace has fairly current info, although the blog has a posting from yesterday. Support and comments are on the site.

At Facebook there was a call for a get out the vote earlier today in Iowa. Other than that, not much about the Caucus.

The blog was fairly up to date with a clear get out the vote message. Very little comments though.

Romney (R): This candidate came in second in Iowa (according to CNN). The website is really pushing things with a live stream from the caucuses on the "splash" page and a get out the vote message on the main site.

































Not as much activity on the MySpace site -- posts are several days old, and there is little to no mention of Iowa.

Over at Facebook not much emphasis on Iowa either although there is a discussion about the values of Huckabee vs. Romney!

No updates to the blog.


Thompson (R): Had a personal message on the site to Iowa voters.

















The Myspace hasn't been updated in a bit, however the wall/discussion has supporters wishing the candidate well in Iowa -- looks like he came in third.

At Facebook its similar with reports in from Iowans who attended the caucus.

The Blog references a video of the candidate preparing for the Iowa Caucus.


Whew!

Now we wait and watch...I expect several to drop out over the next few days, which will make for some interesting posting!

Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #17: Dr. Alan Keyes (R)

Note: This individual declared his candidacy in November, which is why this analysis is out of sequence.

Social Media Analysis: Dr. Alan Keyes (R)

Dr. Alan Keyes has the following:

• Website: http://www.alankeyes.com/
• MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=103857114
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6575505100
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/keyes2008

Website: This candidate is clearly not a “mainstream” well-funded individual, and yet there is good activity at the website discussion board and the site itself, while a content management system, provides clear information and easy navigation. Each section is a large block that can be moved around by the user to create the page set up they wish. (Certainly not the norm for campaigns). Issues and information from the candidate are accompanied by various video clips from different speeches and events the candidate has attended. There is a big emphasis on the discussion board with highlights on the home page, resources and news information as well. There are no links out to social media sites at all – just an emphasis on the discussion board and the video/audio archives from the candidate. The blog functionality is just from users of the discussion board – not a true candidate blog. Too bad, as this candidate could really use some more visibility and a blog might do that quite nicely.

MySpace: A search of MySpace reveals that the candidate does have a rudimentary profile. There’s even a posting where he apologizes for not reaching out to MySpace inquiries – um…hopefully he can take some time to do some of it, because this one is free and shouldn’t be ignored! Even the profile isn’t fully filled out and even the link hasn’t been set up correctly. Really needs to get on the ball with this one! 341 Friends. (Considering he announced in November, and is just getting rolling, that’s not too bad).

Facebook: Searching Facebook for Alan Keyes provided a quick link to his candidate site. There are 40 friends right now, and from the looks of the wall postings this just went up a few days ago, so that’s not bad. This is the way to do it – but the candidate better start responding – that will gain some momentum.

YouTube: Much like all the rest, but not any recent videos – the most recent was added four months ago. Some commentary but nothing overly exciting.

Search Results: Keyes is not an overly unique name, so the Google results for this very anonymous candidate were surprisingly positive. The campaign site came up fifth in the search using just the last name, and WikiPedia.com was second. The candidate has a grassroots site which also came up at number six. The rest of the listings were un-related. Using a full name search hits pay dirt however, with the candidate site coming up first, WikiPedia.com second, the grassroots site third and a host of news items and information about the candidate following. Searching at Yahoo! on last name only also gains good placement – second for WikiPedia.com and third for the campaign (first is a real estate company in FL). Full name search results in first for campaign site, second for WikiPedia.com, and third for grassroots site. Live has a similar result on the last name: third for the campaign site and sixth for WikiPedia.com. Full name search results in candidate, WikiPedia.com, candidate discussion board, and grassroots site all in that order. No relevant CPC/sponsored listings on ANY of the search engines. Clearly the mainstream candidates don’t see this candidate as a strong competitor, however the campaign also isn’t engaging in CPC/Sponsored listings (although a check of the WashingtonPost.com financials of the candidate reveals why – there’s no cash!).

Blog: There doesn’t seem to be one. Too bad.

Recommendations: So this candidate really could gain from the use of social media ala Ron Paul. He seems to strike a chord with individuals who he should then get to rally for his cause and start posting and creating more ways to spread the word. Use of the social media is there, but the campaign is not doing a good job of connecting and linking them all together – it takes work to find them. They should update their website to show links to MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. No need to do much with any others at this point. Get more people involved in discussions, and then get the candidate to start blogging – both written and video. Post those links on all sites and begin to cultivate some buzz.

Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #16: Sen. Fred Thompson (R)

Social Media Analysis: Sen. Fred Thompson (R)

Sen. Fred Thompson has the following:

• Website: http://www.fred08.com/Index.aspx
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/fredthompson
• MySpace: http://myspace.com/freddthompson08
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fredthompson
• Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/9313013@N04/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/fredthompson
• Delicious: http://del.icio.us/freddthompson
• Blog: http://fredfile.fred08.com/

Website: The Thompson website looks pretty much like everyone else’s – instead of the Action Center we have the “Make it Happen” section on the right, along with the important video piece taking up the main section of the site. Upper navigation provides a quick look at what the site will provide and a scan of the home page allows the user to see information from the “Fred File”, “Fred in the News” and graphics for donating, shopping, the Iowa Bus Tour (wonder if that will change tomorrow), phoning Fred, and pictures of Fred. Whole lotta Fred going on! Social media sites are noted at the very bottom and appear on every page of the site: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Delicious and Flickr.

Navigation is simple and the video is very current with a message direct to Iowa voters. I like this – Thompson looking directly at the camera talking directly to the voter. Clear, to the point, nice. I wonder if this message will change tomorrow as well.

There’s an Issues section that is poorly laid out and requires extra clicking to read the info. Another “cliff notes” brand of policy information – easy to read, clear and to the point. If you want more information check out the White Papers – which really are just short position papers that outline some interesting specifics. Again, doesn’t take a lot of time, but does provide the information a quick browser is looking for.

The News room is pretty standard – news releases, mentions in the news, and speeches. There is an RSS feed though!

There is “Fred TV” which has a series of videos, the volunteer HQ (aka action center), the audience segmentation – lawyers, veterans, students and young professionals – um, I guess women don’t count here, eh? (Grin). There is also ample links to buy “Fred Stuff”.

The Fred File is the campaign blog – more on that below.

Overall it’s a general campaign site – nothing outstanding but nothing terrible either. Easy to find information and a good mix of video and text and graphics to not overwhelm. As always, I really like the direct from the candidate to the public video pieces that aren’t “Advertising” with polish, but rather gritty and direct.

YouTube: This YouTube site is fairly basic and has lots of videos – although the video that runs when you come to the site is his “I’m running for president” video. There are many more current videos to run – I wonder why this hasn’t been moved! No profile here at all. Videos range just like the others, although this candidate is more likely to talk directly to the constituents as well as run the ads and the news show clips. Not seeing these videos ported directly to the campaign site, by the way, but there is overlap between those on YouTube and those on FredTV. 1,155 subscribers.

MySpace: Ho hum. Not much here. The MySpace blog hasn’t been updated and at most there are a bunch of badges to download, porting in of Twitter and YouTube and Flickr. Not much real activity or engaging here at all. Even people on the blog are asking the campaign to “step it up”. 13,747 Friends

Facebook: Login screen of doom. Sigh. Anyway, once you log in there are some basics and some activity on the Wall posts. News items are old and it doesn’t seem that anyone from the campaign is actively engaging here in the discussions/wall posts. Too bad. Opportunity missed! 17,616 supporters.

Flickr: Lots of pictures – many from today in Iowa. Not any commentary though. Pretty basic – not much on the profile either. Could do more there.

Twitter: Fairly active Twittering – last post from two days ago urging people to watch his video message for Iowa. Not bad. I’ve signed up and am following the candidate. 799 followers.

Delicious: There they are – all of the bookmarks for the campaign. Odd…they all have something to do with the candidate and news items! (grin) Good place to go to get an overview of information about the candidate from outside sources.

Search Results: A search on “Thompson” over at Google was impressive – the candidate website at number one – although it takes a click to verify as the description is about the “Friends of Fred Thompson” site, which doesn’t sound “campaign official”. Now, nothing else for the candidate shows up after that, but given the name, that isn’t surprising. Adding the candidate’s full name reveals top listing at number one, along with WikiPedia.com in second, and a host of outside sources including news sites, fan blogs and congressional bio pages. The CPC campaigns on the full name include ABC pitching their debate as well as the official Fred store and the Fred store (guess that one isn’t official!), plus other product sites. Doesn’t look as if the campaign is running any CPC. Over at Yahoo! search on the last name only doesn’t do as well as Google. The candidate site comes in fourth below cigars, books and guns (hmmm…no comment!). Lot’s of sponsored ads here – but nothing candidate related. So, you’d think that a full name search would provide similar results with the campaign site doing better…um…WRONG! So no campaign site on the first page of results as far as you could tell. There are several draft Fred sites, news items, references to commentaries that he has made…but no campaign site. His MySpace comes up on the second page – but still no official campaign site. However, if you go back and look carefully at the first result for “I’m With Fred – Friends of Fred Thompson” at http://www.imwithfred.com/ and you actually click on it, you’ll get to the campaign website. Huh? Sure they generate more links; kinda…since it doesn’t go to a different fan site which then links to the campaign site, it just is a straight redirect. A better description would help a lot here. Sponsored listings are from Café Press and the Fred Store. No official campaign. Wow! So what about Live? Dismal on last name only. Even the related searches don’t provide information on “Fred Thompson”. Yipes! Full name search …the campaign comes up fourth – although it is hard to tell as the “Friends of Fred Thompson” description doesn’t lend itself to thinking this is in any way an official campaign site. WikiPedia.com comes in before that, with some news sites and several fan sites/blogs. No campaign site. An unmotivated searcher would give up – especially if they were looking for the “official site”. No CPC from the campaign either.

Overall a poor and confusing showing for Thompson in the major three search engines. The fact that the campaign site doesn’t clearly come up at all for a full name search should be addressed by the campaign NOW. With the Iowa Caucus tomorrow and the NH primary looming large there is no excuse to not have at the very least CPC campaigns going on at those search engines where organic is NOT working – or where the official site is not clear. Get your description clear and add words like “Official Campaign Site” – in this day of consumer generated content where ANYONE can create a fan site, it’s a shame to get lost in a sea of ambiguity. This campaign certainly can’t afford it. Get on the ball folks! Foster the linking opportunities, but make sure that people who are searching can easily distinguish between the official and the fan site.

Blog: The Fred File is a pretty decent blog with a lot of activity from readers. It includes RSS, delicious, Digg and Facebook widgets, a decent blogroll and posts from Fred (the candidate) and two staffers. Yep…the CANDIDATE is blogging. SWEET! Most recent post was on the 31st of December. Love it! As he states, “…I am more thankful than ever for today’s technology which allows me to talk to you directly instead of having to go through the filter of the main stream media.” I don’t know why more candidates aren’t doing the same thing! In the time it takes to write a memo…a direct to the constituent posting or video blog can do amazing things! As I mentioned there are a lot of commentaries and discussions going on here at this blog. Overall, nicely done!

Recommendations: There are some highs and some lows here. This campaign gets how to talk one to one via the web – direct video and blogging from the candidate are clear winners in my book and really spark conversation and loyalty – not a bunch of walls, but a feeling that you can really connect. Unfortunately, while that is happening on the main website, that direct connection is falling down with the social media – at MySpace and Facebook in particular where there are clearly people wanting to connect – the campaign is “silent”. Too bad. Also the ambiguity with the URLs for the official campaign website is more confusing then helpful. Fix those descriptions and add a CPC campaign and even a banner ad campaign with direct links to the blog to generate more conversation.

Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #15: Gov. Mitt Romney (R)

Social Media Analysis: Gov. Mitt Romney (R)

Gov. Mitt Romney has the following:

• Website: http://www.mittromney.com/
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/GovMittRomney
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mittromney
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mittromney
• Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mittromney
• Blog: http://fivebrothers.mittromney.com/

Website: There’s that splash page! However in this case, there is a countdown to the Caucus in Iowa and a video from the candidate himself, along with call to actions on how to get involved, volunteer and a link to the Iowa HQ. This site like most so far has the red white and blue, and the clean clear layout that so many of the sites have – it’s easy to navigate and find what you want and less overwhelming than many of the candidate sites. There’s the “Join Team Mitt” (aka Action center) on the right and the moving imagery dominating the main section of the site. There’s news, upcoming events and Mitt TV as well as the Mitt store, and Mobile Mitt. Finally at the bottom in the lower right hand corner is the social media links: YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and MySpace.

There is the great little pitch that comes from Tagg Romney – you open up the site and suddenly a voice starts up and then in your lower right hand part of the screen is a little Tagg Romney doing the pitch – a “walk over” if you will. He even points at the website!
This is an indicator that this site is sophisticated without being pretentious – there are many areas in this site where they have utilized technology tools to make gaining information easier such as the use of Mitt TV and even the Team Mitt, which provides a dashboard to let the user know how many people they have engaged, how much money they have raised, etc. Not that I agree with it (as you know), but this one looks to be the most sophisticated.

At the same time the information on the site is just enough to provide a brief overview – somewhat like a “cliff notes” version. Where other candidates (Democrats) leave you swimming in a sea of words and plans, the Romney site provides “plans” that are more like quick position papers with graphs and charts. It’s digestible, and comes with a video to help you along the way, along with quotes from the candidate. I really like how this information is provided. The Campaign is using the medium well here!

The news section is well organized and provides information on news releases, events, debates and even what people are writing about on the web (wonder if this will get play?). What’s really nice is the use of posting tools such as post to Facebook, delicious and Digg! Well done! All the news is available via RSS as well.

The blog is unique in this campaign as it isn’t a bunch of staffers, but rather…the candidate, his wife and five sons. More on this below…suffice to say that I think this campaign has GOT THE RIGHT IDEA!! Sweet!

YouTube: The YouTube site is up to date and quite current with the new ad that was released today (The National Review) playing stage right. Like most of the candidates the videos are of others, news spots, or speeches. Not much on the direct to the people approach. Too bad. He’s got one on the MySpace site which is pretty good. Should do more of that. 3,613 subscribers.

MySpace: So here’s another MySpace page that has a mix of things going on. Not outstanding, but certainly not horrible. It is here where there is actually a video from the candidate welcoming people to his MySpace page. There are a mix of videos, some music (not quite what I expected!) and badges galore! And…a paypal application right on the MySpace page! (Nice…good use of tools to support what they are doing). Of course, they might want to do something about the ads along the top…”Searching for a Real Conservative? Check out Mike Huckabee!” Oops! 32,154 friends.

Facebook: Pretty much the same as all, although in this case there is a discussion board that is actually a bit active -- real discussions going on. Nice. 22,748 Supporters

Flickr: Good photos. The profile is filled out and includes (can you believe it!) image links to “Team Mitt”, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube! Wow! Actually linking between all the main social media sites. Who woulda thunk it? (grin).

Search Results: A search on “Romney” at Google provides a listing of the candidate sites at first and second places, followed by WikiPedia.com and then a “fan” blog, a state fan site, then MySpace and news items. Here is where the CPC gets interesting – local activists (Iowa global warming) to the one campaign to someone hawking a book about the true “Mormon Agenda” are all available under sponsored ads. A search on “Mitt Romney” reveals a similar listing that also includes the YouTube site and several additional news sites. Huckabee is running a CPC campaign here – interesting. They bought “Mitt Romney” but not “Romney”. hmmm… At Yahoo! the candidate’s site is number one, with WikiPedia.com second. MySpace comes in fifth with other news sites sprinkled about. CPC here is minimal with no other candidates vying for attention. Searching using the candidate’s full name provides similar results with a fan blog (not the same as the one in Google) showing up as well. Two different MySpace pages come up: MySpace.com/mittromney and MySpace.com/voteromeny. The MittRomney site is the official one and is the one reviewed above. Over at Live a search for Romney brings the candidate site at number one, the WikiPedia.com entry at second and a host of different romneys, from a town to sheep! Not much going on with the CPC sponsored listings either other than a “truth about a Mormon in the White House” book listing (jeez!). Searching on the full name provides a listing of different sites including the main campaign site and WikiPedia.com along with deep links into the candidate’s site. Again, no big CPC going on here, just the book again.

Overall good results at the top three search engines. No major CPC going on from the campaign – at least on the primary searching. I do believe they have purchased keywords for other campaigns, however.

Blog: Did I mention already that I LOVE this blog? Not only is it just the family…but it is so easy to navigate – with links to each person on the left hand side AND RSS subscription too! The blogging is done primarily by the boys – Mitt’s last entry was for Sept. 11th. Would be valuable for him to toss one in there soon! This adds such a nice personal touch to the candidate and really captures what blogging is about. Comments can be made and each post is connected to Digg, Delicious and Facebook. Well done! I would have to say that in my opinion this is one of the best blogs out there because it really helps people get insight into the candidate and his family in a way that staffers just cannot do. There is also a fairly decent blog roll going on as well as links to MySpace and Facebook (gotta love that linking!).

Recommendations: Well to be frank there really aren’t a lot of recommendations I would give. Overall the site is well constructed and easy to follow, the social media sites, while not outstanding are updated, current and link to each other (the KEY in social media). I think if anything I would recommend that the candidate consider a banner ad campaign on major online properties – something I think all campaigns should be doing. They can focus on local spots as well as national play too. I would like to see more personal one-on-one from the candidate -- more blogging and even video blogging would be great -- it takes about 5 minutes and can be done in transit between places and then loaded to the website, Myspace or Facebook. Could use it to start a conversation or get people to do something specific.

Bottom line: Keep up the good work and get people TALKING about you on your social media sites.

Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis #14: Gov. Bill Richardson (D)

Social Media Analysis: Gov. Bill Richardson (D)

Gov. Bill Richardson has the following:

1. Website: http://richardsonforpresident.com/
2. YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BillRichardson
3. MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/richardsonforpresident
4. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/billrichardson
5. Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardson_06
6. PartyBuilder: http://www.democrats.org/page/dashboard/public/gFKNL
7. Blog: http://action.richardsonforpresident.com/page/community/group/Headquarters

Website: The Richardson site has a splash page, but at least after you go there once, they redirect you to the main site so you don’t have to see it again (grin). So here a site that is pretty much the same as everyone else’s – red, white and blue, big imagery with messaging right up front, the required “action center” on the left and the YouTube video on the right. With Iowa a mere two days away there is a great deal of focus on the caucus – and getting people there. At the same time, this site is easy to navigate, easy to read and is much like the candidate himself – direct, clear and to the point – even though it is a bit overwhelming from the “call to action” stand point. News items (with RSS feeds!), register to vote, ask the candidate a question, upcoming events and blog information as well as the campaign store are all available in little blocks all over the home page. Focusing on the top navigation keeps it simple, and a quick scroll through the home page hits the highlights. This is also a site that has “en espanol” which is actually pretty good, although even I can tell it hasn’t been updated as much as the English. The social media sites listed on the home page include: YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook and Party builder. This is all the way down at the bottom, so it is clear that this campaign wants to keep people engaged in their action center. Keep that control – note to the campaign staffers, run a search for the visibility of your candidate and tell me if those action centers are doing the job you want them to do online? Again, is it enough to get people in there … or do you want to set them free to create and spread the word for you so that you increase your online visibility? So far only one candidate is doing that (and you know who he is!).

The Richardson action center is ho-hum. Signing up is easy and it was simple to find people in Vermont who support him and the different groups. Not a lot of activity here – again, what’s the value for me to be involved there when I can be involved in Facebook or MySpace? Or…for many, what’s the point anyway? What do I get? It is, after all, about value, and I still don’t see any of the campaigns providing that in a big way. The action center is a constant throughout the site on every page of information.

There is a blog (more on that below) where postings for from campaign staff include email memos and even messages from the candidate – again, doesn’t look like the candidate himself is blogging.

The media center provides the basics from news releases to high res photos.

This candidate is also segmenting his audience but not as aggressively as Obama did. There are four state headquarters (Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and S. Carolina) as well as women, Native Americans, a Spanish group, veterans and sportsmen categories. While there are slightly different images, they all have the same look and feel to tie them together.

Within the multimedia section the campaign is porting in YouTube video of various types from CNN pulls to caucus-goers.

YouTube: Same as all the others – video that includes ad campaigns, news footage and campaign staffers. Fairly up to date, although not showing the most recent on the main YouTube group page. One of the downfalls to the Action Center thing is that the campaign is not encouraging people strongly enough to go to sites like YouTube and post commentary. The commentary – given the nature of it – can be quite disappointing, but with supporters rallying in “public” spaces like these, more could happen. (Actually, all candidates should do this). Anyway, YouTube for this candidate has 1,715 subscribers.

MySpace: Not much to this MySpace – general information, some videos, and the “add this to your page” banners. It has been updated as of yesterday though! But…overall…Yawn. 20,577 friends.

Facebook: Video, same information and with the new Facebook option for “politicians” it looks pretty good but nothing super engaging. It has been updated recently with new video posted. However, there is little to know discussion or activity overall. No big push on a group either. 7,678 supporters

Flickr: Great photos. The generic profile. Nothing more. Missing an opportunity to port these photos to the main campaign website and to beef up the Flickr so it has more information – such as testimonials!

PartyBuilder: Um, you already know how I feel about this one. Ugh. Other than to be a part of the Democratic Party … there is NO point to this one. Yuck. Clearly the campaign is not too engaged on this one there is only the basic information. Good call on their part. I don’t even think it is worth listing this on the main campaign website.

Search Results: Richardson is, again, a fairly common name and the candidate pulls first and second in rankings at Google on a search for “Richardson”. The WikiPedia.com entry comes at five, between the city of Richardson and a sales training site. MySpace doesn’t show up until the second page of listings. However, a search on the Candidate’s full name (Bill Richardson) reveals top listings for the candidate site, WikiPedia.com and the governor site along with YouTube, MySpace and the candidates “action center”. No CPC campaign being run – either by the candidate or by others. Over at Yahoo!, the last name only search gets the auto-fill in from the search engine of “Bill Richardson” as first choice, so that is good. Results show that the city of Richardson beats out the Gov, whose campaign site comes in second, with the WikiPedia.com at number four, and MySpace at five. Searching on the full name however provides a true WTF moment: first result is for http://billrichardsonforpresident.com – the EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE site. Click on it and you get a Network Solutions “under construction” page. Um…ok folks…this one is easy and takes like THREE SECONDS. Put a REDIRECT to the main campaign site on this, especially if it is NUMBER ONE in the rankings (gee whiz!). Even more baffling is the “Blog” that comes up at fifth ranking – last post as of JULY! The actual campaign site doesn’t come up until the 8th listing, followed by another page from the main candidate site and then the MySpace. A lot of CPC going on here, but nothing for the candidate or for the competition. Pretty low key actually. Finally, over at Live, a search on Richardson finds the candidate site at fourth place, and second under “related searches”. Searching on the full name provides a full listing similar to Google results – candidate site, governor site, WikiPedia.com, news items, the action center and oh…there’s that “under construction” site again! There is some CPC going on here…an un-related third party has a sponsored ad for the candidate, and while it goes to what looks like a “pro bill Richardson site” there is a link to a blog that is pretty random. Nothing focused here at all.

Bottom line, there are some good search results here on both just last name and full name. The bad news is the candidate has this expired URL out there that isn’t re-directing. Given the fact that Yahoo! is the SECOND largest search property to have that expired URL out there at number one on search is highly detrimental. Hope the campaign fixes that ASAP!

Blog: The Richardson campaign blog is wrapped into the “Action Center” and is a series of posts highlighting memos, emails sent to supporters and general information from a group of individuals. Nothing here from the candidate. While the “action center” is getting some rankings in the search engines, the blog itself is not. That’s the risk in keeping things deep in a site. At least this one allows for comments.

Recommendations: Overall this campaign is not outstanding in their social media and website. It’s pretty much the same as many of the others. While there is good information here, there isn’t a lot of leverage going on – I think that given the standing of this candidate at this time, more should be done on the social media side to fully push the momentum they want to show off. As I’ve written before, if you don’t get coverage by the media, a candidate must take things into their own hands. The perception is the reality and if people don’t keep seeing you…then you disappear. This campaign should be looking at CPC and Banner Ads (not seeing a big push on banner ads online…hmmm…I wonder why?) on major sites around the country. They should be leveraging their social media and getting their supporters to POST and WRITE things in the spaces such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. And finally…get that URL redirect updated for the exploratory site so it redirects to the campaign site. Who knows what opportunities have been missed because of that one!

The campaign is being judicious, however. Note that they aren’t jumping on EVERY social media bandwagon that comes along – they are focusing on the big players which allow them to keep things fairly up to date, even if the sites themselves are “meh”.

Bottom Line: Do more with what you have, get your supporters to post and use your resources to strike out on a different type of ad campaign. Get your message out there!

Arresting the President

You just HAVE to love Vermont. As a "transplant" (I am so NOT a "flatlander), I cannot help but appreciate the intrinsic beauty of this state. From the leaves to the snow to maple syrup to the (mostly) respectful and courteous drivers to the politics.

From the inside looking out, it is stunning to think that people assume Vermont is "left-leaning" -- we have a republican governor for heaven's sake and even if we are the land that spawned Howard Dean, and the first Civil Union law, and Jim Jeffords going Independent and Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy...ok...ok....I guess all I can say is that we have a republican governor!

We have town meetings each year and frankly people in Vermont don't embrace change -- simple local votes such as consolidating towns/villages in order to save money over the long term run amok against the all important "local control". I guess that Vermonters just don't like to allow unfettered policy -- checks and balances...that's where it is at. Which explains Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy and Jim Jeffords, and our republican governor and our more democrat than republican (for now) make up of the state legislature.

It may also have something to do with our own home-grown effort to have Vermont secede from the union. More on THAT at Vermont Commons! This state is independent in its thinking and frankly just down-right quirky!

Gotta LOVE IT!

So I'll get to the point...today's news supports that independent and quirky nature around our town meeting (happening in March). Where if you have enough signatures you can make any vote come to the floor. True grassroots at its most rootsy and grassy!

As we all know our esteemed President and Vice President have visited all the states in our nation save one. Vermont. (Probably a combo of voting record, Sen. Leahy blocking all sorts of appointments, Sen. Sanders just on principle alone, and the legacy of Sen. Jeffords.) As the clock runs down for the current regime in Washington, there is speculation that Bush/Cheney may make a last ditch pass through in the state. It would seem individuals in Brattleboro have decided that it's time to take preventative measures! CNN and AP are running stories about the fact that a group of individuals in Brattleboro are in the process of collecting signatures to add a new proposal to Town Meeting:

"Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities? And shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them."

iBrattleboro has a post from Kurt Daims that is well worth the read.

Radical thought...in a democracy the PEOPLE should have the POWER to make change. Weird.

Mental health breaks and revving back up

So I resurface! While I don't think I'm completely recovered yet from the completion of the dissertation and the end of semester frenzy, I have been able to do the most delicious things ... I've read THREE trashy novels, played some great new games with my daughter, logged numerous hours playing mindless computer games, begun a REAL puzzle...and slept....slept...slept!

It's a wonderful thing!

Working non-stop and crazy for four years does take a lot out of you, for sure!

But, the clock does keep ticking and in a very few short days the Iowa Caucus happens and well, it is clear that I must complete the Presidential Candidate Social Media Analysis BEFORE that.

Only three more to go, given the drop off of Tom Tancredo a few weeks ago. So Richardson, Romney and Thompson left and then I'll monitor the results and see how the sites and their social media fare as we wind down (or would that be up?) to the conventions.

Here we go!!

On Ph.D's, Breaks, Burnout and Finals Week

Quick...why did I stop posting as of November 15th?

1. I completed my dissertation and defense call on the 16th -- now I'm a Doctor!
2. We had Thanksgiving Break
3. I am realizing just how far behind I am in grading because of #1 above.
4. We are wrapping up the fall semester -- classes end on the 14th and final grades are due on the 20th.

Um....

I expect I'll be NOT posting again for a few more weeks...so what comes then?

1. Complete the Presidential Candidate Social Media analysis in time for the primary season
2. Start posting results from my dissertation research on Teaching Technology to College Students
3. Write about my new course -- Technology: A Disruptive Force

Can't wait? Sorry...