Archive for: April, 2008

Live From London, It’s Politics Online

Apr 17 2008 Published by under Politics, The Internet

If you follow me on Twitter (@MichaelTurk if you don’t and would like to), you know I’m in jolly old England this week for the Politics: Web 2.0 Conference. Micah Sifry and I are keynoting on Friday with a sort of dueling mostly complementary presentation on the power of the social network in politics. We’ll be dissecting both the role of SocNets in campaigns, the idea of the open source campaign, and how candidates are engaging people in discussion and direct action.

I had a chance to do some sightseeing yesterday, strolled back and forth across the Thames, rode the London Eye, and generally enjoyed my one free day here. I’ll probably share some photos later.

I’ll be posting (hopefully with regularity) throughout the conference, and sharing thoughts after we wrap.

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Barack Obama Marx OR Is Obama Really Religious?

Apr 14 2008 Published by under Barack Obama, Candidates, Pandering, Politics

There’s been a lot of chatter about Barack Obama’s remarks to wealthy San Francisco donors regarding midwest voters.

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Most of the chatter focuses on Barack’s apparent elitism. The disdain through which he views those Americans in fly-over country is apparent. More than a couple of people have compared him to John Kerry.

What seems to be lost though, is the question of Obama trying to have it both ways. On the one hand, he tells the liberal elite wing of the party that religion is just a crutch for those who have fallen on hard economic times. On the other hand, Obama talks freely about his professed faith in God.

The bigger question we should be asking is which is the real Obama? Is Obama someone who shares the faith of millions of American’s? Or is Obama someone who fervently believes, as Marx once claimed, that religion is simply the opiate of the people?

Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.

Now I’m no linguistic expert, but Obama’s words sound an awful lot like Karl’s. People in distress turn to religion and religion prevents them from actually taking control of their own destiny. All Obama left out is the suggestion that we should abolish religion.

Compare that to his statements on religion earlier this year.

But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.

But is Obama’s dedication to God one of true heartfelt commitment or one of political expediency. From the Christian Science Monitor piece referenced above:

[Obama] was largely indifferent toward religion until he moved to Chicago in 1985 for a job organizing impoverished South Side residents in campaigns for better jobs, schools, and housing. As the recent college graduate went from church to church to enlist clergy in his causes, he heard an oft-repeated refrain: What church do you belong to?

“He really came here with a very strong passion about how can we change things, and he understood the churches as being a vehicle for doing that,” recalls the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of the Saint Sabina Church, a Catholic church on the South Side, who has known Obama since his early days in Chicago. But he also “realized that with some churches there would be a credibility issue if he were organizing churches but didn’t have a home church.”

If Obama wanted to organize religious people, he understood that he needed to appear religious.

Obama’s remarks to the liberal elite of San Francisco reek of elitism, to be sure. More disconcerting for millions of religious American’s should be the question of whether Obama is actually a man of faith, or simply wearing the robes of piousness to lead them down a trail. I’m not a religious person myself, but even I am aware of Matthew 7:15 which warns:

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

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How Not To Sell Volume 1

Apr 11 2008 Published by under Business, How Not To Sell, Marketing, Sales

I guess it is sales and marketing education day here at The Quip. No sooner did I complete my post about following your brand online that I get the e-mail below. This was the whole message:

Every Month, We Show 30 Million Cable Customers Why Cable TV Is a Great Educational Resource for Teachers, Students & Families of All Ages!

www.EducationConnection.tv

I guess the sender was under the mistaken impression I would be so impressed by his ability to write one coherent sentence that I’d feverishly click, Pavlov’s dog-like, on the link.

Talk about a stupid way to introduce yourself or make a pitch to someone via e-mail. There’s no mention of who he is, why he thinks I might be remotely interested in his product, or even a cursory explanation of why I should bother myself for 30 seconds out of a busy day to explore the url he sent.

Seriously, this is the equivalent of the following cold call:

Potential Customer: Hello?

Caller: We have a product. Want to buy it?

I’ve been on the receiving end of some incredibly bad sales pitches. In one, the salesman pulled a filthy, dirty, broken toy tug boat out of a box, placed it on our very expensive wooden coffee table and tried to make some point that included the pilfering of said toy from his kid’s sandbox. Honestly I don’t recall a thing he said after that nasty piece of crap hit the table.

In another, the salesman was so coked up he was almost unintelligible as he ran through what should have been a twenty minute pitch in about 45 seconds. He was talking so fast he raised my blood pressure and caused a nervous eye tick in a co-worker.

Both of those, however, stood a better chance of getting business from me than this ridiculous e-mail. There are ways to sell, and there are ways to convince me you’re a moron. This achieved the latter.

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Follow & Defend Your Brand Online

Apr 11 2008 Published by under Business, Marketing, Politics, Self-Promotion, The Internet

A colleague pointed me at this article on ereleases.com. The writer had been trying to book a vacation and was swayed toward a particular hotel because he found the manager posting comments on travel websites – apologizing to customers who posted complaints and thanking guests for their feedback. When he told the manager that at check in, he heard something a lot public relations folks are probably familiar with.

“A lot of our customers say that,” the manager told me. “It’s funny because I didn’t want to do it at first, but our public relations person made me.”

It’s amazing how often companies and institutions are reluctant to directly engage in the online community. They see the Internet as some wild frontier untamable by any but the most rugged of men. The fact is, your efforts to explain your position, defend your policies, and yes, actually acknowledge your mistakes and apologize to your customers actually build your brand, not damage it. As the PR Fuel article points out:

The irony is that PR people have complained that websites such as TripAdvisor.com hamper their ability to control the message when, in fact, it gives PR people a great opportunity to manage a brand and message. By actively participating in a community of consumers, PR people can defend themselves against whiners and complainers who have anomalous experiences with a product or service, or who are just the type of customer no one wants to deal with.

As one hotel employee said in response to a review from a complaining customer, “I’m sorry that this person had such an awful experience. We did our best to meet their demands, but some people are just jerks.”

This response actually caused other customers to come to the defense of the hotel in question.

Openness, honesty, and engagement are your friends online. There is little room for hiding behind a small set of talking points and hoping you can get by. To be sure, this approach requires more work. It takes a lot of effort to troll through message boards and community sites. Services like Google Alerts can help by sending you notifications when someone posts about your brand online. Sites like Technorati monitor blog posts so you can easily find references to your brand on someone’s journal.

At that point, it’s up to you to go online and take part in the discussion. You may not remember every detail of your interaction with a particular customer, and that’s ok. You can acknowledge their concerns/complaints and explain what you would do to address them. You can also tell your side of the story – just do so respectfully.

For those who practice marketing and PR in the political space, the PR Fuel article shares one more anecdote that is particularly salient to you.

I know from my friends in the business that running any kind of hospitality enterprise is difficult. What makes it more difficult is when the business is not proactive about public relations, which sometimes simply amounts to above-and-beyond customer service in the industry. Restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses strive to get good reviews from professional reviewers, but they too often ignore getting their message across to the actual customer.

Why is that particularly valuable for political people? Think about that last sentence. How much time do we spend trying to guarantee good coverage by the New York Times, Washington Post or some local paper? Now how much time do you spend trying to get good word of mouth press from actual voters? The media will rarely create good word of mouth for your efforts – that’s simply not their job.

The reviewer will mention any flaw they see, even in an otherwise glowing review. In the same way, the media is going to talk about something you’ve done well, but will also make an effort to be ‘balanced’ by pointing out your warts. Good constituent service, and effective communication with voters, doesn’t necessarily carry that same overhead.

The best thing you can typically expect from the media is a neutral, mediocre article. The best thing you can get out of interaction with voters is a champion who will carry your message to friends and family without feeling compelled to also highlight your flaws. Which is worth more?

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Cuddle Parties: When Touchy Feely Goes Goofy

Apr 10 2008 Published by under Craziness, Miscellany, Sex, Society

Hat Tip to @megfowler via Twitter for this one. She writes:

i find the concept of cuddle parties really unsettling. i mean, i get it, but i don’t… get it.

The premise is that everyone needs to be more comfortable with touch, so adults get together in their PJs, spend an hour learning the rules, and then spend time cuddling – but only after everyone asks for permission.

The video segment is creepy to watch, but the cuddle party website is even worse:

What a Cuddle Party is: A structured, safe workshop on boundaries, communication, intimacy and affection. A drug and alcohol-free way to meet fascinating people in a relaxing environment. A laboratory where you can experiment with what makes you feel safe and feel good.

This playful, fun workshop has been a place for people to rediscover non-sexual touch and affection, a space to reframe assumptions about men and women, and a great networking event to meet new friends, roommates, business partners and significant others.

There is even a lengthy list of rules for the cuddle party.

Rule # 1 – Pajamas stay on the whole time.
Rule # 2 – You don’t have to cuddle anyone at a Cuddle Party, ever.
Rule # 3 – You must ask permission and receive a verbal YES before you touch anyone. (Be as specific in your request as you can.)
Rule # 4 – If you’re a Yes to a request, say YES. If you’re a No, say NO.
Rule # 5 – If you’re a Maybe, say NO.
Rule # 6 – You are encouraged to change your mind.
Rule # 7 – Respect your relationship boundaries and communicate with your partner.
Rule # 8 – Come get the Cuddle Caddy or ME if there’s a concern, problem, or should you feel unsafe or need assistance with anything today.
Rule # 9 – Tears and laughter are both welcome.
Rule # 10 – Respect people’s privacy when sharing about Cuddle Parties and do not gossip.
Rule #11 – Keep the Cuddle Space Tidy
Rule #12 – Thank you for arriving on time.

The Cuddle Party site doesn’t mention the mooing (that’s right, you’re required to pretend your a cow as part of the cuddle fiesta – watch the video). Nor does it mention what a complete and total loser you’re going to feel like.

Honestly, this has all the look and feel of something that would be featured on HBO’s Real Sex, if only it weren’t so darned G-rated. Imagine what Real Sex would be like if the Political Correctness police got their hands on it… Now you’re probably getting close to the same neighborhood as a cuddle party.

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