How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history 8:58 AM

This is an absolutely fantastic presentation from Clay Shirky:

Sharing on Facebook Now More Popular than Sharing by Email 8:47 AM

The headline speaks for itself - political communications professionals listen up. Find a way to get your candidate's content shared via Facebook!

Via Mashable

How do you know which social sites are most popular? Aside from looking at the raw traffic numbers, a good indicator is data about which sites are seeing the most content shared on them.

Among the companies with access to tons of this type of data is AddToAny, makers of one the most popular widgets that lets content sites provide their readers with an easy way to share stories across multiple social media sites.

According to AddToAny, Facebook now dominates sharing, with 24 percent of shares from the widget consisting of users posting items to the social network. That handily beats out email (11.1 percent) and Twitter (Twitter) (10.8 percent), making the world’s most popular social network also the most popular service for sharing content. This is undoubtedly welcome news at Facebook (Facebook), as the site continues to emphasize sharing and readies its own real-time search engine.

Here's the full breakdown

Your Top 10 Most Recommended Political Web-videos 8:23 AM

As promised, here are your top 10 most recommended political web-videos:


Vote Different



Celeb



Macaca



Yes We Can



Man In The Arena



Rock



Crush On Obama



What Can Terry McAuliffe's Money Buy?



Congressman Ron Paul Visits My Dorm Room



Go Gata (with Subtitles)

Your Favorite Political Web-Videos (update) 6:21 AM

Last week I asked my blog, Twitter and Facebook followers what they deemed the best-ever political web-videos. I have already received some fantastic nominations from some very high-profile names in the online political space. I am still taking recommendations which I will publish in one list here at JordanRaynor.com, but until then I thought I would share with you some of the most frequently recommended videos thus-far.

Vote Different (The 1984 ad)
Nominated by Patrick Ruffini, Mindy Finn, David All and Rebuild the Party



John McCain Ad: Man In The Arena
Nominated by Rebuild the Party



Mike Gravel - Rock
Nominated by Matt Mitchell

You can leave your own recommendation by leaving a comment underneath this post, replying to this tweet, commenting on this Facebook link, emailing me directly or leaving a comment or video response to this video:

Your Favorite Political Web-Videos 7:29 AM

Since the birth of YouTube with George Allen's "macaca" moment in 2006, online video has exploded on the political scene. In 2008, official Obama and McCain campaign produced videos were viewed an astounding 150 million times. In 2010, online video will continue to be a central battlefield in the online political war.

In preparation for full-blown election season, I am compiling political web-videos that YOU deem the best practices for political campaigns or causes. You can nominate your all-time favorite political web-videos by leaving a comment underneath this post, replying to this tweet, commenting on this Facebook link or emailing me directly.

Your recommendations will be published soon here at JordanRaynor.com - stay tuned!

Why Palin's Announcement Matters to Your Campaign 4:37 PM

Sarah Palin's announcement last week to resign as Governor of Alaska caught the political world by surprise. For the past week, politicos and pundits have tried to make sense of the decision but what some are missing is what I believe to be one of the most significant things to come out of this whole soap opera - Palin has used social media to circumvent the mainstream media and communicate directly with her supporters.

Immediately following the announcement, mainstream news organizations were scrambling to find the first hints of reason behind Governor Palin's decision. And before they could get to the source or anyone close to the Governor, Palin communicated directly to her most loyal supporters - via Facebook. Not an interview on the network nightly news, not a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh, but a Facebook note.

The Washington Post, evidently desperate for anything from the Governor, actually published Palin's Facebook note in it's entirey.

Palin's use of Facebook and Twitter throughout the weekend was a fascinating look into the future of political communications. With her blatant disdain for the mainstream media, Palin was able to shun the press and go directly to the people whom she wanted to hear her message most - her supporters. Maybe even more fascinating though was the fact that the mainstream press were forced to cover Palin's controled online message because they had nothing else to go on!

While it would be foolish to think that the rule of Palin can be applied to any candidate, her use of social media to communicate directly with the people should serve as either an encouragement or a wake-up call for all political campaigns. What happens when you don't have the money to go up on TV, send out another mailer or you simply don't want the mainstream media filtering your message anymore? You communicate directly, as Sarah Palin did, through the online mediums you build up in the months and years leading up to the moment you need them most.

Welcome to the Citizen Powered News Bureau 8:02 PM

The media hay-day over Twitter's use as a journalistic force for the Iranian Presidential Election has unearthed some deep issues traditional media has with new/social media - and I am having a great time watching the debate unfurl. Since the explosion of traditional media coverage of the Twitter-journalism surrounding the Iran Election, many in old media have reasonably questioned the idea of Twitter as a crowd-sourced journalistic effort. Traditional media have raised good questions such as: How can readers be certain that what they are reading on Twitter is accurate information? Who are going to be the fact-checkers in a social media driven world? Isn't classic journalistic training essential to being a journalist?

This debate did not start with the Iranian Election, but the buzz surrounding the #iranelection coverage on Twitter has brought this debate to the forefront. For the past decade traditional media has seen the writing on the wall. Internet news is challenging the previously unchallenged business model of old media and instead of changing their business model and evolving into news organizations of the 21st century, old media has sit back and chosen to criticize the new media they do not fully comprehend.

Last week, Sayfie Media President and CEO, Justin Sayfie, discussed these issues with a professor of history and journalism. What transpired was a fascinating debate on what constitutes journalism and why, as Sayfie points out, Twitter is a source of legitimate, news-worthy, crowd-sourced journalism.



Just last week, Compete, a well-respected web-analytics company did some analysis on where people were going on the web to search for information on 'Iran+Election'. The results may surprise you. Internet users did not go to the New York Times, Wikipedia, Google News or even beloved Google - they went to Twitter. At a time when the world was desperate for accurate real-time news, people turned to Twitter's crowd-sourced journalism.
These astonishing numbers should cause us all to take a step back and realize what is happening before our very eyes to journalism. News consumers are trusting crowd-sourced journalism to provide them with the news they want because they believe in the idea of a truly free-market journalism system where trusted news sources rise to the top naturally. Social media is bringing about the true democratization of news.

Journalists are no longer confined to the daily newspapers with out of date business models and huge overhead costs. And while I still believe there will be a need and a desire for classically trained journalists, the fact of the matter is that journalists are on every street corner and on every cell phone ready to report at a moments notice. The Citizen Powered News Bureau has been born.

Facebook's Zuckerberg on Social Networks and Social Revolutions 1:55 PM

Very interesting conversation with Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg (yes, Mark's sister) at the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum on how Facebook evolved into a platform for social revolutions:

hub-n-spoke 11:47 AM

Ning CEO Gina Bianchini gave an interesting presentation at the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum on social networking's influence on political campaigns. Using push.PickensPlan.com as a best-practice case study, Bianchini makes the case for a "hub-n-spoke" model for political campaigns in the social networking space. The hub-n-spoke model centers around a main custom social network for your campaign and using existing social networking platforms to drive traffic and supporters to that central hub where you control message, branding and ultimately produce action amongst your supporters. Here is Bianchini's presentation:

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity 6:22 AM

One of the most show-stopping presentations at this year's Personal Democracy Forum was undoubtedly Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch's presentation entitled "The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity". The presentation was so moving and powerful that attendees were brought to tears over the power online video has given us to literally change lives and change our society. Here is the presentation:

BIO

Dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine, Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist exploring the impact of new media on society and culture. After two years studying the impact of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the effects of social media and digital technology on global society. His videos on culture, technology, education, and information have been viewed by millions, translated in over 15 languages, and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide. Wesch has won several major awards for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award, the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology, and he was recently named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic. He has also won several teaching awards, including the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities.