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Getting blogged down Presentation to AEF 11 October 2008 Graham Young Founder and Chief Editor On Line Opinion www.onlineopinion.com.au. What’s a “blog”. Entries reverse date order Calendar Blog Roll Monthly archives. Does that really describe something unique?. Newspaper articles
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Getting blogged downPresentation to AEF11 October 2008Graham YoungFounder and Chief EditorOn Line Opinionwww.onlineopinion.com.au
What’s a “blog” • Entries reverse date order • Calendar • Blog Roll • Monthly archives
Does that really describe something unique? • Newspaper articles • On Line Opinion • MySpace • FaceBook • Comments • Forum Posts
Back to basics • Form follows function • Form obscures function
Mozaic Model One Many
Back Chat Model One Many
Conversational Model Many Many
Cyber Space Simple Model Publisher Audience Audience Audience
Characteristics of the ’net • Network theory • 6 degrees of separation • Hubs • A process not an object • Long-tail
Democratic “market” 50 years ago • Homogenous/ Mass Market • Loyal/Tribal • Hierarchical • Relatively Passive • Not mobile • Community defined by geography • Decentralised and small scale
Democratic “market” now • Differentiated/Niche Markets • Volatile • Flat • Demanding • Mobile • Community defined by interest • Large scale
How is internet likely to change politics? • Increase market differentiation • Make electors more volatile • Further flatten hierarchies • More demanding • Increase numbers of communities of interest • Scale will be less relevant • Re-engineer the back office
“Traditional” political organisations • Political Parties, Trade Unions, many NGOs • Strong hierarchies • Exclusive membership • “Creed”
Modern political organisations • Greenpeace, WWF, GetUp, US political parties • Membership • convenient • casual • opportunistic • Works, not faith/Transactional not relational
Why “traditional” political organisations are withering • Inherent conflict between a corporatist approach and a participatory structure. • Like a Macdonalds where you have to buy a membership before you can buy a burger.
Internet • If it didn’t exist the modern political organisation would need to invent it. • Convenient • Undemanding • Ubiquitous • Agnostic
Fundraising • McCain • Obama • GetUp
McCain v Obama • Obama • 50% online (Open Secrets) • $215 per person (Daily Kos) • New Hampshire $500,000 in 30 mins, $4.4 M two days
GetUp – AFL Grandfinals • Ad competition • $50,000 per ad • $280,000 • Five ads
Organising supporters • 287,868 supporters • Email still the killer app
Organising supporters • FaceBook • “According to the BBC a student protest in Britain has been successful in getting HSBC to reverse its policy change on interest-free accounts for graduates. While the protest also had a “real life” component, with a protest at the bank’s London headquarters organized by the national Union of Students, the campaign took shape on Facebook, with members calling for a boycott of the bank. Over the time of the protest the number who had joined the protest via Facebook reached more than 4,000.” http://democracy.nationalforum.com.au/articles227.html
Organising supporters • MySpace • “Nearly 40,000 students from across SouthernCalifornia staged walkouts to protest proposed immigration legislation Monday, blocking traffic on four freeways and leaving educators concerned about how much longer the issue will disrupt schools. • The protests are believed to eclipse in size the demonstrations that occurred during the anti-Proposition 187 campaign in 1994 and even a famous student walkout for Chicano rights in 1968.” http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/28/local/me-protests28
Community • Jennifer Marohasy • Celebrating heroes • Sharing beliefs • Sharing information (e.g. Arthur Smith) • Rehearsing arguments • Understanding objections • Esprit de corp
More community • Twitter • “Twitter Saves Berkeley Student Arrested in Egypt • mercurynews.com — Buck, 29, used the ubiquitous short messaging service to tap out a single word on his cellular phone: ARRESTED. The message went out to the cell phones and computers of a wide circle of friends in the United States and to the mostly leftist, anti-government bloggers in Egypt who are the subject of his graduate journalism project.”
Key Considerations • Action • Information • Community • Discussion Blogs just one way to organise information Form should follow function Don’t get bogged down on blogs.