Social Networking For Voter Contact?

I know a lot of political hacks (especially Republicans) are waiting to really see if Social Networking ( Facebook, MySpace, Twitter , etc.) will matter in voter contact. I think the answer is probably still out to the jury. I think most people expect too much and then get frustrated when they can't "win" with a social networking strategy.

Duh!

Just like any part of your campaign there is no singular reason you win or lose unless you are Howard Dean ...then maybe. The best way to look at using social networking is to have realistic and pragmatic goals. Especially small campaigns, use it as a way to save much needed cash and reach out to folks who will never show up at the HQ. Having an email list of supporters is a good start, as long as you don't abuse it (see instructions from Patrick Ruffini ). There are too many tools out there to take advantage of for me to really try and list them (although if you have suggestions I would love for you to put them in the comments for this post).

My point is figure out which part of your base uses these tools and go engage them. Be honest with them, speak to them in non-pandering terms and keep it frequent. Really important item here is go see what normal people are doing. The for-profit market place is light years ahead of us in utilizing these technologies so be a good hack and go steal some of their ideas.

Some of my favorites to keep up with are C.C. Chapman and Jeremiah Owyang .