A senior staffer at a reelection campaign staffer asked: do “you have any suggestions or
ideas to improve our use of Twitter?” After some thought and consideration I provided the following feedback.
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There are a minimum of two uses for twitter by government offices: political and administrative.
Administrative uses could focus on customer service and promotions. This would be a substantial undertaking involving a number of stakeholders inside of an administration. Instead lets focus on the political aspect.
The political use could be described as both informational and motivational. At first glance these definitions appear to be one in the same, but I’ll demonstrate the difference shortly. The current twitter use by several state executives (@govgranholm) and @schwarzenegger) qualifies as informational: news, blog posts and appearances. I’m sure personal comments would have to be weighed carefully, but it might be something to consider.
Motivational use involves calls for support. What makes this different from an information approach is who the message is targeted towards: students, political activists and precinct delegates. This is where the party comes in handy: push twitter (and other social apps) to their members, urging them to understand the application, register and follow party leaders and elected officials. Forget phone banks: SMS updates and email result in more timely communication.
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Recent scans of twitter turned up accounts from both sides of the political spectrum. Republicans have a well defined presence, while democrats are beginning to get on-board. Check out the Twitter Brand Index (linked in the main nav) for a current list.
My personal advice to political organizations: examine current social applications in context of your communities. For a community definition, examine this at several levels (general population, party members, activists and precinct delegates). Create a matrix of various applications & channels according to these communities and execute accordingly. Recent political campaigns demonstrate the power of effective, timely communication in motivating voters and communities. Don’t wait on the sidelines. Act!
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