Presentation to Kraft Organizational Development & Corporate Communications Group on 11/05/08:
It was an historic time to be in Chicago, and an historic time to draw the parallels between social networking for campaign and corporate strategy.
A few thoughts on the election, and the use of corporate social networking.
Parallels can be made, called out as I go along…
The entire orchestration of the social media medley of the campaign is something I suspect we have never quite seen before.
Obama relied less on the big sell and more on the big swell.
1) As we all know or are discovering, there is undoubtedly a strong communications trend towards social networking.
I’ve read that in some circles, Barak Obama may be considered the King of Social Networking. Has he been the most popular candidate ever to social network? Not necessarily, and that is somewhat outside the point… Yes, he engendered faith, hope and loyalty throughout his campaign. But, he didn’t necessarily start there.
Obama and his campaign have been prolific users of social networks, and using a popular Hive analogy, have been VERY BUSY BEES. From what I read, he was among the first to use groups on Facebook, to place a profile on the boomer social network Eons, to participate in profile and group on the professional social network, LinkedIn, and to join other demographically focused social networks such as BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com, AsianAve.com, and GLEE.com (“Gay, Lesbian, and Everyone Else”).
According to David Weinberger, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and Internet adviser for Howard Dean, as reported by The Trail (Washingtonpost.com), "This is 2007, not 2004. Back in 2004, the strategy was, get them to your Web site. That was the goal… These days, the Web is a much busier, fragmented, diverse world, and while these social networking sites are still really in their infancy, it's hard to resist their value in reaching people."
2) We are beginning to realize the value of social networks branded to accomplish certain specific initiatives under a unified banner.
The Obama campaign launched its own social network, MyBarakObama.com., bringing people together specifically for Obama-related information, resources and initiatives. The site invites supporters and interested parties to create profiles about themselves, blog about their insights or experiences, plan and attend events, find others of common interest, and help with fundraising.
Some consider Obama’s branded social network to be similar in ways to Facebook- a least as easy to use. I find it much more compelling, from an information, research and discussion standpoint. It is of note that Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, left his post to join the Obama campaign and help with social networking strategy. Apparently, “Obama’s supporters looked like Facebook.”
As pointed out in Webtrends (on About.com), “the rule of thumb for any great application is to pack a powerful punch while being as simple to use as possible. And that's what My.BarackObama.Com delivers.” Some would argue that the Information Architecture could reveal more interesting content, topic and focus areas for the information-seeker, and that there should be more opportunities for user-generated content, comments, questions, ideas and feedback around the point of topical information (all of which are benefits for having a comprehensive social networking under a unified banner), but generally speaking, the site is easy to navigate, even for a social networking neophyte.
I think it is also a rule of thumb that any successful social networking initiative should include some (or both) of two things, and ideally both:
· an extraordinarily vast arsenal of potentially interesting connections (sheer volume of people)- as is the driving attraction of MySpace, LinkedIn or Facebook,
· and/or, compelling, rich, and relevant content and information- with ample opportunities for community contributions and collaboration- specific to accomplishing specific initiatives, tasks or goals- as is the case with a branded social network such as MyBarackObama.com.
The two main functions of Obama's social network seem to be 1) to help with event coordination, organization and awareness, and 2) to help raise campaign funds.
While there are no indications that MyBo, as Barak’s social network is affectionately called, approached the membership levels of social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn, it certainly delivered on content relevancy, richness and collaboration.
3) Let’s not forget about strategy, business and communications purposes, and ROI. Social Networking may make traditional processes easier.
It seems that hundreds of thousands of volunteers (230,000 volunteers by some counts) made a huge difference with a get-out-the-vote campaign in the swing state of Florida. How so? Events, gatherings and motivational pushes organized through the MyBo social network.
And, if the general consensus is correct a great deal of Obama’s record-breaking fundraising was comprised of online donations of less than $200. The viral nature of the social networks and inexpensive campaigns that relied in large part on member-to-member messaging led to young and lower-income voters to donate modestly in order to dip toes in the water of a larger, groundswell movement (to borrow the Forrester term), very similar to the evolution of social networking itself.
Here is a key point for any business: let’s not forget that social networks also act as databases. The Obama campaign gave volunteers access to databases had been constantly updated throughout the race through both its field-office computers, and through the online community, with information about potential voters' political leanings. The Neighbor-to-Neighbor tool and its database coordination helped organizers to identify registered voters in specific neighborhoods so they might more efficiently be canvassed. And the campaign enjoyed richly refreshed data.
According to Sanford Dickert, a social-media consultant in New York City, as reported by Wired Magazine “The blend of gumshoe canvassing and information processing is a hallmark of the Obama campaign. … the use technology was not the end-all and be-all in this cycle. Technology has been a partner, an enabler, bringing the efficiencies of the internet into the real-world problems of organizing people in a distributed, trusted fashion."
4) It’s a good idea to consider a comprehensive social media strategy that includes both a branded social networks, and social media campaigns leveraging other networks and tools.
Obama (or his campaign team) were smart to build their own social network in addition to maintaining a strong presence across the main social destinations on the web. Obama participated on all of the aforementioned social networks, and he also had a presence on MySpace (which may likely have been introduced by a zealous fan). By one count, Obama has 1.5 million friends on MySpace and Facebook, and he currently has over 45,000 followers on Twitter. Apparently, one could have also followed the campaign through the daily Tweets of an Obama intern. (Sure enough, I “tweeted” that I was in Grant Park the evening of the election and received a dozen or so new “followers” within the hour. People track Obama people.) Also of note, “Yes We Can” music videos on YouTube, viewed as many as 8 million times. The entire orchestration of the social media medley of the campaign is something I suspect we have never quite seen before.
Clever orchestration is a of course a masterwork. And, I truly believe that MyBarakObama.com- the information hub for the purpose of the social networks, made all the difference. In fact, I’d love to learn more about it, once the analyst votes come in. My guess is that those that participated in MyBo were more active (both online and offline) with Obama advocacy (passive or active) than those that simply joined a Facebook group or asked a question on LinkedIn. I may be wrong about that, and I’d be interested to learn the statistics, but it was the case with me. Sure, I clicked the link to designate myself an Obama “fan” when the mood struck, but when I joined MyBarakObama.com, it was to dig deeper, seek interesting insights and discussions, and take a step towards active participation.
The use of a comprehensive social networking strategy enabled supporters, perhaps only several million of the final Obama voters, perhaps the critical new ballots that made the election a record-breaking turnout, to do what Obama himself also accomplished. Advocates told stories, discussed values, shared motivational messaging and influenced each other through insights and feedback, over time. And, much of it fell under the banner of achieving specific, coordinated goals- to great success.
5) Shifting models- an ode to the power of persistent communities.
It was brought to my attention today that social networking in and of itself is no new shakes- Bill Clinton got nominated initially in large part through the power of traditional (offline) social networking. And, campaign strategies have long embraced “online”. Some of these concepts may not be new…
I would argue that for the most part, traditional online strategies have been very Web 1.0… mostly “pushed” content, with perhaps the addition of YouTube clips or blogs. I am reminded of the Hillary Clinton site I participated in earlier this year. Every time I visited I was pushed a new message and greeted with a huge “donate button”. I felt a pressure to drink the Kool-Aid, push the huge button and contribute more. Like a common general reaction to information clearly pushed by a corporate/campaign mandate, despite quite a bit of personal passion, I eventually disengaged.
Obama relied less on the big sell and more on the big swell. His campaign let the community push the message amongst itself, and the community organically grew. Wired.com points out that, “ultimately that may have been what made the difference: Obama simply 'gets' how social networking works.”
Daniel Nations (Webtrends) makes a critical point, “A fundamental understanding of communication has always been at the center of a politician's arsenal, but a firm grasp on the future of communication may be the secret weapon that wins the war. For Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was radio. For John F. Kennedy, it was television. And for Barack Obama, it is social media… There is no doubt that Barack Obama has changed the face of politics in America. And just as Obama is using Web 2.0 and Social Networking in his campaign, so can Web 2.0 and Social Networking give the American people a voice in politics.”
Beyond the end of the presidential campaign, I anticipate the Obama social network will only grow and morph into a platform for collaboration, discussion and further initiatives around his presidency. Furthermore, the branded sight, easily found on search engines, likely caught, and will continue to catch the attention and participation of many people who were not already active online social networkers.
By the way, Obama's own social network was apparently used, by members of the Obama community, to stage a protest of his stance a particular piece of legislation. Social Networks are not always about business goals and brand promotion. Social Networks also offer a chance to gain the true insights of your community. Obama will be wise to continue leveraging this incredible tool, and the people of the world have a chance to utilize a new voice.
Interesting post and blog. Relevantly, many prominent experts and publications have pointed out that Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and GenXers.
This link takes you to a page you may find interesting: it has, among other things, excerpts from publications like Newsweek and the New York Times, and videos with over 25 top pundits, all talking specifically about Obama’s identity as a GenJoneser:
http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html
Posted by: EyesOnTrends | November 10, 2008 at 09:20 PM