Blackie's first rule of the internet

Almost all whizzy websites fail to get any significant audience. Almost all pages on big websites such as Facebook or Youtube get a tiny audience.

Closely related to this there are plenty of simple websites, such as Iain Dale's successful blog, that are simply well designed blogs using technologies such as Wordpress.

Howard Dean at the Lib Dem Spring Conference

Howard Dean's speech at the Lib Dem Spring Conference this weekend in Harrogate was interesting even if he didn’t say anything particularly revolutionary. The six key points he made that were interesting were:

1. Build relationships first with the existing communities – you have to reach out to people who care about an issue that you've got common ground with. Implication – start by listening to what people are saying about your issues

2. You can potentially get the community to then adopt your messages (and discipline) – once they’re bought into your victory. Implication – see message discipline by the public as the sign of a successful campaign rather than the (unachievable) cause of one pure message that you direct

3. Messages trump everything else – most internet political campaigns fail. This isn’t just technical failings to use the tools well, it’s mainly a failure to have a motivating message. Implication – a crap message and a good website is pointless

4. Taking the states seriously, even when they were unwinnable at Presidential level, was incredibly powerful. These states then started having a real political debate again, raising the morale of supporters and so meaning that when the Republicans messed up (e.g. a Governor is indicted) the Democrats can reap the rewards. Implication - take the training / support to regional / local staff seriously so that they become more effective campaigners for us.

5. Reaching out to evangelicals didn’t get many to vote Democrat despite stressing the issues that evangelicals and the Democrats share. But it massively reduced their hatred of Democrats – so they were much less enthusiastically campaigning for the Republicans. Implication - keep talking to your opponents so that you can at least reduce their anger at you.

6. Personal relationships between activists and voters really matter, so the same person will knock on the same door year after year to build a long term relationship. Implications - find ways to get your staff to build relationships and be enthusiastic for you.

Pipl

If you want an insight into how the internet is eroding personal privacy then search for yourself on pipl.com.

It searches the deep web (ie it puts your name into databases and sees what comes out) to find far more than Google would - reminding us of what a trail we leave online as we live our lives now.

Hat tip: Mark Pack.

Guardian interview with Thomas Gensemer

I'm trying to avoid posting too much about the Obama campaign. But failing because of interesting interviews like this one in today's Guardian.

Labourlist

There's a thoughtful post by Jack Thurston (an ex Special Adviser at DEFRA) here on what LabourList is getting wrong, and more broadly what Labour is getting wrong. There's a nice quote towards the end which I think is quite powerful:

What really matters is something altogether less glamorous. And that is a really coherent and responsive email-driven supporter mobilisation strategy. Even at 30 per cent in the polls, Labour does have tens of millions of supporters it should be communicating with, many of whom have email. It’s not about technology. John McCain had all the same e-mobilisation tools as Barack Obama he just didn’t use them nearly so well. If the next general election is close (and looking at the polls, that’s a big IF) this could turn out to be an important difference between the parties.

Youmashtube

Youmashtube is a great website for entertainment.

It takes feeds off Youtube and creates a custom video channel for you - so you can simply listen / watch lots of videos in a row.

Particularly useful for your own custom music channel or watching long speeches in one go.

Currently I'm using it to catch up on the music of Betty Davis, an under appreciated musical genius. If you haven't heard of her she introduced Miles Davis (her husband) to Jimi Hendrix.

Hazel Blears on campaigning

Quite a good bit of advice on campaigning by Hazel Blears on the Progress website:

Make campaigning fun. Campaigning is like sex – if you’re not enjoying it, you’re not doing it right. It should never be a drudge. Make sure there’s plenty of meals, drinks, social events, and a campaign HQ with plenty of tea and biscuits. Tap into the enthusiasm of young people with blitzing and street stalls. High energy, high impact, low cost.