All Virtual Politics is Virtually Local
A techPresident comment I posted 5.31.2007
The internet can be used to create global, national, or local campaigns as well as it can be used to create campaigns on any issue or any candidate for any position. Computers have long been called virtual machines. “Virtual” because they can be programmed to do just about anything (except think, so they say). And networked computers are more powerful exponentially raised to the power of the number of computers/nodes/end users connected to it. That is pretty powerful and virtually anything is possible.
In other words, the net can be used to great effect to run state and local campaigns. Think MeetUp on steroids for local campaigns. Even if you are doing a lot of flesh pressing, managing get togethers, rallies, debates, etc. using social management tools, be they available on another’s platform (MySpace, Facebook, Care2.com, Change.org, townhall.com, Personal Democracy Forum, etc.) or on your own social network platform makes it easier to connect to voters.
With so many people on the big social networks, it is very likely that many highly-engaged voters in any district is already online connected to their own networks of friends, family, and communities they belong to. Take advantage of these people. They are your grassroots organizers. And they have already figured out how to use the tools you want to use to organize them. They can recruit and train other voters, etc.
You can also build your own social network and Web 2.0 platforms for free or cheap using widgets from companies like KickApps.com or complete social network platforms from companies like GoingOn.com.
And everyone can use YouTube.
And never lose sight of the fact that discussion boards, AOL Chatrooms, LISTSERVs, and instant messengers are also tools to deepen the relationship between candidates and voters (Not Web 2.0, but Web 1.0, which still about creating communities and social movements, even if the tools were simpler).
And since many of the opportunities for User 2.0 (which, more than Web 2.0, really explains what is going on) campaigns are free or really cheap, there is no excuse not to use them.
For those of you who say we must demonstrate Return On Investment (votes), remember that we still haven’t come close to figuring out how to use these amazing new tools. This is the time for experimentation. If we wait until the data is in, we could be left in the dust. Think of the disadvantage candidates who resisted using TV until it was proven to deliver votes had for the first 10-15 years of the TV era.
The most important thing is WHAT you use the tools to do. Organize, communicate, educate, mobilize, inspire… And if it can be done with one staffer managing a group of volunteers with free software, it can be done too cheaply not to even try.