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Social Media Club NYC

Published February 21st, 2007 in Tech & VC

I attended a meeting of the Social Media Club here in NYC for the first time last night. It was an interesting debate about how both we (the voters) and campaigns can use social media to engage in the 2008 elections that let me “get my geek on.”

A few interesting points that I recall off the top of my head. I apologize in advance that I cannot properly attribute all these points. If you want credit, feel free to leave a comment.

  • Age 60+ voters have the biggest control in terms of voting power (because they actually turn out and vote). Social media usage has a high coorelation with youth, so social media is unlikely to directly impact votes. However, youth enthusiasm and social media has the power to sway the mainstream press, which in term affects the age 60+ voters. So, social media’s impact on the 2008 election will likely be significant, but it will also likely be indirect.
  • Unlike Howard Dean leveraging Drupal in 2004, none of the candidates in the 2008 election cycle thus far are using open source technologies. All of them are on proprietary platforms.
  • YouTube had ZERO impact on the ‘04 election. Why? Because it didn’t exist. Jim Webb is the senator from Virginia largely because of YouTube (the Macaca incident). It will be interesting to watch YouTube’s role in the first presidential election cycle of it’s existence.
  • Nate Westheimer pointed out at the end of the night that we spent 2 hours talking about social media in politics and no one mentioned “MoveOn.org.” It’s remarkable, but the explaination is simple: MoveOn does not implement social media. They work by mailing lists, which is simply a form of broadcast media. It’s a one-way monologue, which inherently is not social and, thus, is not relevant to the conversation.

Though it was often difficult actively participate in the conversation with so many strong personalities in the room, it was an engaging night, and I’m glad I attended. I would recommend the Social Media Club to like-minded others.

Update: A podcast of the event will be available here shortly.

One Response to “Social Media Club NYC”  

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  1. 1 Nate Westheimer Feb 22nd, 2007 at 7:46 am

    I guess I have to disagree about whether or not MoveOn.org is social media.

    Members of MoveOn vote regularly to direct the organization’s platform and that platform goes nowhere if the members do not make the emails a two-way conversation by clicking on the petitions, signing them (it’s not just a click), and then passing them on to their friends to sign. Additionally, it’s the amount of member/user $$ that determines if ads are printed in what newspapers and for how long.

    Additionally, long before Doritos and whomever else, MoveOn sponsored the first SuperBowl ad contest. The amount of member/user generated ads created in a pre-YouTube era was astounding. The ad was eventually pulled by the networks (too political in an election year?!?) but the effect was lasting.

    Anyway, these forms of social media may be hard for some social media hardliners to recognize, but still, I think it’s overwhelmingly clear that MoveOn IS social media on many (not all) levels.

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