Latest
Disruptive Technology in the Marketplace
Digital Politics Radio on January 24 covered a wide range. My guest in the first half of the show was Brant Cooper, and author and business consultant with an eye on entrepreneurs. My second guest was web pioneer Patrick Ruffini, President, Engage LLC.
Brant is the author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development and very insightful about the need to test a business model when introducing disruptive technology. Brant supports the Lean Start-Up Movement and thinks creatively what lessons the political community can learn from that experience.
Interview with Brant Cooper
Interview continues with Brant Cooper
The topic shifted to the use of disruptive technology in political and advocacy campaigns. I talked with Patrick about the use social media data and what it reveals about the cultural divide. Using a Facebook app Wisdom, Patrick uncovers some revealing pop culture interests shared by those who support the Republican candidates and President Obama.
In the second half of the interview we talked about Patrick’s efforts to promote the protest to SOPA and PIPA and how online leaders, social media and individuals are turning the model of lobbying on its head.
Interview with Patrick Ruffini
Interview continues with Patrick Ruffini
CA and SC Voters
Digital Politics Radio on January 17 included Ben Tulchin, president and founder of Tulchin Research and Phil Noble, founder Politics Online.
In the conversation with Ben, we talked about the efforts for the Millionaires’ Tax ballot initiative, and what a California wide survey revealed about decline-to-state or Independent voters and their opinions about environmental and other progressive issues.
Interview with Ben Tulchin
Interview continues with Ben Tulchin
The interview with Phil was days before the South Carolina primary and Phil shares his views of South Carolina voters, how people were responding to the negative television ads and the impact of online ads and social media on voter turnout. Phil also shares his views about native son Stephen Colbert and the upcoming rally with Herman Cain.
Interview with Phil Noble
Interview continues with Phil Noble
Mobile Apps
Digital Politics Radio on January 10 was direct from CES in Las Vegas and as a result there was a bit of a delay in the guests getting to the microphone. I talked that day with Barb Beach, RadioActive Network founder and filled in some time with thoughts on New Hampshire. Finally my guests Chris Ruff, CEO, UIEvolution and Scott Kveton, CEO, Urban Airship arrived.
Chris and I talked about the need to integrate apps across platforms including smart devices, tablets and autos.
Interview starts with Chris at the end of this segment.
Interview continues with Chris Ruff.
Interview with Scott Kveton includes a good description of in-app payments, push and rich-push elements that are proving so successful.
Every Vote Matters
As 2012 kicks off, the Digital Politics Radio show is on the campaign trail.
My first guest on January 3 was Lori Steele, founder and CEO of Everyone Counts. We talked about the need for modernizing the election process and her experience around the world bringing technology to democracies. After staying up until the results were announced, I can not resist including this link from CNN last night on counting the Iowa caucus vote. http://youtu.be/YH8DWF2G5_g
Interview with Lori Steele
Interview continues with Lori Steele
Talking with political insider Trey Hardin, Senior VP, VOX Global, was a great way to hear how the struggle continues between traditional and digital means to win campaigns. We also talked about negative ads, the new “retail politics”, and undecided voters.
Cami Zimmer, founder, Campaign Touch and I continued to talked about the impact of negative ads, negative ads about negative ads, and how mobile is still not seen as a key factor in election turnout. Listen to the interview with Cami and check this post Super PAC – Pay no Attention to Commercials from her blog today.
Keep an Eye on These Technologies
At the end of 2011, Digital Politics Radio included discussions about many technologies on the horizon.
On December 27 I talked with Dan Weiner, VP West, Pandora Media, about the disruption to the radio advertising model that Pandora has brought to the marketplace and the need to follow listeners from their desktop to their mobile device to their car.
Interview with Dan Weiner
Interview continues with Dan Weiner
I also talked with Mark Davis, COO, The Wrap, about the impact of the entertainment industry on politics, political ads, and how Donald Trump, Stephen Colbert, late night comedians and other celebrities are using their access to the microphone to influence voters.
Interview with Mark Davis
Interview continues with Mark Davis
On December 20, we got into the emerging subject of near field communications (NFC) with my guest Laura Diaz, Manager, New Market Development and Strategy, Verizon Wireless. We talked about the digital wallet but also the many non-payment possibilities for these tags including possibly printing them on yard signs or direct mail pieces for candidates.
Interview with Laura Diaz
Interview continues with Laura Diaz
Opportunities for mobile apps, mobile sites and mobile ads was the topic with Cami Longstreet Zimmer, founder, Campaign Touch.
Interview with Cami Zimmer
Interview continues with Cami Zimmer
Grassroots Organizing and Building Communities
Digital Politics Radio this week featured Mike Panetta, partner, Beekeeper Group. We talked about how grassroots organizing is the old model and how social media, blogs, Facebook ads, and email makes it possible to grow communities of interest. In the second half of the interview Mike shares some insights about expectations of voters, supporters, and candidates in an age of media fragmentation and where nothing is off the record.
Mobilizing Voters and Constituents
Digital Politics Radio shows from this week and last covered digital public affairs, building buzz with voters and constituents and the CampaignTech conference that recently took place in Washington, DC.
December 6 guests were Andrea Torkelson, founder, VoterBuzz, Anupam Gupta, President and CEO, Mixpo, and Emily Zanotti, Account Executive, Hynes Communications. On the show on November 29, I talked with Julie Barko Germany, VP Digital Strategy, DCI Group and Marci Harris, CEO, POPVOX.
I talked with Andrea about the VoterBuzz mobile app which allows campaigns sites to plug and play a mobile app to get quick engagement with constituents. Instead of developing individual mobile apps for particular campaigns, Andrea has come up with a solution to allow voters to track several candidates.
Interview with Andrea Torkelson
Anupam and I discussed best practices for political online video advertising including the need to buy media early in a campaign and to focus on trusted local media sites.
Interview with Anupam Gupta
In the last half of the show I talked with Emily Zanotti about the role of blogs in political and advocacy campaigns and how to build buzz using blogs, social media, and online advertising.
Interview with Emily Zanotti.
Interview continues with Emily Zanotti.
On November 29 I talk with Juile Barko Germany about the CampaignTech Conference sponsored by Campaigns & Elections which was held recently in DC. Julie was the conference chair for the event and we talked about the speakers, audience and expectations that were being set for 2012. In the second half of the conversation we talked about how digital budgets are still not reflecting the impact the web and mobile can have for political and cause related campaigns.
Interview with Julie Barko Germany
Interview continues with Julie Barko Germany
POPVOX is a new site that has allows constituents to communicate with their elected officials. What makes this solution unique is the focus on specific legislation which can turn a constituent into a lobbyist and provides organizations a way to mobilize around very specific actions.
Interview with Marci Harris
Interview continues with Marci Harris
RoboCall Strategies & Civic Engagement
On Digital Politics Radio last week I talked with Shaun Dakin, CEO and Founder StopPoliticalCalls.org and ReverseRoboCall.com and Steve Erie and Vladimir Kogan, authors of Paradise Plundered: Fiscal Crisis and Governance Failures in San Diego.
I talked with Shaun about his initiative to choose to eliminate political robocalls and the challenge of reaching people on mobile devices. While not against robocalls, Shaun thinks voters should have the option of saying no thank you. In addition, Shaun has started another project ReverseRoboCall to allow voters to send, for a fee, robocalls to selected elected officials or a random group of 10 or 20. Nothing like turning the tables on politicians.
Interview with Shaun Dakin
Interview continues with Shaun Dakin
Steve Erie is a professor of political science at the University of California San Diego and Vladimir Kogan is a Ph.D. candidate in political science also at UCSD. Their new book is an insiders view of the lack of civic and corporate leadership in San Diego. We talked about the just announced purchase of the San Diego Union Tribune by the controversial real estate developer Douglas Manchester, the role of newspapers in civic engagement and how the new central library being built in San Diego is a lesson other cities should heed. This engaging book gets at many of the basics of community building and raises questions for me about what can be enhanced by digital “highways”.
Interview with Steve Erie and Vladimir Kogan
Interview continues with Steve Erie and Vladimir Kogan
Civic and Voter Engagement
Digital Politics Radio show last week included 2 guests from San Diego with expertise in polling, voter ID and political campaigns that engage voters. My first guest was John Nienstedt, president, Competitive Edge Research & Communications and in the second half I talked with John Mabie, CEO, The Campaign Solutions Group.
In my conversation with John Nienstedt we talked about metrics of citizen engagement, how cities around the country stack up and why San Diego ranks so low on a scale measuring civic engagement. We also discuss whether civic engagement leads to voting, the changing face of polls and barriers that pollsters face.
Interview with John Nienstedt
Interview continues with John Nienstedt
In my conversation with John Mabie, we talked about video town halls, engaging voters, robo and live agent calls for voter ID and turnout, and the role of mobile in a phone strategy. John also gives details about how Carl DeMaio who is running for Mayor of San Diego is using digital tools to be more accessible to constituents.
Interview with John Mabie
Interview continues with John Mabie
Election 2011
Digital Politics Radio this week focused on turnout at the polls on election day 2011 and how voters are expressing their opinions everyday. My first guest was Peter Pasi, Executive Vice President, emotive llc and in the second half it was Boris Ackerman, CEO and Founder, TellMyGov.
In my conversation with Peter we talked about the use of online and mobile ads in 2011 campaigns, impact on campaigns of cheap publishing tools and turning “likes” into votes. We also talked about trends for 2012 and how smart devices and tablets have become part of the landscape.
Interview with Peter Pasi
Interview continues with Peter Pasi
The future of political social networks is the focus of the interview with Boris Ackerman who explains his comprehensive site which has features for voters and utilities for campaigns.
Interview with Boris Ackerman
Interview continues with Boris Ackerman
