« September 2005 | Politics & Technology | November 2005 »
Don't send emails that look like they're phishing
Over at Campaign Monitor, they're noticing that some of the latest email programs have phishing detection built right in. That's a good thing - but there's an important and easy trap to fall into.
First, what's "phishing"? It's when scammers and con artists send you an email that looks like it's from a legitimate company - but the link they send you takes you to an identity theft website.
Both Mozilla Thunderbird and AOL 9.0 now feature phishing scam detection that will impact on how you design your email creative. To determine if an email may be a phishing scam, the email client looks for a link in your HTML campaign where the display text is a URL. If the displayed link is different from the actual URL, the user is alerted.
In short, they use this HTML:
<a href=http://www.somewherebad.com> http://www.somewheregood.org</a>
And here's the rub: Many email broadcasting programs, including our very own MandateMail, change links just like that in order to track clickthru rates.
<a href=http://www.trackingsystem.com?gohere= somewheregood.org> http://www.somewheregood.org</a>
So, here's the solution: Never, ever, ever use the URL as the display link (http://....). Instead, use real text - y'know, in English. Like this:
<a href=http://www.somewheregood.org> Visit Our Good Website!</a>
Besides, that's friendlier and more helpful to the audience anyway.
Kari Chisholm | October 31, 2005 | Comments (0) |
Launched: ChangeNJ.com
They're just getting underway, but the good folks at ChangeNJ.com are hoping to build a thoughtful, policy-oriented progressive blog for the state of New Jersey.
We were happy to help them build an attractive, clean, and usable site design.
Here at Mandate Media, we believe in the power of the local blogosphere. With BlueOregon, we've seen what a local, progressive blog can do for the progressive community in a state. Stories break, gossip gets shared, and most importantly - community is built. At BlueOregon, we're getting over 20,000 page views a week - about 2000 people every day.
It's happening everywhere, all across America in just about every state. Check out LeftyBlogs.com for the big list.
Here's hoping that ChangeNJ takes off in similar fashion.
Kari Chisholm | October 29, 2005 | Comments (0) |
Scott Chacon for Congress: Turning Everything Inside-Out
Scott Chacon faces an uphill battle. He's trying to unseat entrenched incumbent Congressman Richard Pombo.
The typical approach for such a tough race is to raise buckets of money from big-money donors, unleash an attack ad blitz, and spend every waking moment stumping across the district.
Well, Scott Chacon is anything but typical. He's a software developer running for Congress - and he's using his campaign as the testbed for an open source project to create a new kind of campaign management software. He's also doing just about everything differently.
Groundworks, the software package, aims to be more than just a website manager. It's a campaign management tool that "will power the ChaconCorps team of precinct captains and volunteers for the Chacon 2006 congressional campaign."
Meanwhile, over at the Chacon for Congress campaign, he's turned all kinds of concepts on their head.
Want the candidate to show up somewhere? Just make an appointment on his "open schedule" and he'll be there.
Want to talk to the candidate? Just ask for a call online, and he'll call you. Or check out the blog - he's writing it himself.
Want to give money? Contribute to micro-goals that purchase specific things for the campaign. Oh, and you'll only be allowed to give $100 - a self-imposed limit. And he'll disclose it immediately.
Want to volunteer? Take charge - be a 'community captain' and decide how best to organize your neighborhood: Each captain "is given the tools to run their own small campaigns, to reach out to their communities as they see fit."
It's a new way of thinking about campaigns. Inside-out, really. Check it out. JoinTheConversation.org
Kari Chisholm | October 27, 2005 | Comments (0) |
Finally, a funny political animated short
We see a lot of those supposedly-funny animated shorts that are intended to incite JibJab-like viral marketing traffic, create buzz, generate sign-ups to a campaign website. Most of them are awful.
Finally, however, here's one of those political cartoons that's actually worth forwarding to your friends. Arnold's Neighborhood (y'know, on Schwarzenegger Street) is a hilarious send-up of the Governor of California and his right-wing friends.
Too often, these political toons just aren't funny and aren't compelling. Politicos get excited because they've never done cartoons before, and they're funny - but only in that "last night at the bar" kind of way.
Always remember that your audience doesn't know the inside political gossip, they don't understand or care about the particulars of the policy proposals, and their attention span is minimal. Also, when you do a funny or clever cartoon, you're competing with the Daily Show, David Letterman, The Simpsons, The Family Guy, and the rest of the global pop culture universe.
Some tips: Keep it short, the humor simple to understand, the voiceover clear (or use captions if your target has a funny accent, ala Arnold), the images bright and large, and most importantly keep the editing fast. Too many political cartoons drone on and on and on ponderously moving from shot to shot. Remember that most television these days moves at a machine-gun pace, with dozens of shots per minute.
The Arnold's Neighborhood cartoon, produced by the good folks at M&R in Washington DC for the Angelides for Governor campaign, has 37 separate shots in almost exactly two minutes. It goes through an Act One, Two, Three model - with the musical number as Acts One and Three and dialogue as Act Two. They've paid close attention to background scenery, and are using the cartoon frame as a 'camera' with off-camera dialogue, shots of characters partially out of frame, and the like.
Remember, all the basic rules of television and film production apply to cartoons. Just because it's now easy to technically produce online cartoons doesn't mean the creative has gotten any easier.
Endnote:
The other two political cartoons that join Arnold's Neighborhood in my personal hall of fame include the musical Three Peas in a Pod from Oregon Death with Dignity (starring John Ashcroft, Gordon Smith, and Kevin Mannix), and Oreos by True Majority Action (starring Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry's).
Elsewhere:
Generally: AtariDemocrat reviews several California election 'toons.
Pro: LAvoice.org, Last Liberal in Central Florida, Matthew Gross, Seeing the Forest, Oliver Willis
Con: Sacramento Bee's California Insider,Independent Sources, Peat Bog
Previously on P&T:
JibJab gets triple the traffic of Kerry & Bush combined...
Kari Chisholm | October 26, 2005 | Comments (3) |
Why Congressman Conyers Likes to Blog
Over at BlackProf.com, Congressman John Conyers answers the question on the mind of politicians everywhere, Why Blog?
For me, the internet and blogging serve other purposes that have nothing to do with raising money. For the past five years, I have been frequently approached by voters who wonder why Democrats in Washington don't stand up to the Republican agenda. While this is often a fair criticism, it just as frequently is not. The MSM simply will not report on the actions of a party that lacks the White House or majority control of either house of Congress. Indeed, the same reporters who write that Democrats lack an agenda refuse to write about our legislative proposals no matter the number of press conferences, calls and press releases. Blogging lets me bypass that filter and take my message directly to many voters.
A cautionary thought:
Universally speaking, the experts -- the people who had used the internet so successfully in the Dean campaign -- had one word of caution. So many politicians who were intrigued by the Dean campaign saw the internet as a cash machine and little else. Not only is such a view shortsighted, it is ineffective, as many politicians have seen the internet activists tune them out after the third fund-raising appeal in one week.
Read the rest and then head over to the Conyers Blog.
(Hat tip to Beltway Blogroll.)
Kari Chisholm | October 24, 2005 | Comments (0) |
"My son is not a pig" - now that's a subject line!
In Colorado, the big fight over Measures C & D is still raging. The measures would reform their TABOR law, which restricts spending and has had a devastating effect on public services.
Once again, state senate majority leader Ken Gordon is proving a master of the personal, compelling, and interesting email broadcast. This week, he sent out an email with the subject line "My son is not a pig."
The pig, of course, has become a symbol of the right-wing forces in the campaign - with anti-tax crusader Jon Caldara marching around the State Capitol with a pig intended to represent wasteful government spending.
Ken Gordon's email:
Carol [Meredith]'s son, Alex, has autism. She confronted Jon Caldara when he brought the pig to the Capitol. The pig was supposed to symbolize misplaced government priorities and waste. "My son is not a pig," she told him. There are 8700 disabled children and adults on waiting lists for early intervention and other forms of treatment in Colorado. If Colorado offered early intervention to children like Alex Meredith, many of them would be able to attend typical classes in school. It would save us considerable money in the future and immeasurably improve people's lives. Other states cover this kind of therapy, but we don't in Colorado because we are fools. Yet another reason to vote for C and D.
Now that's a compelling and personal tale.
Kari Chisholm | October 21, 2005 | Comments (0) |
Making Killer BlogAds
Over the last year, advertising on blogs has taken off. For political campaigns and advocacy groups, they're a great way to reach directly to a targeted audience that cares about your campaign.
At IndieWire.com, Brian Clark has six great tips for making killer BlogAds. Details over there, but here's the bullet points:
1. Use All Three Elements! You've got a headline, an image, and a block of text...2. Use HTML in the Text! ...
3. Use Hyperlinks in the Text! ...
4. Use provocative images! ...
5. Less can be more! The sizes that BlogAds give you are the maximums ... Flexibility is one of the beautiful things about the format.
6. Change it up! ... For best results, try changing the creative message every few days (you'll find your click-thru rate goes up again after the change.)
Previously on P&T:
Effective Online Advertising
BlogAds for Fun and Profit
Nuke Retro: the first nationwide liberal blog ad buy
$100,000 Internet Ad Buy... for Volunteers
Advertising on the national liberal blog network
Kari Chisholm | October 19, 2005 | Comments (0) |
Act Blue moving into state campaigns
Over at ActBlue, they're considering a move into state-level races. This would make it much, much easier for campaigns in those states to move online and raise money fast. We've written about ActBlue before here at P&T:
How can a campaign take advantage of this great new service? First, encourage all your supporters to build their own fundraising pages. Yes, yes, of course, that means that they'll include other candidates - but they'll all include your candidate too. They'll get excited about generating dollars, and they'll email their friends about giving.Think of it as a virtual house party - with a dozen candidates invited to make a pitch (including you). Now multiply that effect by several hundred supporters... You get the idea.
Of course, moving into individual states is going to entail a lot of hard logistical, legal, and financial work. So, ActBlue is asking folks to help them decide what states should be priorities.
Vote here. (And discover, in the process, how instant runoff voting works!)
Kari Chisholm | October 12, 2005 | Comments (0) |
Politics in a Match.com World
How do you translate online activism into off-line action that actually changes the outcome of campaigns? That's the key question that every campaign is asking these days - and it's a critical one. Your blog may have lots of comments, and your petition lots of names, but unless it translates to money and bodies it won't mean a thing.
Can the internet make a difference in the "real world"? Look no further than Match.com, eHarmony, and the scores of niche dating sites all over the net.
First, a story: A friend of mine recently announced her engagement to a fellow she met through Match.com. She brought her new fiance out West to meet the old friends and neighbors. When she bumped into one family friend, she was embarassed and told her, "Um, we met in a bar." The friend, an older woman in her mid-60s, replied, "How retro! Everyone these days seems to be finding love on Match.com..."
If you're single, you know this is true. If you're not (and haven't been for a while), ask around. In particular, talk to single folks in their late 20s and 30s. There's a whole lot of serious internet dating and soul-matching going on.
What does that mean? It means that people are getting more and more comfortable searching and finding critical information online and using it to make life-changing decisions.
I often ask my clients, "Do you know who your competition is?" Invariably, they reply, "Well, duh. It's that right-wing wacko that we're running against."
Not true. Sure, you're trying to defeat that right-wing wacko, but your competition? It's all the other good progressive campaigns, causes, and other opportunities presented to your supporters, volunteers, and donors. Most everyone has a limited supply of $100 contributions - and everyone has a limited supply of volunteer evenings and weekends.
Understand this: You're competing with your progressive friends for a very scare resource - the money and time of your supporters. And your supporters are spending time online examining where they should best invest their money, time, and passion: with your organization, or that congressional campaign across town, or that beach cleanup next week, or somewhere else worthwhile.
In a Match.com world, you've got to use every tool available to you to make your best case online. Your cause is meaningful, important, fun, and populated with people worth getting to know. Isn't it?
If your website isn't communicating all that, well, you're just losing out to the taller and more good-looking campaign down the street.
Kari Chisholm | October 3, 2005 | Comments (1) |
Personal Democracy Forum: On the Rise of the Oregon House Democrats
We're posting a little belatedly here, but it's still worth a read. This spring, we helped launch a netroots strategy for the Oregon House Democrats. A blog - with the entire caucus blogging - and an email campaign to back it up.
Well, the Personal Democracy Forum (a more expansive and way cooler version of P&T) is telling the tale:
Those caucus Members who do contribute to the blog “understand this is the new way elected officials can be interacting with the public,” adds Isaacs. He calls the Oregon House Democrats’ blog “a real blog,” alluding to the fact that the lawmakers themselves -- rather than ghostbloggers -- are authoring the blog posts. ...Indicating a growing phenomenon, the caucus’s online political interaction is spurring offline connections. Jon Isaacs views the blog as a tool to promote town hall meetings and other events attended by the legislators. Whereas before only 15 people or so would typically go to such an event, nowadays 40 or 50 might show up as a result of the blog presence and the viral effect of email. “It helps enhance and build turnout and interest,” observes Isaacs.
Dig in and read the rest over at Personal Democracy Forum.
Kari Chisholm | October 1, 2005 | Comments (0) |
