May 24, 2010
Should campaigns spend as much online as on TV?
A revealing piece over at National Journal begs the question...
In today's world of always-on news streams via traditional media and the web when message is king, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (admittedly, Newt is not a 'new media expert,' but bear with us) seems to have his priorities straight, advising parties and campaigns to budget equal amounts of their budgets to "new media" and traditional TV and radio air time.
Get the whole story at NationalJournal.com:
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is advising his party's candidates to spend big on new media campaigns this fall. It's a bold suggestion that could result in unprecedented victories -- or waste precious campaign resources, ad buyers say.
In an interview with PBS NewsHour earlier this month, Gingrich urged candidates to use online ads, social networking and blog outreach in midterm election campaigns so they can have a "real conversation that's a lot more than a 20-second sound bite or a two-minute story."
"We advise every candidate to have as big a budget for new media as you have for radio and television," Gingrich said.
Beltway ad buyers, however, say allotting larger portions of campaign budgets to new media may be premature and ineffective. "New media is very important, but it's not more important than television," said Amy Niles Gonzalez, president of MSHC Partners, a Democratic communications firm.
NJ goes on to look at Obama's '08 campaign, which spent less than 10% ($27 million) of its total media budget ($245M) on web advertising.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 18, 2010
German Minister drafts open letter to Facebook's Zuckerberg
German Minister Ilse Aigner has submitted a list of grievances to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, particularly concerned with users' data privacy.
Over the past week, a firestorm of frustration and confusion has been aimed squarely at Facebook, but before that maelstrom stirred up, German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner submitted this letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, seeking answers as to why Facebook is "not willing to eliminate the existing shortcomings regarding data protection."
Here's the full letter (full article over on TechCrunch):
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,
I was astonished to discover that, despite the concerns of users and severe criticism from consumer activists, “Facebook” would like to relax data protection regulations on the network even further. Your current privacy policy states that in future user data is to be automatically passed on to third parties. These parties are supposed to comprise previously vetted operators of websites and applications. Anyone who does not want this to happen must take action themselves and use the opt-out function.
I use the Internet every day, both professionally and privately, and am a member of several social networks, including Facebook. Social networks are an enrichment and it is difficult to imagine our lives without them. Networks such as Facebook link millions of people across national boundaries, and it is for this very reason that particular importance must be attached to protecting privacy. As you know, I, in my capacity as Federal Minister of Consumer Protection, am striving to ensure that personal data on the Internet is protected. Private information must remain private – I think that I speak for many Internet users in this respect. Unfortunately, Facebook does not respect this wish, a fact that was confirmed in the most recent study by the German consumer organisation “Stiftung Warentest”. Facebook fares badly in this study. Facebook was graded as “poor” in respect of user-data policy and user rights. Facebook also refused to provide information on data security – it was awarded a “5″ (= poor) in this category as well.
It is therefore all the more astounding that Facebook is not willing to eliminate the existing shortcomings regarding data protection, but is instead going even further. Decisions such as this will not engender trust in an enterprise in the long term.
I expect Facebook to revise its privacy policy without delay.
- Facebook must ensure that the personal details of all members are subject to a high level of protection.
- Planned amendments to its terms of use must be communicated to all users in a clear and straightforward manner prior to the amendments being made.
- Personal data is not allowed to be automatically passed on to third parties for commercial purposes without consent. Private data may only be passed on and used for commercial purposes with the consent of the persons involved. Enterprises such as Facebook bear a particular responsibility due to the fact that users, in particular young users, are not aware that their personal profiles are to be used for commercial purposes.
Should Facebook not be willing to alter its business policy and eliminate the glaring shortcomings, I will feel obliged to terminate my membership.
Yours sincerely,
Ilse Aigner
Federal Minister of Consumer Protection
Posted by Buzz Webster at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 10, 2010
UK candidates duke it out online
Coming down the stretch, Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democratic party campaigns took to the web in last minute pleas for votes as daily tracking polls showed...
...a consistent but fluctuating Conservative lead that had held steady up until the first televised debates a little more than a month ago.
Though Thursday's election ultimately gave Conservatives the plurality of seats in Parliament, the compact election season (by American standards) will be remembered largely for its use of TV and the web. For decades, the first televised American Presidential debates between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy were turning points for American politics, and Howard Dean's upstart campaign of 2003 has been looked at as a watershed moment for online political fundraising - will the same hold true across the pond when looking back on the election of 2010?
Here's the week in review of the UK elections:
- Obama new media chief Joe Rospars takes on UK campaigns over online tactics (Guardian)
- So was it an internet election? (BBC)
- Labour asks voters to declare party support on Twitter, Facebook (TechPresident)
- As dust settles, new campaign to "take back Parliament" and change election system (takebackparliament.com)
- Telegraph uses web to build consensus (Telegraph)
- Will "Downing Street Fighter" be a knock-out blow? (CNN)
- Live-blog of election results (Telegraph)
Posted by Buzz Webster at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
