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Democrats, Heads UP! The GOP is riding the Twitter train outa town

Started by Karoli · 11 months ago

Over on the Twitter stream, several voices are speaking out. Official voices. Elected voices. Speaking directly to constituent and non-constituent, alike.

They are shaping their message to fit their agenda in a one-to-many environment that leaves Democrats like me shaking my head and wondering if my party of choice is going to surrender social media [...] ... Continue reading »

9 comments

  • califmom

    11 months ago

    Amen. The Democrats' presence (or lack thereof) in social media is downright negligent. It is more than a missed opportunity. It is a shirking of responsibility as leaders in 2008. Get with the programs, folks.
    reply
  • Karoli

    11 months ago

    I was willing to give them a pass as long as Culberson was dabbling. But they're dead serious now, calling out for bloggers, directly engaging, and basically taking twitter by storm. If the Democrats yield this floor to them they're making a huge mistake.
    reply
  • ursulas

    11 months ago

    Wow, this is so well communicated! I've been trying to tell people that Dems need to be doing this. I have Ron Paul, McStain, Brownback, Tancredo and a few others following me. Gee, I wonder why! Now I know!

    Thanks for posting this, Karoli! You nailed this one hard and brought it home. Let's hope someone listens who matters!
    reply
  • Luigi Montanez

    11 months ago

    The reason Democrats haven't engaged Twitter is because they've got that constituency locked up. Twitter users like us are essentially the creative class: well-educated, upper-middle class, hyper-connected, politically progressive, and socially conscientious. We're voting for them in November, and that's that.

    Yes, Republicans have been making a big commotion on Twitter recently, and their efforts are to be commended. But Twitter is the ultimate echo chamber. There's a few dozen of them making all this noise. And because conversation on Twitter never affects anyone not on Twitter (read: 99.9% of the American population), it's not that big of a deal.

    Maybe Twitter will one day gain mass appeal (like email), and yes, Republicans may have a head start. But campaigns are about smartly allocating limited resources (yes, even the Obama campaign has limited resources), and Twitter just doesn't have the public mindshare that those of us who actively use Twitter may think it does.
    reply
  • Karoli

    11 months ago

    Oh, and one other thing. Democrats don't have the election locked up.
    That's what you're missing here. There are lots of independents out
    on the network who remain unconvinced.

    In my opinion, the lack of use of these tools relates more to a lack
    of understanding as to how powerful they are. Culberson gets it. The
    Dems really need to get on it.
    reply
  • Karoli

    11 months ago

    I completely disagree. There is no more efficient way to distribute the message in a protective way than directly over the network, via a service like Twitter. Twitter happens to be the one with the biggest user base, but identi.ca is rapidly rising.

    Twitter is not an echo chamber at all. It's a way of listening and discovering voices on the network, and responding to them.

    The Democrats ignore Twitter/identi.ca at their own peril. That format is the single most powerful and disruptive tool in today's communication toolbox.
    reply
  • IggyThigpen

    11 months ago

    Sure they're missing the boat. Unfortunately most democrats I know are "smart" and "educated" and don't need or want to listen to anyone, including their own constituents. I'm not sure that those Republicans are any better. This really illustrates a major problem with the current leadership in both parties. They don't care, because in their view, you have nothing to give them.
    reply
  • Karoli

    11 months ago

    I don't believe that, either. It took me the better part of a year to wrap my brain around why twitter and similar services are important. It took me actually tracking terms to understand how valuable track is. Now they can learn from our experience.

    Once they understand that it's real-time discovery of reaction and action on the network, all bets will be off.
    reply
  • WebPixie

    11 months ago

    As usual, you've made your point very clearly. If only someone in the Democratic Party was listening. Well, maybe they are and not responding which is even worse. It must be behavior like having thousands of twitter-followers while following no one that further contributes to the idea of the Democratic Party being elitist, aloof, and arrogant. It saddens me that some of the loudest Democratic voices (but certainly not yours) are some of the least coherent.

    Keep up the good fight, Karoli!
    reply
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