From the WeMedia site:
Political World | Hype vs. Reality in Campaign 08
It’s supposed to be the YouTube-MySpace-power-to-the-people campaign. So why are online political junkies so frustrated with what they’ve seen so far?
Session Chair: Brian Reich, author, Media Rules!
- Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation
- Catherine Geanuracos, Live Earth
- Carolyn Washburn, Executive Editor, The Des Moines Register
- Michael Silberman, EchoDitto
- John Della Volpe, SocialSphere
- Amy Schatz, The Wall Street Journal
- Anthony Wojtkowiak, MTV Street Team
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12:04 a.m.
Schatz: You have a lot more out there in terms of media and it’s harder for candidates to switch off. More people are asking questions and sometimes the candidates slip up and actually answer the question.
Washburn: The Register saw that people were using traditional means to learn about the campaigns, such as watching a debate on TV or going to an event to meet candidates face-to-face.
Wojtkowiak (12:11 a.m.): Mentioned Will.i.am video on YouTube and the influence of such social media.
Della Volpe (12:18 p.m.): “I think the real innovation is connecting the online with the offline.”
Schatz (12:24 p.m.): I think we see a lot more innovation this time because of the number of candidates. Examples include Dodd, though it didn’t translate to votes. Also Ron Paul, whose supporters are very Web savvy and have helped him raise millions of dollars.
She noted how campaigns are limited in their outlook because they only last the life of the campaign cycle.
Geanuracos: Thinks we’ll more innovation going forward.
Reich (12:28 a.m.):
Wojtkowiak: It’s important to keep the conversation going and keep the audience involved by letting them as questions.
Washburn: She’s interesting to see what we’ve learned from this cycle. Also, how to create stories around smaller races–keep things local.
Geanuracos: Stop thinking about people as someone to talk to in the moment and then forget about them. Your campaign never stops.
Della Volpe: What are you going to do to continue the involvement?
Miller: More openness, transparency will build more trust and allay concerns of trust and special interest role. Public sees information as an antidote to corruption.
Schatz: Techniques to build communities will happen a lot more on the local level.
Silberman: Move from treating voters like fans to let them have value roles in campaigns, i.e. have jobs not just donors.
Reich: We should do that in policy as well.