Information Systems in the 2008 Elections

Aaron Marks

$1,000,000,000

2006: full-time on U.S. Senate campaign
Post-2006: Three Group
Mission Control software solution
Clients: Presidential, Congressional, statewide
Spoken at national political conferences
State of politics online
Future of politics + information systems
Social Networking

IS in politics = “new media” or “eCampaign”
Primary vs. General Election
Two major political parties in U.S.:
Democratic Party
Liberal
Republican Party (GOP)
Conservative

2000-2004: Web 1.0
“ Age of Information”
GOP dominant online
Won “info war”
Rove: Microtargeting
2004-2008: Web 2.0
“ Age of Participation”
Dems dominant online
Obama ‘got it’!
GOP still using 2000-2004 tactics

How would Wikinomics authors feel about microtargeting in the “Age of Participation”? Is it sufficient? Effective?

McCainSpace – McCain’s social network
Lightly used
Gave information and actions, but little peer production
Generally, stuck in 2000-2004 mindset
One notable success: YouTube ad contest
So…what about the other side?

Chris Hughes: Facebook co-founder
Result: MyBarackObama.com!

MyBarackObama.com
2 million profiles created
200,000 offline events planned
400,000 blog posts written
3 million calls made through internet
70,000 people  own fundraising pages for $30 million
$500 million raised online
(McCainSpace so unsuccessful no numbers available!)

“ No other major campaign this cycle put technology and the Internet at the heart of its operation at this scale.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html

Branding!
CTO plus new media director!
Groundbreaking use of IS!
Specific segment targeting
Young Voters, Older Voters, Minorities
vs.

“ Ron Paul Revolution” – fringe?
Consistently polled: < 5%
Free grassroots organization!!
Meetup.com, other existing services
86,600 members; over 51,000 offline events
But others (mainstream) weren’t so successful…

How Mass Collaboration Through Social Networking Changed Politics

A website that:
Allows multiple users to publish personalized content
Allows each user to create a “profile”
Consists of a community of users who have something in common
Connects people at low or no cost

Supporters  organize events without campaign
FREE grassroots organizations
Need far less staffers – supporters doing work

Over 2,200,000 Users

Instant information
Off-shore drilling vote  #dontgo movement
@replies and #tags – concise
Connect with people/orgs. at unparalleled level
Comcast, Southwest Airlines, MC Hammer, Snoop Dogg

Obama’s 13 million e-mail address and 1 million phone numbers  long term movement
2010 Midterm (Senate & House) Election: want to replicate Obama’s successes in new media

Looking to rebuild GOP
Prominent movement: www.rebuildtheparty.com
The Internet: Our #1 Priority in the Next Four Years
Recruit 5 million new Republican online activists.
2012 Presidential nominee: raise over 50% of their money from the Internet.
Rebuilding Our Grassroots Infrastructure through information technology.
Transform party’s image & use new media better  2010

E-mail: [email_address]
Website: www.threegroup.net
Phone: 412-551-9812
AIM/gTalk: threegroup350
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron_Marks/4811168
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aaronmmarks

Why did Obama win the election? How much of it was due to his use of Information Systems?
Why was he able to raise so much money?
What lessons from Wikinomics apply to John McCain’s campaign? Barack Obama’s?
In terms of IS, what should Democrats do to stay in the majority? And Republicans to retake the majority?
How would you run an eCampaign? What functionality would you offer?

Information Systems in the 2008 Elections

by threegroup on Nov 24, 2008

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Information Systems in the 2008 Elections — Presentation Transcript