MoveOn

I have spent a lot of time in the mass e-mail business, and one of the first things you learn is that you need to respect your list or face unsubscribes and/or negative word of mouth.

Two examples of potentially list-thinning practices have recently come to my attention: one from MoveOn.org and another from Rock the Vote.

Here is one of the e-mails from Rock the Vote (click to enlarge):

This e-mail was mentioned to me by a couple of people about being extremely spammy and way off the purpose of the list. Furthermore, it was the second Credo mobile sales pitch e-mail from Rock the Vote in a short span of time.

People sign up to an organization's email list to receive information about what the organization is doing, not to get sales pitches that resemble every other spam e-mail that hit their inbox that day. The first time people may have ignored it, the second time people probably figure it's a trend that will continue and unsubscribe.

The second example is from MoveOn, and it is when people start to get more e-mails than they bargained for. I caught a Twitter exchange recently that was discussing the recent flurry.

I understand that part of the problem is that MoveOn members can create events and then invite members in their area, which can lead to an uncontrolled number of e-mail requests, but it is something that should be kept in mind. In this case, the amount of e-mails not only resulted in possible unsubscribes but moved users to publicly vent their frustration about the organization's e-mail practices.

When determining an e-mail strategy it is important to know your audience and what they expect and to give it to them, nothing more and nothing less. It's easier said than done, but when your organization hits that happy medium your list will strengthen and grow.

What are your experiences with mass e-mails, either sending or receiving? Share your thoughts in the comments.

I'm finally starting to feel better and catching up on things today. Here's some must-read stories from the last week of 2008:

• Jose Antonio Vargas writes that politics is no longer local, it's viral, in his latest piece making the rounds among the technorati. He hits the nail on the head when he writes:

  Looking back, I realize that it was on that Thursday night that a new political reality was cemented in my head. In the past, we've thought of politics as something over there -- isolated, separate from our daily lives, as if on a stage upon which journalists, consultants, pollsters and candidates spun and dictated and acted out the process. Now, because of technology in general and the Internet in particular, politics has become something tangible. Politics is right here. You touch it; it's in your laptop and on your cellphone. You control it, by forwarding an e-mail about a candidate, donating money or creating a group. Politics is personal. Politics is viral. Politics is individual.

  And we're just getting started.

• Also in the Post, Eli Pariser of MoveOn writes that both MoveOn and Obama are tapping into the same thing - people power and the voices of ordinary Americans.
• Over at Open Left, Chris Bowers has an excellent plan to help activists to take advantage of the first Democratic President and friendly congress in over a decade. This is something all youth organizations should be following, and contributing to.
• According to PEW, when it comes to where American's get their news, the Internet has surpassed all mediums except television.
• Want to work for the new administration? Filling out a form on Change.gov is only the first step. The Politico has a rundown on the sophisticated strategies that advocacy organizations and interest groups are using to influence the hiring process.
• Finally, The New York Times notes that as teen unemployment skyrockets, so is teen violence. The paper calls on the Obama administration to address the problem.

Update - I can't get the video to stop playing when the page loads, so I stuck it below the fold.

Two new ad/PSA campaigns targeting youth launched today.

As part of their transition from Registration to GOTV, Rock the Vote is putting this PSA on the air in local markets in select Battleground states (I'm trying to find out which ones).

Rock the Vote is also announced the launch of two new sites today: an Election Center featuring information about issues, voting rights and voter protection, and a voter pledge to cast a ballot on election day. The Election Center is linked up with numerous partners, including Election Protection, Project Vote Smart, and Bother Voting, the snarky eCard political site. The voter pledge is hooked into Rock the Vote's text messaging and field programs.

MoveOn also launched a media campaign - this one online only- as part of their "Parntership for a McCain-free White House." The video features a number of actors from Gossip Girl, and, as Sam Stein notes at Huffington Post, is one of a series of new projects launched recently - by comedians, activists, and the Obama campaign - to ask that young voters talk to their parents about the Obama/Biden ticket.

Update: Peter Koechley at MoveOn writes in to say that the video will be airing on TV in Nevada and North Carolina:

The ad, released by MoveOn.org Political Action, will air nationally during Gossip Girl as well as on MTV and Comedy Central in university towns in North Carolina and Nevada.

You've seen Sarah Silverman's The Great Schlep, you've seen Barack Obama's The Talk - now see MoveOn.org's twist helping young people talk to their parents about not voting McCain

The young people are seen asking their parents to save their future by voting for Barack Obama. This is part of MoveOn's campaign for a McCain Free White House.

MoveOn has put together a pretty good video laying out the playing field for this election. Pass it around, especially to your less political friends:

I promise, last time I'll post about Britney Spears and/or the MoveOn MTV ad buy. There's no solid data about whether or not humorous and/or pop culture heavy ads are effective, but Peter Levine has some interesting thoughts on the matter and it's worth it for everyone to be on the same page wrt best practices:

I am not aware of research or public data that would allow us to compare the effectiveness of a sarcastic or silly ad versus a serious and information-rich one. Nor have I seen evaluations of games that are designed to promote voting, whether the games are silly and parodic or challenging and educational. (The campaigns may have tested games and various broadcast messages, but they never share the data from such experiments.)

My hunch is that anyone who tries a very light approach is making a mistake. Remember that less than half of the youth population will vote. Heavily represented in that group are young people who are seriously concerned about issues, from their own economic prospects to the future of the planet. Voting is not much fun, but it is rewarding if one feels one can make a real difference by casting a ballot. Potential voters are likely to be people who believe they can make a difference, or at least are open to the argument that the election is important. This is true of all citizens, but young people are especially likely to say that they need more information and explanation before they can vote. Often, in focus groups and polls, they say that the main reason they may not vote is that they feel inadequately informed to make such a serious choice. Thus I suspect that an information-rich, explanatory ad or game could be very effective. But a jokey approach is likely to make young people feel that the election is unimportant (thus lowering turnout), or may offend them by patronizing them.

This doesn't rule out some use of humor and amusement in various media. But one should always take the audience seriously.

And just in case you haven't seen this yet:

I'm happy to announce that starting next weekend, Craig Berger (aka bergerc84) will be joining us as the weekend blogger at Future Majority. Craig has consistently produced top-notch stuff on his user blog and it just seemed ridiculous that everything he wrote got promoted to the front. So welcome, Craig, to the FM team. Those interested can read a bit about Craig on the About page.

• Another FM community member, Maria Arettines, is blogging from the National Hip Hop Political Convention in Las Vegas this weekend. We'll hear more from Maria once the convention gets started.
• Meanwhile, Jeff Chang has a few thoughts about Ludacris's new song about Barack Obama, as well as the opening day of the Hip Hop Convention.
• Over at his personal blog, Bondelli has 34 +1 indispensible tips for those looking to organize and promote their work online.
• The jobless rate is at a four year high, putting a whole lot of young people looking for summer work in a pinch.
• NBS has hired Luke Russert, son of the late Tim Russert, to be one of their youth correspondents during the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Luke, if you're out there, get in touch with us for the low-down on all the youth organizing at the Democratic Convention in Denver and in the general election.
• Washington Post blog The Sleuth thinks that the voter registration group HeadCount is going to have the most rocking party at the DNC.
• Advancing the Story has an interesting and useful critique of MTV's Street Team '08 citizen journalism program.
• Youth vote hero Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle pens a piece about the proxy battle for the youth vote that MoveOn and Let Freedom Ring are waging on the airwaves of MTV.
• The bloggers at Pushback continue to have an interesting discussion about the proper role of celebrities in engaging young voters.
• Fox News less successfully attempts to tackle that same topic.
• Rock the Vote notes that voting rights are human rights.
• ThePolitico tracks an emerging trend: growing interest among young people in becoming "green lobbyists."
• A young Republican pens an open letter to John McCain asking him to up his game in reaching young voters.

Kevin has written in the past about Vote Pledges - essentially signed promises to vote on election day that GOTV organizations use to make sure people to cast their ballot. Earlier today, MoveOn launched their own (somewhat) tongue-in-cheek version of a vote pledge:

"I will not get so drunk on November 3rd that I am unable to vote on November 4th."

Huh, you ask? Let's review.

Last week, a conservative group, Let Freedom Ring, took advantage of MTV's new policy of accepting political ads to launch an attack on Senator Obama. The progressive rapid response to this ad came from MoveOn, which bought time on the network this week to run a positive ad about Senator Obama.

In response to that, Michael Reagan, right-wing radio host and son of the former President, attacked young voters on CNN as apathetic drunks who don't vote because we're too hung over to get to the polls:

Redonkulous. It flies in the face of all the statistics from the last 3 election cycles. It willfully ignores the amazing turnout in this winter's primary process. And it's just plain insulting. I've got no problem Drinking Liberally, but seriously, who is out getting hammered on a Monday night? I know it's his job to talk down the youth vote and do whatever he can to depress turnout, but that doesn't make it right. I'm almost as pissed at that CNN anchor for letting something like that stand unchallenged.

Cooling down and looking at the positive in all this, great job by MoveOn for the rapid response to the Let Freedom Ring ad, and for a creative effort to prove Michael Reagan wrong about young voters.

Go sign the pledge. If MoveOn collects 50,000 signatures, they will deliver the to Michael Reagan along with a nice cold keg of beer.

First some youthy news:

• Two articles are out today on polling. The Michigan Messenger does a great job analyzing a PEW study on the demographics of cell-only and "cell-mostly" users and how pollsters are dealing with under-represtentation of these demographics in their polling. If that's a little too data-geek for you, Campus Politico has a good "polling 101" story that might be a little more your speed.
• At Tapped, Tim Fernholz questions the effectiveness of a voter registration drive launched this week by the Hip Hop Caucus.
• Matt Zeitlin at PushBack follows up on that post, noting that celebrities are not an effective way to move young voters to the polls.
• Teaming up with SPIN, CMJ, and others, Head Count has launched a 90 day voter registration challenge. They hope to register 100,000 voters by the end of the 90 days. You can watch a video of SPIN at the Warped Tour interviewing an artist about the program here.
• NDN notes Connecticut Democrats are out-registering Republicans among young voters by 4.3 - 1. That registration and turnout advantage might help Democrats defeat Republican Chris Shays in the fall. Shays is the lone Republican congressman in New England.
• South Carolina young Republicans are not feeling the love from John McCain, and Young Republicans nationally are having a tough time drawing young people to the convention.
• Meanwhile, Young Democrats are thriving in delegate-rich Florida.
• Tech President argues that 2008 is a boring year in tech/politics. While 2004 and '06 saw huge paradigm shifts in how we organize, 2008 is all about refining those practices.

Some less-youthy, but very interesting news:

• Democrats are getting ready to spend $20 million to register and GOTV latinos.
• The Nation writes about MoveOn's 10th birthday and how far the organization has come.
• A new study by the RAND Corporation tells us the obvious - to win the war on terror, we need to stop fighting the war on terror.
• Finally, the Washington Post has a front-page story basically calling "liar liar pants on fire" on the McCain campaign for their latest ad attacking Sen. Obama.