COMMUNICATION 2.0

 

Mobilising Voters in Ten Steps

 

 

                                         1.   WHY VOTE   - a very short, dynamic text

 

2.       Mobilise through the Pyramid Principle

 

( Activists: “You find 10, who each finds 10, etc.”

                   “ Be the first to know “

                   “ Find local events “

                   “ Contact undecided voters “

                   “ Share your story on your blog “  )

 

Use Google Docs for communicating with the activitists

 

Create special support groups: Women for…; Students for…;

Youth for…; Teachers for…; Nurses for…; Farmers for…; etc )

 

3.       Modern interactive Website   /  Home Page

 

      Has to be the epicentre of the campaign and include everything

      ( such as Messages, Updates; Activation site for Activities; Blog; Social

        Networks; You Tube, Flickr; Eventful; Event programme; etc. );

        Donations / Fundraising; e-Shop )

 

4.       Use Social Communities very actively

 

( such as Facebook; MySpace; Twitter; Digg; Ecademy; XING; LinkedIn,

  BeBo; hi5; NING; Plaxo; Friendster; etc. )

 

( select the most appropriate communities – and have a responsible for each )

 

5.       Use efficient on-line distribution channels

 

( such as YouTube for video messages; Flickr for photos; Eventful

  for coming events; etc. )

                              

                                         6.   Use E-mail alerts    ( “Be the first to know “ )

 

                                               ( to your activists and to everybody who wants it )

                                               ( collect e-mail addresses via special Web Forms, Business Card

                                                 Scanners, etc. )

 

                                         7.   Use SMS / Text Message alerts     ( “ Be the first to know “ )

 

                                               ( to your activists and to everybody who wants it )

                                               ( collect mobile phone numbers via special mobile number )

 

8.       Systematic feed-back about voters’ reactions, worries, questions

 

( via e-mails; Google Docs; sms/text messages, etc. )

( and react immediately to the most important issues to your activists,

  on your Home Page, by e-mail and on YouTube with video message )

 

9.       Systematic monitoring of media, blogs, discussion fora, etc.

 

( by activists, EMM, Imooty, bloggingportal, and other means )

 

 

10.   Voting on beforehand :

 

      Make a special and energetic campaign to make people use of this possibility 

                                               ( different rules for each country )

 

 

 

 

                   Detailed OPERATIONAL PLANS for each point can be prepared and made available

                   according to special agreement.

 

 

 

 

                   Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

 

                35, avenue de l’Europe, B-1330 Rixensart, Belgium

                   tel. 0032 474 747 040

                  

                   e-mail:  kimbrer@gmail.com

 

                   Skype:  kimbrer

 

                   www.simplesite.com/communicating_better     

COMMUNICATIONS 2.0 continues to develop in the hands of Obama and his transition team. Here is an examply from their health care intiative. First a very intensive debate on the web. And THEN e few days later replies from key persons in the team by using a 4 minute video distributed on YouTube. And all of it, of course, announced via e-mails and text messages to millions of supporters and others..

Nothing new, technically. But it's once again: The clever and well timed COMBINATION of tools, which make it so efficient.

This is why I call it:  COMMUNICATIONS 2.0

See underneath a message I got from the transition team  and have a look at the video.

Just as an example on what we also can and should do in Europe :)


Dear Niels,

Transparency and engagement are priorities for the Obama-Biden Transition Project. Our success depends on not only opening up a process that has historically been inaccessible to most Americans, but also encouraging citizen participation.

Last week, we took an important step towards these goals by asking the public to participate in a discussion about health care on our website.

The result was fantastic. Started by a question from our Health Policy Team, thousands of comments poured in over a few days. Some people answered the initial question, but others engaged with one another debating and developing new ideas and approaches to health care reform.

Members of our Health Policy Team, including former Senator Tom Daschle, read through these comments over Thanksgiving weekend.

Yesterday, they sat down to record a special video response. Watch it and join the discussion:
This is just the beginning. These discussions are a valuable resource for Transition staff and an important way to ensure that everyone has a voice in the process.

Thank you,

John

( John Podesta - co-president f the transition team )

C O M M U N I C A T I O N S    2.0

 

Mobilise, Empower, Organise, Involve, Stimulate, Fundraise, Get  feed-back

 

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

 

President Barack Obama is now well installed and has under very difficult circumstances started implementing his very ambitious political programme.

 

For communicators like me it is time to try to analyse his very new and successful on-line communication campaign in more detail. And not only because the campaign is now over. But also because Obama and his team will continue to use and develop most of the communication initiatives he used during his campaign. During the campaign the activities were called: Triple O ( Obama’s On-line Operations ). Now many call his continued efforts in this field:  Obama 2.0 

 

Which lessons can we learn from his approach? And not least: Which Operational Conclusions can we as Europeans draw from him? And even use with success in Europe in coming elections, referenda, etc. ?

 

Learn What ?

 

Messages:

 

Can we learn anything from Barack Obama’s on-line communication strategy ?  YES, WE CAN !    And why should we learn from it ?   Because it’s   TIME FOR CHANGE !

 

You might recognise those two replies ?   They were the two main messages , which Obama used during his entire campaign for president in the US.  Clear messages, which are positive. Fit for the situation in the US.  Easy to use. And easy to remember. They were simply the only repetitive messages he and his campaign used all the time – and everywhere .  They were so frequent and so visible that millions very quickly identified with them. And made them their own.

 

During the campaign the messages were further developed. Like this one:  I ask you to believe. Not only in my ability to make change. But in your own ability to work for change    People were made heroes of change themselves. Being part of it all.  It worked.

 

Interactive Web 2.0 Tools:

 

But these clear messages are not the only important innovation in the Obama campaign.  He brought them across by using the full arsenal of all available modern communication instruments . From a very dynamic web 2.0 websiteBarackObama.com  to a very active and personal presence on about 16 different social networks from MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and Twitter to more special ones like Black Planet, AsianAvenue and MiGente. And backing it all up by state-of-the-art distribution channels like YouTube, Flickr and Eventful.  All of them used in a very coordinated way at all times. Thereby reaching out to millions and millions of citizens, not least the younger generations in America.

 

The policy behind all the on-line activities were and are:  Meet the Voters where they are

 

Mobilise millions:

 

And this was actually far from all: He also used the web to mobilise people . Mobilise them to work for him – to identify with him – to make his campaign their own. Letting them take ownership. His main instrument on the web was the site MyBo  ( “My Barack Obama” )He used the so-called Pyramid Principle – asking a person to find ten persons, where each of them again find ten persons, etc.  And promising them to be the first to know, when he takes new initiatives like his choice for running mate or what he would say in major TV shows.  This way he mobilised about 13 million activists all over the country.  Got their e-mail addresses and about 1,3 million mobile phone numbers – making it possible for him to communicate directly and instantaneously with them at any moment and very, very fast. And he never ever sent an e-mail or a text message to anybody, who had not given him their e-mail address or mobile phone number.   This campaign was not only national and not only organised in different ways in the 50 American states. It went all the way down to local level and local committees – run by activist in many different ways.  About 10 million people joined in in different ways. And 1,2 million of them met or talked to 68 million voters

 

Database:

 

The Obama campaign also built up an enormous database called CATALYST .  It held information about 220 million Americans – either collected by the activists or information bought in. This made it possible to tailor-make and localise much of the information, which was sent out.

 

Collecting money:

 

Obama also got millions of small financial contributions to his campaign – adding up to 750 million dollars. Two thirds of that amount was raised over the web as small amounts from 5 to 200 dollars. That money came from 3 million different people. Much more than any political candidate ever did before.

 

Feed-back by text messages ( sms ):

 

The campaign also organised that all his activitists permanently via text messages could feed information into a central data base on what people were worried about. This made it possible for him to react in real time – and often before any media got hold of a story.

 

Constantly active and innovative:

 

All these very well coordinated initiatives were constantly active . It’s crucial to move forward at all times – never to sit back and let others dominate the agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Campaign as Media News in Itself:

 

And very important: By running a big campaign like that the traditional media will consider the campaign itself as  NEWS .   It’s the media, which run after the campaign – no longer the other way around. Also in this way Obama’s strategy was a very interesting innovation.

 

 

Interesting websites in the Obama strategy – past and present:

 

1. His web 2.0 campaign website:   The “epicentre” of the on-line campaign )

 

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

 

2. His website to mobilise activists:   My Barack Obama  or    MyBo:

 

http://my.barackobama.com/page/user/login?successurl=L3BhZ2UvZGFzaGJvYXJkL3ByaXZhdGU =

 

3. His mobile WAP site:

 

      http://www.barackobama.com/mobile/

 

4. His TV site:   Barack Obama TV

 

      http://www.barackobama.com/tv/

 

5. His BLOG site:

 

      http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

 

 

6. His new PRESIDENT ELECT website – started within 24 hours after his election:

 

      http://change.gov/  

 

7. Site for people to tell their story about the election: It’s Your America. Tell Your Story

 

       http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory

 

     To run this operation the campaign had 95 staff employed in its Chicago headquarters.       

      And a lot of the mobilised volunteers around the country.

 

      8.   His Citizens Briefing Book:   Collected more than 44.000 ideas and suggestions:

 

      http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/  

 

     9.  His special site: Your Seat at The Table   during the President-elect period:

                                       Openness in practice

 

      http://change.gov/open_government/yourseatatthetable   

 

     10. His site Join the Discussions   also during the President-elect period:

 

      http://change.gov/page/content/discusshealthcare

 

11. His new White House web site:

 

      http://www.whitehouse.gov/    

 

12. His new “Organization for America” site:

 

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGNgacysHg  

 

   

 

    

What is COMMUNICATIONS 2.0 ?

 

Why do I call this strategy – this approach:  COMMUNICATIONS 2.0   ?

 

Because it is a NEW way of communicating . It lifts communication to a new, higher and much more interactive level than before. Not by inventing new technologies, but by the way it is organised. By the whole approach.  And also because it puts all the possibilities of web 2.0 into practical operation.

 

What we all have been doing until now has been COMMUNICATION 1.0. Yes, most of us have probably used some of these new possibilities. But never in this way. Never so coordinated. Never with such a constant and innovative drive. That is what we all have to learn to master.

 

COMMUNICATION 2.0  will become the efficient communication approach for the 21^st century .

 

   

 

So what is really NEW in Communications 2.0 ?

 

·         that all relevant web 2.0 instruments are used

 

·         that they are used in a very coordinated way

 

·         that they are used to mobilise lots of people and to activate them

 

·         that people are given ownership of the campaign – they feel they are at the centre

 

·         that all relevant social networks are actively used in coordination  ( Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Bebo, XING, hi5, etc. )

 

·         that e-mails and text messages are extensively used to back up

 

·         that permanent feed-back, f.ex. via text messages, is ensured giving the leadership an overview of attitudes, attacks and uncertainties in real time

 

·         that false information and attacks are addressed immediately via the new instruments – bypassing traditional media, esp. in time

 

·         that the campaign is directed by an ever running drive and innovation

 

·         that thecampaign makes the traditional media run after it – and not the other way around

 

 

 

 

 

CHECK LIST:

 

How can we best adapt Communications 2.0  to Europe ?

 

12 concrete ideas for a successful use in Europe:

 

1.       Make a short and clear message   ( related to what people consider important, related to their daily life and worries - like jobs, climate change, personal security )

 

WHAT ?  WHO ? HOW ?

 

2.       Find well-known and well respected dynamic people to lead the campaign. Ensure that they have different and conflicting ideas.  This will engage and mobilise people

 

WHO ?  WHAT ? WHEN ?

 

3.       Create a really dynamic website – based on all the web 2.0 possibilities.  And ensure a very dynamic and very visible and constant promotion of the site. Have a strategy on how to make popular websites link to it – and promote it

 

HOW ? WHO ? MODEL ?

 

4.       Work actively with web companies like Google, Yahoo, and many others on promoting your site

 

HOW ?  WHO ? 

 

5.       Use also as many of the popular social networks as possible – coordinated with your own website and campaign.  Adapt them as much as possible to national and local situations

 

WHICH ONES ?  WHICH ONES ARE BEST FOR WHAT ?   PRIORITIES ?

 

6.       Mobilise supporters and activists – and give them ownership . And get your timing right

 

HOW ? WHO ? WHEN ?

 

 

 

 

7.       Make a data base with as many e-mail addresses as possible ( collected according to legal restrictions )

 

           HOW ?  WHO ?  LEGAL RULES ?

 

8.       Make a similar data base with as many mobile phone numbers as possible  ( also collected according to local legislation )

 

HOW ? WHO ? LEGAL RULES ?

 

9.       Make a concrete and operational plan on HOW to use the e-mails and mobile numbers

 

WHICH ONES ? WHO ? WHEN ?

 

10.   Use your web site, the social networks, mobile wap applications and TV ( YouTube ) in a dynamic, well planned and coordinated way

 

HOW ? WHO ? WHEN ?

 

11.   Back all these activities up by sending e-mails and/or text messages to your many contacts

 

HOW ?  WHO ?  WHEN ?

 

12.   Organise a permanent and operational feedback – and use the results immediately

 

HOW ? WHO ? WHO WILL REACT AND REPLY ?

 

 

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

 

January 2009  

 

e-mail:  kimbrer@gmail.com  

 

COMMUNICATION  1.0, 2.0. and 3.0

 

The ongoing development in modern communication

 

 

                   COMMUNICATION 1.0:  Main characteristics:

 

·        one-way

·        one sender to many recipients

·        production – then hope for use

·        traditional mailing lists

·        publication on the web

·        openness and transparency

·        advertisements

·        grand stand events

·        traditional press releases and press conferences

·        reactions to individual questions

·        often slow Internet

 

                   COMMUNICATION 2.0:  Main characteristics:

 

·        content is “king” – not technology

·        bottom-up approach

·        active participation by the users

like wikis, blogs and on-line question/answers

·        use the mobilizing effect

·        many-to-many

·        leave portion of editorial control to users

·        building social networks ( like Facebook, MySpace, etc.)

·        create “in knowing” among users

·        active data mining

·        active combination of all available means

·        ensure full mobility

·        constant monitoring and adaptations

 

 

 

 

 

                   COMMUNICATION 3.0:  Main characteristics:

 

·        active use of the “intelligent web”  ( web 3.0 )

·        immensely dynamic computer graphics

·        much better on-line data mining

·        10 MB broadband generally available

·        efficient monitoring, incl.  speech-to-text in real time

·        and much more – still to be developed

 

 

 

                   Niels Jørgen Thøgersen

 

                     November 2008 

 

                   e-mail:  kimbrer@gmail.com  

Back to Front Page:  www.simplesite.com/communicating_better

LIVING EUROPE will be a special website with information about what is being discussed in all European countries. Let's learnfrom each other. It will definately also improve our mutual understanding

Here is my first draft INTRODUCTION to the coming website:

L I V I N G  E U R O P E

 

An Introduction

 

In today’s world we all depend on one another.  We travel. We make business. Our economies are strongly linked to each other. And political decisions in one country have importance for neighbouring countries.

 

All this is in particular true when the 27 member states of the European Union are concerned.

 

But do we know much about each other ? Yes, we follow major events in other countries of TV and other media. Elections, disasters, celebrations, state visits. But not much more.

 

This is bad. Why ? For several reasons.  By knowing more we will understand more. By following the daily events and daily discussions in other countries we can most probably also learn something.  Nobody is perfect. Nobody has the ideal solution to problems, which are often the same. Why not learn from others instead of trying to invent the wheel once again – all the time ?! And by knowing more we are likely to be inspired and stimulated to do things in a different way or do new things.

 

The countries and the economies have opened up. Let us now also open up our minds. Our knowledge about our neighbours. Our genuine interest in how other people lives and what their concerns and solutions are.

 

The Internet and other digital tools offer a simple and efficient solution to such a new opening.

 

LIVING EUROPE  gives you direct and easy access to interesting web sources in each EU country.  It is a first concrete and operational step to create a “European Public Space”.

 

You click on a country of your choice on the European Map. And you get to the Knowledge &Debate Site from that country.  It’s as simple as that.

 

What about the different languages ?  We will aim at as many websites in English as possible. And for the others we will step by step build in an easy translation link to Google Translate ( which offers an understandable, though never correct, machine translation within seconds.

 

And what about updating of the pages ?  As it is not foreseen to engage a lot of human resources on a permanent basis in LIVING EUROPE we will give priority to web links, which are either stable factual sites or are daily updated by their owners

 

LIVING EUROPE is started at the initiative of the Club of Venice – an informal gathering of the communication directors of European governments. The technical back up is assured by the JRC ( Joint Research Centre of the EU ).

 

And LIVING EUROPE will after a test period be available free of charge on the web to everybody. It will hopefully be of particular interest to anybody, who for private or professional reasons wants to know much more about daily life and daily discussions in countries and regions all over Europe.

 

 

Niels Jørgen Thøgersen