August 31, 2007
Age and Online Contributions
Why is the GOP lagging behind Democrats in the online fundraising game?
In 2004 Democrats established an online donation avenue, Act Blue, to channel contributions from donors to the candidates of their choice. Since its conception Act Blue has raised 26.2 million dollars online and has earned a reputation for being a great asset to Democratic fundraising. In the first half of 2007 Democrats collectively raised a total of 44.3 million dollars more than Republicans. Online contributions have played a big part in this gap. In response to impressive Democratic fundraising, Republicans are countering by recently launching their own online contribution channels including BigRedTent, Rightroots and Slatecard.com. Many GOP activists assert that this online fundraising gap exists because donors do not have an adequate way to contribute online. It will be worth watching to see if Republican contributors take advantage of these new online contribution portals.
One theory concerning the online fundraising gap is age. Analysts believe that more young people are online and that recently younger people have been more likely to support Democratic candidates. To some this translates to more online contributions and is another explanation for why Democrats are out-raising Republicans. Republicans meanwhile should not underestimate the 30+ group’s ability to make a significant impact to online contributions and use it to their advantage.
What can Republicans and Democrats do to increase their effectiveness? In 2004 the growth in young adult voter turnout primarily came from young African American voters. Parties should make it their mission to address these potential voters and their concerns. Also social networking sites are fresh canvases to reach young adults. Democratic hopeful Barack Obama has public MySpace and Facebook accounts with a total of 307,362 “friends” compared to Republican Presidential nominee Rudy Giuliani who only has a private MySpace page. This is important because of the power of massive amounts of small donors backing a single candidate. Ninety percent of Mr. Obama’s impressive online contributions came in denominations of 100$ or less. If young adults are going to contribute it is more likely to be in small donations and if Republicans hope to catch up in funds, they can not miss the opportunity to collect from young adults. Just for fun, 307,362 “friends” that contribute just 10 dollars is over three million dollars.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 28, 2007
Can GOP Compete with ActBlue?
In 2004 Democrats established an online donation avenue, Act Blue, to channel contributions from donors to the candidates of their choice.
Since its conception Act Blue has raised 26.2 million dollars online and has earned a reputation for being a great asset to Democratic fundraising. In the first half of 2007 Democrats collectively raised a total of 44.3 million dollars more than Republicans. Online contributions have played a big part in this gap.
In response to the Democrats impressive fundraising Republicans are reacting competitively by establishing their own online contribution channels. Rightroots, Big Red Tent and Slatecard.com have all emerged as new ways to connect Republicans to their candidates. Rightroots at present is a donations avenue featuring news, information and links to a number of Republican candidates and conservative issues. Big Red Tent takes active approach by allowing participants to nominate their candidates by providing support and feedback through a process they call stumping and voting. This narrows the number of candidates featured but allows everyone an opportunity to not only financially support their candidate but also provide a reason as to why. Slatecard.com is not up and running yet but will allow members to develop their own portfolios of candidates by “tagging” them with facts that will help to simplify the understanding on where candidates stand on a number of issues. This will be effective due to the fact that you can share these portfolios with other online networks like MySpace and Facebook.
As the campaigns progress and the election nears it will be interesting to see the fundraising competition continue and see if this new approach succeeds for the Republicans in a realm dominated thus far by the Democrats.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
Austrailia: Editing History
A crisis of confidence is shaking the Australian Liberal Party in power.
The staff of the Prime minister’s cabinet and the Defense department‘s staff have been editing Wikipedia and removing details to cultivate and improve the Government’s image.
An employee of PM Howard’s cabinet has questioned the living conditions of asylum seekers in island camps. He added the word “allegedly” in a paragraph commented “the inhuman conditions” which this population is subjected. These modifications moderate the importance of the tough policy proposed toward asylum seekers in the victory of the Liberal party in 2001.
The Australian Defense department was revealed as the most prolific source of Wikipedia changes. Its staff is accused of being responsible for more than 5,000 changes to entries in the online encyclopedia. Staffers corrected information about the Australian military, while they have removed negatives comments about the Liberal political party.
That information has been authenticated by the new website Wikipedia Scanner. Wikipedia Scanner can not identify the person who altered Wikipedia entries. However, Wikipedia Scanner can identify the organization network which has originated the change.
Wikipedia Scanner is evidence that the Internet can police itself. While political appointees use the Web to edit history many on the ‘Net are using its power to keep government honest.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 24, 2007
The CIA SocNet
The CIA is working to develop an internal social network comparable to Facebook or MySpace.
This network, A-Space, will permit agents of the CIA to exchange and collect information in a more effective and timely way than currently possible. It will link the 17,000 employees of the CIA throughout the world. However, the project raises concerns for many agents and national security analysts because of online security risks. As a consequence participation will be voluntary.
This project will be a new tool to improve the fight against terrorism. It directly seeks to improve the communication lapses, which facilitated the attacks of 09/11. Mike Wertheimer, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told the Financial Times that “We are willing to experiment in ways that we have never experimented before”. He adds “It breaks a lot of traditional senses that people’s lives are at risk, and how can you take any step that increases that risk.”
Apart from its own network, the agency also considers to forge exchanges with other foreign intelligence agencies, for example, the British MI-5 . Producing collective intelligence will improve global security and help prevent future terrorist attacks. But once again the project runs up against many challenges. This type of project depends upon agencies to aggressively share information through “an intelligence library,” (BBC) which many nations may not want to participate in.
The A-Space project will be viable in December of this year.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
Sarkosy Tackles Digital Divide
As a part of his total reflection of the future of France, Nicolas Sarkosy wants to invest in the Internet as an essential tool to give back the country a rank worthy of an international power.
Indeed, Sarkosy sees a delay of the country in the field of technology because of “a lack of a national ambition.” Sarkozyblog.free.fr.
The French delay is precisely the delay to express a national ambition about Internet technology. Sarkosy accuses the State of being responsible for this delay. France has not made itself a land of innovation, creativity and a land of firm creation in the Internet field. The structures of the country still remain too Centralist and make its economy a rigid system dominated by a few big groups whereas the Internet promotes the individual action and the demonstration of an independent mind. The French delay is also cultural because the people’s collective reflexion ignored the Internet as a birth of a new power which has had a global impact on many societies.
As a consequence, Sarkosy has decided to make the Internet as a priority in his first days as president. His goal is to spark a deep renovation (makeover) of the country. First, Sarkosy wants to undertake a project of land settlement to enable a high speed connection on the whole territory. Sarkosy wants to make Internet more accessible to the students at their College or University and make them as a whole WIFI space. He deeply believes in the Internet as a way to promote democracy. He also suggests posting the French cultural asset Online by investing in public and free websites. He aggressively wants the State to support the small businesses’ effort to deal with changing technology. Finally, he wants to make France as a land where people will want to invest and to do business. Sarkosy wants France to become a country where people trust in the future and value success in their own lives.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 15, 2007
Thank You - SavetheDebate.com
GOP bloggers are demanding Republican presidential candidates participate in the YouTube/CNN Debate.
David All, Patrick Ruffini, and other conservative bloggers have created SavetheDebate.com to pressure the Republican presidential campaigns to take part in the CNN/YouTube Debate. Democratic presidential candidates faced the YouTube generation head on in July, but Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani claim to have scheduling conflicts with the September debate. CNN has offered to change the dates, and with the combination of pressure from conservative bloggers the debate has been reschedule for November.
The July debate was groundbreaking because it opened presidential politics to anyone with a camera and internet access. This debate was the most watched debate by the 18 to 34 year old demographic in American political history. YouTube and the Web are changing American politics by bringing into the debate an entire new generation of voters.
The Democratic presidential candidates submitted themselves to the YouTube gauntlet and faced very difficult questions ranging from the Iraq War to gay marriage. Voters deserve to put the GOP presidential contenders through the same experience. Tough questions from real Americans are what presidential politics is all about. The blogosphere along with American voters owe SavetheDebate.com a collective thank you.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 13, 2007
Tech Savvy Protesters take on China
Increasingly, the Internet is becoming the most effective means for protesters to deliver a message.
Last week, several activists for a Free Tibet used technology to amplify their traditional method of protest. The activists scaled a portion of the Great Wall of China and hung a banner that proclaimed "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008," and simultaneously videotaped their effort via cell phone. The protestors using the Skype internet software placed the video on the Web and it instantly appeared on YouTube for people to view across the globe.
This week the United Nations Web site has fallen victim to hackers. Anti Israel and anti American protestors hacked on to the UN Site and altered the Secretary General's section of the Site. The hackers made it appear that the UN leader, Ban Ki-Moon agreed with the hackers sentiments.
The Web has also been the venue for several other organizations to disseminate their agenda and message, and it allows groups to bypass the MSM and government censors. YouTube has become an international platform for all types of organizations that are not seen on the nightly news, but when hundreds of thousands are attracted to an online video the media is eventually forced to cover the story.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
August 07, 2007
Watch Out for Paul at the Ames Straw Poll
Congressman Ron Paul has been the topic of several political blogs over the past few months.
Paul has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars via the Web, and is the number one politician on YouTube. In addition to YouTube, Paul is the most popular Republican politician on FaceBook and MySpace. These are the new metrics in measuring the success of a presidential candidate, but in just two days these new metrics will collide head on with an older, more traditional gauge.
This week the GOP will descend upon Ames, Iowa for the state's largest pre-caucus political event. Most pundits are predicting a landslide for Mitt Romney, but they may be over looking Congressman Ron Paul.
Will Ron Paul's internet driven campaign find success in the old school world of straw polls? The establishment press asserts that money is a necessary factor to organize a straw poll victory, but the Internet may be the ultimate equalizer. A surprise finish in the Ames Straw Poll will be another piece of evidence that the presidential campaign model is rapidly changing. Watch out for this internet savvy campaign in Ames, Iowa this week.
YouTube: Paul is the Internet's BFF
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
