Dr. Digipol - The Blog

Social Advocacy certificate from Johns Hopkins University

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:07:55 -0400

REGISTER TODAY: Seats are still available for my Digital Social Advocacy workshop at @JohnsHopkins. http://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/communication/the-experience-2/non-credit-workshop/

CHECK IT OUT: Did you miss the Internet Advocacy Roundtable -...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:06:06 -0400

CHECK IT OUT: Did you miss the Internet Advocacy Roundtable - Content Strategy in a Social World? Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWofRCcO7ks&list=PLX3sVpOKpzahr_Y15PCH2FvswqjopxfDd

Did you miss the relaunch of the Internet Advocacy Roundtable?...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:44:12 -0400

Did you miss the relaunch of the Internet Advocacy Roundtable? We discussed Content Strategy in a Social World with Adam Mordecai of Upworthy, Beth Becker of Indigo Strategies, Suzanne Turner of Turner Strategies and Riche Zamor of 4Site Studios.. Watch the whole event here (clips to come):

Internet Advocacy Roundtable - Episode 1 (by WeActRadioDC)

Radical Republican Budget: Robin Hood in Reverse (by...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:58:11 -0400

Radical Republican Budget: Robin Hood in Reverse (by DcccVideo)

Paul Ryan is proud of his budget, which sticks it to the poor and middle class to pay for tax cuts for the rich… AGAIN!

superfuntime, the Led Zeppelin of Dubstep, gives you Giant Most...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 01:45:35 -0400

superfuntime, the Led Zeppelin of Dubstep, gives you Giant Most Classy Miss Kawaii Oh ;-)

GREAT —-> Sigur Ros / Svefn-G-Englar (by STFFestival)

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 01:41:39 -0400

GREAT —-> Sigur Ros / Svefn-G-Englar (by STFFestival)

superfuntime: waking up, smelling coffee.is U.

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:11:53 -0500

superfuntime:

waking up, smelling coffee.
is U.

superfuntime: superfuntime ruby music hardcore happy house bass...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:09:25 -0500

superfuntime:

superfuntime ruby music hardcore happy house bass :-)

#music #dubstep #furrythings

GOP Imploding

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:37:50 -0500

Fresh off the heels of of a near complete collapse on the fiscal cliff deal, the Republicans in the House are now splitting over whether or not to provide disaster relief to the victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Among the buzz about this on Twitter is Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY) attack on his fellow Republicans. Usually an extreme right-winger, King reached out via Twitter and YouTube to tell New York voters never to donate to Republicans again.

His tweet:

House GOP has no problem finding NY to raise $. After Sandy snub, anyone from NY who donates now is out of their mind: youtu.be/9aNwMbKdCDE

— Rep. Pete King (@RepPeteKing) January 2, 2013

and his YouTube video:

Conference Panels: Now and Then

Sun, 06 May 2012 13:56:55 -0400

As I sit here waiting to speak at the National Breast Cancer Coalition conference, I am reminded of a panel I spoke on in London about a year and a half ago for NESTA’s Neighborhood Challenge launch.

As we were settling in to the room, I noticed the event Twitter hashtag was posted on the marquee next to me. I took out my phone, loaded up my Twitter app and searched for the hashtag so I could monitor and respond to comments from the audience.

My fellow panelists were a bit older than me and very traditional. Just as the panel started, I was passed a note from the moderator asking me to put my phone away.

As soon as I did, I became disconnected from the audience in the room.

How could that be? They were right in front of me.

But upon reviewing the hashtag feed after the panel it was apparent how it could be. Throughout the panel, audience members were tweeting how the panelists around me simply were not addressing the audience’s key concerns.

But the panelists were ignorant of this disconnect because they cut off our ability to monitor the audience’s pulse.

Ironically, my role on the panel was to talk about how to use social media to build community organization and mobilize action. I did mention in my comments how I could be using Twitter to do this at that very moment (I was subtle enough not to insult my moderator).

So if you see a panelist on his or her phone on a dais, before you think it’s rude, consider that it may be the exact opposite. It may be they are paying closer attention to you than you think.

Now is definitely different from then. And social media tools like Twitter make it so.

RETWEET!!! We need better #P2 message coordination on Twitter

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:25:00 -0400

One of things the Netroots needs to do better is to retweet each other and progressive elected officials in greater, coordinated mass. We need to take a lesson from the right, because they have this nailed.

Take a look at the RT machines that spring into action whenever Eric Cantor tweets via @GOPLeader or @MichelleMalkin tweets. The right on Twitter swing into action to retweet fast and furiously.

We need to beat them at this game.

A few things need to happen to make this work.

1. Unifying hashtag… we already have #p2 out there… keep an eye on it and retweet when you see something good from our side. Set up a column in your Tweetdeck/Hootsuite/Sessmic app for #p2, or just bookmark a search page on Twitter for #p2.

2. Monitor progressive members of Congress and retweet them. Twitter lists already exist here: House Dems, Senate Dems, and House Progressive Caucus. When they tweet something worth retweeting, do it. Add the #p2 hashtag if it isn’t already there.

3. Monitor the right and counter their hashtag and tweet campaigns with counter messaging. Be sure to use their hashtag in order to deny them dominance over it (I call this Denial of Hashtag, or DOH!). If they say, “Government doesn’t belong between a person and their doctor,” ask them if that includes between a woman and her doctor discussing reproductive health issues. Use these ready made lists to follow: House GOP members are here and Senate GOP members are here.

Some examples of things in the recent past explain the importance of this effort:

Leading up to the anniversary of the Stimulus (ARRA), @GOPleader launched a campaign to bad mouth the stimulus using the #stimulus hashtag. We should’ve been all over that with counter messaging. Many progressive activists were, but our elected officials were absent, as were the majority of us. We need to rally the troops.

During the vote for the Ryan Budget, the House Progressive Caucus was promoting their amendment with the #budget4all hashtag. We should’ve pushed that from Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe… and across the country.

If you’ve got a blog, let your readers know to participate if they are also on Twitter.If you are on Facebook or Twitter… start your engines and push out our messaging. But don’t just reinvent the wheel by saying it yourself… RETWEET!!! Build up massive numbers of retweets for our best tweets. The impact will not go unnoticed.

We need to create and sustain a coordinated WALL OF PROGRESSIVE MESSAGING on Twitter… and elsewhere. Unless we are coordinated, we cannot expect to counter coordinated messaging efforts from the right.

If you want cues, follow me at @drdigipol (personal) and @CAPaction (work). I am trying to feed this beast. Help me.

Now, hop to it, my friends. :)

Billy Graham’s daughter (@AFministeries) says we need religion so we can understand fear on...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:35:32 -0400

Billy Graham’s daughter (@AFministeries) says we need religion so we can understand fear on @MeetthePress today. But is religion the only way we learn to feel and understand fear? Not for most of us, and probably not for any of us.

Perhaps the most privileged among us are so protected from fear that they need religion to teach them of it. And those of us who are less fortunate might find religion helps us understand and cope with fear. But there are certainly other sources of inspiration and understanding to learn of fear. So is religion necessary to no fear, after all?

“Not a sermon, just a thought,” as the rabbi says on the radio…. Was he a rabbi? Or am I just projecting?

Either way, some grist.

Stopping Wars in Africa

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:38:17 -0400

If you liked the Kony 2012 video, check out our video on a conflict-free iPad.

Seperfuntime - ShootItFromTheHip. SoundCloud:...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:11:58 -0500

Seperfuntime - ShootItFromTheHip. SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/superfuntime/shootitfromh

Great interactive graphic to explain Obama's 2013 budget proposal

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:53:45 -0500

Great interactive graphic to explain Obama's 2013 budget proposal

Newt's Anatomy is my latest HuffPo post (co-authored w/ Victoria Bassetti & David Norton).

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:53:00 -0500

Newt's Anatomy is my latest HuffPo post (co-authored w/ Victoria Bassetti & David Norton).:

We analyze Newt’s Twitter followers and find them far less useful than the 1.4 million total might suggest.

Next we will be analyzing Rick Santorum’s followers.

My latest BigThink post is about who owns your Twitter followers, you or your employer.

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:44:33 -0500

My latest BigThink post is about who owns your Twitter followers, you or your employer.

I posted this earlier, but wanted to save it here on Tumblr.

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:55:39 -0500

I posted this earlier, but wanted to save it here on Tumblr.

If you don’t know Die Antwoord, you should. Definitely...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:45:11 -0500

If you don’t know Die Antwoord, you should. Definitely don’t judge this act by its cover.

To view the full image above, click here. Zack Exley famously...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:56:00 -0500

To view the full image above, click here.

Zack Exley famously said, “If a consultant walks into your office and says they can make your campaign go viral, throw them out because they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

His point is that virality is a phenomenon, not a strategy. You can replicate all the qualities of a piece of content that has gone viral and still not have it go viral.

What you can do is create a good piece of content with all the sharing tools built in, promote it via word of mouth efforts to key influencers with influential and/or large audiences and create the right set of circumstances that when your efforts hit a nerve, the content can go viral.

Now, just because your content doesn’t go viral, doesn’t mean it is a failure. A good word of mouth campaign can generate hundreds of thousands of views and shares of your content. But that outcome is the direct result of your outreach efforts.

Virality is when the spread of your content takes on a life of its own (hence the metaphorical reference to a virus). In a petri dish, a culture grows exponentially under its own power. That is the subtle line that differentiates good word of mouth campaigns from viral explosions.

So it is always ok to hope your stuff goes viral, but never plan on it. Always plan on a concerted effort to promote your content far and wide to your networks.

As for the image above, it actually speaks more to a good word of mouth campaign that could go viral than to a viral campaign. So the lessons in it are good ones.

Given all this, I think it is fair to say that “Viral Marketing” is like vaporware… it sounds good, but there is no there, there. Plan well, work hard, and get your content out there for the world to share. Just don’t call it viral marketing, cause it ain’t.