Happy Halloween

Just because

This is what citizen journalism looks like

A few months ago Bicycle Mark of Citizen Reporter visited Cambodia and chronicled his visit to the killing fields. It's now a tourist destination.

Sometimes it's important to stop in the middle of a frenzied political campaign and take a look at the things that aren't covered by the mainstream media. The blogosphere gives everyone a platform to produce content. The best may not be the most popular, but it's important to let every perspective shine through.

Happy friday

This song was cool even before George Clooney lip synched it.

Dr. Pearse Lyons

Business Lexington TV spotlights the founder of Alltech, the title sponsor of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. (Full disclosure: I've done some work for them.)

Social Media in Plain English

an oldie but goodie (in social media years), from the folks at Common Craft.

programming note

Just in time for the campaign's stretch run, I'm dropping off the grid for a couple of weeks. I have a few posts scheduled in advance that feature some of my favorite videos to keep things somewhat fresh around here.

I'll be back a few days before the election. Go read Voices without Votes if you're sick of the talking heads on cable and want a different perspective on the American election.

Say it ain't so, Joe

Seems this Joe the Plumber guy has more attention than he ever wanted.

Welcome to the political blogosphere in 2008. There are times like this, in the heat of a campaign, where the online world pushes the mainstream media into a frenzy. Eight years ago a story like this probably wouldn't have happened.

Ask a few questions to a political candidate and within hours you're trumpeted as the conquering hero of the right - the "Joe Sixpack" the McCain campaign has been yearning to personify - and in a few more hours you're vilified by the left and made the object of any number of attacks - some true, some not.

Absolutely NONE of this would have happened in the pre-social media age. The McCain campaign learned about this guy by reading Drudge. The mainstream media learned the facts that erode his credibility from the blogs on the left.

They say politics ain't beanbag - but before the blogosphere got as big as it has, that just applied to candidates. Now it applies to voters. It will definitely apply to companies. In the future the pace will be even faster, the tone will be even harsher, and the stakes will be even higher.

Courting the XBox360 Vote?

I may be showing my age here, but I think this is what "too much money" looks like.

Last week we noted unconfirmed sightings of an “Obama for President” billboard in the Xbox 360 racing game Burnout Paradise. Today we’re able to report that it is, in fact, an official advertisement placed by the senator’s campaign team.

It seems the Obama campaign is advertising in a number of videogames now. Cool, I guess. But just as I think the ROI doesn't justify purchasing an island in Second Life - basically you get an article in a web2.0 publication saying you're in SL, and little more - I'd like to know what the Obama campaign thinks it's getting for its money here.

What's the median age of an XBox360 user? Do they vote? Wouldn't this money be better spent on GOTV in Omaha? An ad buy in a swing state? Jet fuel for O-Force One? Better hairplugs for Joe Biden?

I'm one of social media and web2.0's biggest fans, but I want to see the numbers here.

However, Christopher Rice pointed me to a tech President piece that tries to explain it:

With users numbering in the millions, XBox Live certainly has the critical mass of active users to make such advertising attractive. In comparison, Second Life never had more than a few thousand active users at any given time. And thanks to their partnership with Rock the Vote, it's possible for any XBox Live user to actually start the registration process right on their XBox. As more states like California and Arizona pass laws allowing complete online voter registration, it's going to be possible to go from seeing one of these in-game ads to registering to vote before you put down the controller for the night.

So maybe gamers are a valuable constituency, though I'm still not sure. I do see some very significant value in the campaign's new tax-cut calculator widget. It's profoundly personal - enter some info and see how much money you'd save with the Obama tax plan versus the McCain tax plan. It speaks directly to the issue most on people's minds - how the economy affects them personally - and it offers the comparison. I'll bet it cost a fraction of the XBox ad buy to develop. They're leveraging their already huge online network to spread the word, and I'll bet they're pitching to mainstream media as well. Here it is.

SO SMART. Watch issue-advocacy groups copy this template again and again next year.

Second Verse, Same As the First: Politics Is NOT a Lecture

OK, now I'm really steamed. And this really has nothing to do with my political affiliation. Congressman Ed Whitfield apparently believes politics is about "I talk, you listen."

Like most members of Kentucky's congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, refused to face his challenger for a live statewide debate arranged by Kentucky Educational Television.

Unlike the other incumbents, who simply didn't show up, Whitfield and his attorneys demanded that KET on Monday air an unedited videotaped statement that he submitted, to run after Democratic challenger Heather Ryan of Paducah took half an hour of questions from journalists.

The crazy thing is KET actually agreed to the demand and gave the Congressman 30 minutes of airtime, while Ryan, who actually showed up for the debate, was subjected to questioning from the media. Not surprisingly, Ryan was a bit miffed:

Ryan said she was shocked to discover just hours before her scheduled appearance that KET would allow the congressman to skip the live debate, but still get televised time to say things she could not respond to.

"This completely changes the dynamics of everything KET and its debates are supposed to be about," Ryan said. "Why would any incumbent ever agree to a debate if all you have to do is skip the questions and the rebuttals and just submit a campaign commercial, which KET will broadcast for free?"

Shockingly, there are serious disagreements about what the law says about "equal time." Start with the premise that candidates benefit when they're put on television for a length of time to answer questions. That's true enough. But each candidate is given the opportunity to appear, and one declined. An interview and a commercial are NOT the same things. One has some semblance of accountability while the other gets to make unchallenged statements.

I wrote about this just last week. Republicans can certainly make an argument that the "mainstream media" is biased. But they are not helping themselves when they abandon the political discussion and force a lecture upon the electorate. This is the reason Republicans are losing in droves this year - the clear message the public hears from this is "I refuse to be held accountable for my positions and decisions."

This is also the reason social media has advanced so much in the current election cycle. Americans are tired of being told what's what and not having the opportunity to shape the debate. Mainstream media remains the primary vehicle for accountability, but it's the people who are using social media channels to have an immediate and dramatic impact on our politics. The further people like Sarah Palin and Ed Whitfield move toward the lecture and away from the discussion, the worse they'll do. They talk about "rejecting the filter of the media and talking directly to the people" but that's all they're doing. They're not listening to the people. They're trying to keep the people from talking back. They're forgetting who they serve.

That's just not gonna work anymore. What does it say about a candidate who won't subject himself to 30 minutes of questioning from Kentucky public television? In my mind, the choice is clear - one candidate is interested in the discussion and one is interested in giving a lecture. Since Heather Ryan is interested in the discussion, I'll give her the last word:

Monday's KET appearance was going to be the only debate this year between Whitfield and Ryan, since Whitfield has skipped all other joint appearances, Ryan said. The network's decision is disappointing and undermines its public-service mission, she said.

"I drove six hours with two kids from Paducah (to the KET studios in Lexington) to answer questions for the people of Kentucky because I thought this was important. Ed Whitfield couldn't make the time?" she asked.

The (Not-So) Secret Lives of Cleantech-Bloggers

If Hank "EcoGeek" Green had any idea how many PR flacks talk about him and his blog on a regular basis and how it's such a social media coup to get such an authoritative and smart clean-tech blogger to write about their stuff, he'd probably chuckle. (He really IS that good.) Somehow I don't think the guys at WSJ Environmental Capital can get away with "Nerdfighters."

Just the latest example of why I LOVE my freakin' job. I get paid to check in on guys like this.

Social Media: Government Bureaucrats Get It

Or at least Mark Story does.

Kudos to my old pal for being named Director of New Media for the Securities Exchange Commission. We don't work together anymore but I've enjoyed keeping up with him on Twitter and his blog. I don't typically say nice things about Republicans, but here goes:

Under Chairman Cox's leadership, Mark Story has helped usher in a new chapter of communication and accountability to a government agency that is widely perceived to be as "old school" as it gets. Mark is creative and dynamic and I think he's going to help companies make their financial information more clear and accessible.

There. I said it. And I meant it.

Mark also does a great job teaching Georgetown students about social media and has distinguished himself among his peers. I'm proud to call him a friend and I wish him every success in his new position.

He's also a fellow Red Sox fan. 'nuff ced.

I'm traveling for a while so you'll probably be looking at this virtual smooch for a few days. Enjoy.

Governor Palin, It's Not a Lecture Anymore.

UPDATE: The New York Times defends itself, says it's been harder on Obama/Biden than McCain/Palin.

So it is spoken, so shall it be done...

I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also...

I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they've just heard. I'd rather be able to just speak to the American people like we just did.

So said Governor Palin at the VP "debate" last week. The Governor raises an important, valid point about the traditional media - but it seems to me she's under the impression that politics and communication is still a lecture, and not a conversation. This sticking point remains a fundamental reason the Republican party continues to lose ground and will suffer heavy losses in November.

Governor Palin and the McCain campaign have taken "running against the media" to a new level. For example, they've gotten to the point now where they don't even try to challenge the facts the New York Times prints - they simply refer to the Times as "150% in the tank" or a "pro-Obama advocacy organization." But do they have a point? Yes and no.

The Times (and any other media outlet, for that matter) has any number of stories it can choose to print; it chooses to print items on page one that paint Senator McCain in an unfavorable light. While the Times has published items that are critical of Senator Obama, it seems we haven't seen that as much lately. Of course, bias is not the sole province of the Times. Fox News has become the Attack Obama network - and I'm not even including the opinion shows like O'Reilly or Hannity-Colmes. (I put pundits in a different category - they're paid to bloviate.)

The "mainstream" media is and always has been biased. But the bias is not one of ideology. The media has a distinct NEGATIVE bias. It highlights conflict. It reports on problems. It speculates on future problems. It searches out problems, and then to sell papers (or get viewers), it tries to convince you that the problems it finds are really important, even if they're not.

I recall in the not-too-distant past the mainstream media was absolutely obsessed with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, holdovers from the Black Panther Party, whether rural people were "bitter" and the sheer horror of not wearing a flag pin. (I'm pretty sure the McCain campaign wasn't complaining about this - in fact, I expect to see commercials that revisit all of this in the very near future.)

The more important point, however, is how the McCain campaign has chosen to deal with this bias - they're putting Governor Palin in situations where only she gets to talk. No Sunday talk shows. No press conferences. No interviews with Katie Couric. Unless you're a stenographer (or Fox News), no access to the candidate whatsoever. You can't do that anymore and expect to get away with it.

While I absolutely LOVE Senator Thompson's comment to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on this:

Well, Wolf, I hate to break this to you, but you don't get national security experience by being on Sunday talk shows, and that's where a lot of these fellows get theirs.

It misses the point. At the debate, Governor Palin wasn't interested in answering questions. She was interested in reciting pre-approved talking points, and her job was to get in as many of those points as possible - regardless of the situation. She's resigned to the notion that in media interviews "you get clobbered no matter what you say," so she's going to ignore the media and "speak to the American people."

How exactly does she plan to do that? Will she actually talk with voters, or are we simply bracing ourselves for 30-second TV spots?

And more importantly, what if the American people have a question? Is it ok to ask for something a tad more specific than "I'm on a team of mavericks?" Do we submit questions in writing? Do we yell them out at a campaign speech? Do we write them on the back of the check to the RNC and hope you get back to us? For some reason I think we're not going to see Governor Palin do what Prime Minister Thatcher did - thanks to Andrew Sullivan for reminding us "what real accountability looks like."

Americans have not yet seen Govenor Palin's capacity for critical thought - and frankly, thanks to the devastating interview with Katie Couric, many Americans don't think she has any. This decision to quarantine Governor Palin, made by the McCain campaign, prevents people from ever knowing anything else. And it forces people to conclude that a vote for McCain is too risky because a Vice-President-suddenly-turned-President Palin wouldn't address the crisis before her - she'd want to talk about something else.

The fact remains - especially with the Republicans - the mainstream media still asks questions for the people. Republicans don't use the blogosphere the way Democrats do - GOP blogs aren't really a "shadow media" that demands accountability from both politicians and pundits. The conservative blogosphere is set up like an echo chamber for the GOP, sort of the online version of talk radio. In fact, one of the right-o-sphere's biggest bloggers is a radio talk show host.

In this regard the Republicans only have themselves to blame - they've confused "message discipline" with "message control." They haven't fostered the arrival of new conservative voices, they haven't asked for new ideas or support. They continue to rely on 20th Century tools like talk radio and direct mail, and when it comes to campaigning, they equate a diversity of opinion with weakness.

Compare this to what liberal blogs said about Senator Obama's position on FISA. Obama remains accountable for his decision, and he chose to keep the multiple lines of communication open. Message: "I'm transparent and accountable to you." Now the liberal blogosphere feels invested in the Obama campaign, and has transformed itself into the largest virtual ATM ever invented - capable of out-raising even the stunningly efficient Republican National Committee.

The Obama campaign is winning because it provides access to both mainstream media and the public. While it has a messaging platform, it gets significant input from the people in the grassroots social networks it has helped set up, and it reacts to information there. It's how the Obama campaign remains accountable to the people who support it and everyone else. The Republicans don't have that.

Governor Palin and the leadership of the McCain campaign seem committed to an "I talk, you listen" lecture style of campaigning. They see anything that disrupts that form of communication as a problem. That's SO ten years ago.

I'm not a conservative, but I know, like, and work with many. Conservatives have interesting and insightful ideas that they're more than willing to debate, discuss, and defend. I suspect Governor Palin is one of those people.

Too bad we'll never know.

Don't Vote

And I'll apologize in advance for the handful of four-letter words in this. But seriously people, the deadline to register in many key states is the end of this week. So get the info you need to register and vote.