#politicopia

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Not so fast! When used properly, political ads on Facebook are useful, says one public-affairs strategist in response to a study by a pair of academics that claims just the opposite.

We told you about the study by University of California, Berkeley graduate student David Broockman and Donald Green, a political science professor at Columbia University in New York, who concluded that Facebook ads don’t have much effect on name recognition or likeability based on an analysis of ads for a state legislative candidate.

Bradley Portnoy, of strategic communications and public affairs firm Powell Tate — which, let’s face it, is in the business of buying Facebook ads for clients — lays out an opposing and convincing viewpoint in a blog post.

Portnoy emphasizes a theme we’ve heard from others, including Mitt Romney’s campaign: Engagement is key. It’s critical to choose the appropriate Facebook ad or social platform that builds a relationship with voters.

Facebook ads can’t be examined in a vacuum. These ads have to be part of a larger digital strategy — promoting great content, such as a video, an image, or an interactive experience, Portnoy explains.

As of late September, 88% of registered voters own a cell phone of some kind—and significant numbers of these voters are using their mobile devices to get information about the 2012 election, to interact with the campaigns, and to converse with other voters about political issues:

—27% of registered voters who own a cell phone have used their phone in this election campaign to keep up with news related to the election itself or to political issues in general.

—Three quarters of these cell-owning registered voters use their phone to send or receive text messages, and within this group:

19% have sent text messages related to the campaign to friends, family members, or others

5% have signed up to receive text messages directly from a candidate or other group involved in the campaign

5% say that they have received unwanted election-related text messages that they did not sign up to receive

Smartphone owners are using their mobile devices as a tool for political participation on social networking sites and as a way to fact check campaign statements in real time. Roughly half (48%) of registered voters who own a cell phone say that they have a smartphone, and within this group:

45% have used their smartphone to read other people’s comments on a social networking site about a candidate or the campaign in general

The complete and original story can be found at www.kbtx.com

Texas A&M University had an official debate watch party at the new Memorial Student Center where dozens of students were watching two different screens- the debate and social media websites.

For the first time, The Texas A&M communication department collaborated with 11 other universities across the nation like Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh. The communication departments at those schools decided on a specific hashtag. A hashtag is a keyword or topic embedded in a tweet on Twitter. That hashtag was used by students at these schools to share their opinions and take part in discussions about what was being debated.

Tweets were flowing in by several dozen students at Texas A&M University. The debate is approved by the Commission of Presidential Debates which is a national voter education program.

The Republican Party broke new social media ground at it National Convention in Tampa, Florida last month by blanketing its convention hall in real-time tweets. Now, Mass Relevance, the firm that facilitated that Twitter initiative is making custom platforms developed for the RNC, Pepsi and other brands available as a set of templated products.

As an official Twitter partner, Mass Relevance has access to Twitter's data-laden firehose. The firm filters posts and images from Twitter and helps brands and organizations surface that information and content in meaningful ways. For the RNC's Convention Without Walls, for example, Mass Relevance categorized millions of tweets prompted by the event's speakers and other messaging, organizing them according to pre-planned criteria as well as reactionary filters that were determined as the event took place.

The end result was a stream of select tweets that were displayed on the convention website as well as on large physical backdrops behind the stage (seen in photo here) and digital "ribbons" surrounding the convention forum. The goal was to have Twitter content that reflected issues being discussed on stage - the economy for instance - presented as speakers talked about them.

Read the complete the complete and original post at www.post-gazette.com

An intriguing new political organizing tool is seeking to take the greatest asset of organized labor -- its strength in numbers -- and multiply it with the help of social media.

The new technology from the AFL-CIO's political arm, unveiled Tuesday, allows users to build political networks through their Facebook contacts and find local volunteer events like phone-banks or door-knocking. Users are awarded points for every time they do campaign work, which they can use to direct political help -- such as direct mail pieces or Web advertisements -- to candidates they support.

The idea is not just to give people incentives, "but to change the way they engage in politics, and multiply the effect of what they do," said AFL-CIO political director Michael Podhorzer. "There have been systems that seem similar -- you register 100 people and get a bumper sticker and that's the end of the process. Here you register 100 and you get canvassers for Mark Critz. It all stays in the real world and in politics."

The initiative is called "RePurpose." Leaders from the 12 million-member union federation and its political arm, Workers' Voice, who largely support President Barack Obama and other Democrats, said it will help them compete with the unfettered spending of Republican-supporting SuperPACs and nonprofits allowed by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and related legal changes.

"But instead of joining them in the gutter, Workers' Voice will counter their cynicism by combining old-fashioned energy with cutting edge technology," said an AFL-CIO statement on the effort. "Increasing grassroots organizing, field programs and voter registration will not only help us succeed in the 2012 elections but help build and maintain a permanent progressive infrastructure for future legislative and political work."

This post was originally posted at www.allfacebook.com

Facebook and social media played a pivotal role in the outcomes of several U.S. Senate primaries this summer. A new case study broke down just how the social network propelled one tea party candidate in Texas from a virtual unknown to a political insider.

The politico’s handbook, Campaigns & Elections, features a profile of Senate candidate Ted Cruz’s recipe for primary success by his digital strategist, Vincent Harris. Cruz was a featured speaker at last month’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

One of the takeaways is the boost that social media can give unknown candidates who lack the resources to launch radio and television advertising.

For example, Cruz spent money on Google search ads, as well as advertising on Bing and Yahoo, which yielded a 10-to-1 return on investment.

Here’s a look at how Cruz’s Facebook strategy played out:

Facebook ads supplemented Cruz’s organic support on Facebook, as well as Twitter.

On the day of the election, the digital team ran a get out the vote (GOTV in campaign parlance) promoted post to fans and fans of their endorsements, which generated 793,432 impressions, 1,136 clicks, 1,880 likes, and 1,098 shares. This way, if the content wasn’t organically showing up on voters’ news feeds, it made our way onto their screens with ads reminding them to go vote.

The Cruz Facebook page was updated 11 times that day, with a total of 2,646 shares and 14,253 likes on its posts. The David Dewhurst campaign updated its Facebook page just once, yielding 49 shares and 392 likes.

Harris said tools to promote the campaign were shared with voters, such as a Facebook timeline cover image and profile pictures that touted its #ChooseCruz hashtag.

Harris added:

Today we’re introducing the YouTube Elections Hub, a one-stop channel for key political moments from now through the upcoming U.S. election day on November 6. You can watch all of the live speeches from the floor of the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions, see Google+ Hangouts with power brokers behind the scenes, and watch a live stream of the official Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. You won’t need to go anywhere else for the must-watch moments of this election cycle...they’re all happening on the Hub live. In addition to videos from politicians and parties, a diverse range of news organizations—both established names in media and sought-after new voices—are sharing their coverage of the political process on the new hub. You’ll find live and on-demand reporting and analysis from ABC News, Al Jazeera English, BuzzFeed, Larry King, The New York Times, Phil DeFranco, Univision and the Wall Street Journal. Each will put their own stamp on the Presidential race—from the conventions to the debates to election night.