Democrats, Heads UP! The GOP is riding the Twitter train outa town
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 to the Republicans the same way we’ve surrendered talk radio. With the lone exception of Rachel Maddow, talk radio is nearly exclusively the province of the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys — shrill voices in an increasingly volatile political landscape.
When @ericjodom posts tweets calling for bloggers to join the movement to call Congress back into session (despite the White House rejecting the idea), he’s sending a one-to-many whistle out. And he’s clever, framing it around a message of Democrats lacking compassion for the poor by refusing to come to the table and vote on energy issues. Of course, he fails to mention that: a)the so-called energy “plan” is no plan at all; and b) nothing in that so-called “plan” would change anything for anyone for YEARS.
The clarion call has been sounded by John Culberson (R-TX), who fully understands the value of using social media to shape his message and his audience. As I write this, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio and House Minority Leader) is sending links out promoting the Republican energy plan, as well as the puppet media publications for the GOP like the Wall Street Journal, Fox News. and others.
What are the Democrats doing? The official ones, that is, because those of us who are Democratic voters are definitely on Twitter following these guys and pushing back. Guess what, they actually answer, too. Democrats, on the other hand, are being stupid, yes, even Barack Obama.
There is a NancyPelosi account on Twitter. It has 77 followers and follows no one. It’s used for broadcast purposes only, and the content being broadcast can be picked up from any number of other sources sooner. By not following those who are following this account, there is no opportunity for direct dialogue with voters or constituents.
Barack Obama is following 56,004 people and has 53,500 followers. He has a tremendous opportunity to use Twitter to shape his message in real time. Last Friday when the now-debunked flip-flop accusation about Obama’s energy policy emerged last week, he had 53,500 reporters who would gladly have broadcast the REAL message in REAL time. Instead, the account is used as a one-to-many calendar update — I’m here, doing this. I’m there, doing that. Watch me on live TV, yada yada yada.
How do you suppose the flip-flop message got such traction? Here’s how: real time characterization of it as a flip-flop, transferred to mainstream media, amplified by Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and mainstream media.
This is enormously frustrating to me. When I think about how powerful it is to communicate directly, especially in a Presidential campaign that is about change and innovation, seeing the Republicans hijack social media is like watching the price of oil climb to $200/barrel. Frustrating, infuriating, and disheartening. Bankrupt.
Listen to me, elected Democrats. If you want to shape your message, go create accounts on Twitter or better yet, identi.ca. Set yourself up to autofollow, and set up an IM account with laconica@west.spy.net as one of your contacts. Then start tracking some terms, like your name, and issues. I’d suggest tracking these terms: healthcare, energy policy, Democrats, flipflop, for starters. When people mention those terms, the messages will push to you.
ANSWER THEM. If you don’t answer on Identica, at least you’ll understand how to frame it in the press. But what you are doing now is nothing, and you might as well hand over the loudest microphone on the network to your opponents and invite them to abuse it, and you, at will. Most importantly, you’ll own the message rather than entrusting it to those with an agenda.
Want help? There are a zillion social media consultants itching for a job that would help. Most of them inhabit Twitter regularly. Get on it. And Identica. Figure this out and USE it to your advantage.
UPDATE: Wiki Page Listing CongressPersons with Twitter accounts here