October 20, 2006
On The Download: SMS Politics
Welcome back to On The Download, your almost-daily dispatch on politechs: Politics, Multimedia and the Internet. Hotline subscribers: Check out our archives.
If you have tips, comments, or suggestions, email us.
Mobile politics seems to be catching on everywhere but the United States as cell phone users mobilize in the U.K. to Save the Seals or spread the word on where to protest in South Korea. That's because Americans just don't rely on their phones in the same way as we do. As mobile politics guru Justin Oberman told the Internet Advocacy roundtable Thursday: "For them, their introduction to the internet is through their phone."
This also means the marriage of SMS and politics is not the save-all for any American campaign or organization, but the technology does have other uses that existing popular media like e-mail can't compute. Oberman says activism via phone can be done on-the-go, compared to stopping life to check a Web site or donate.
But so far, many political have shied away from the technology because it's expensive and for the most part untested. An aggregator (the middle-man between the carrier and the campaign) charges $500 a month for a random SMS code, or $1,000 a month for a "vanity" code. For many races that isn't a big price tag, but because there's no immediate profit coming from the technology yet, e-mail seems more attractive and less expensive by comparison. The FEC has yet to rule on using cell phones to raise money in politics. Much to Chairman Michael Toner's surprise, no one has asked for an opinion yet on using technology to fundraiser. Even so, phone carriers take on average 40 to 60% out of the donation -- one heck of of an overhead cost for any campaign.
So what exactly is SMS good for in American politics? Oberman answers OTD's questions below:
1. What's the best use of mobile technology you've seen for a candidate running for office?
Dean tried it during his campaign. They created a mechanism in which a person could sign up on the web to receive SMS alerts but it failed to attract a lot of attention. So I guess you could say that the Democrats have already been the first. However, when you consider that what they did was nothing special, in that they just took an old internet model and adopted it to the mobile medium, its hard for me to give them the credit needed for me to call them an "early adapter."
Specifically for a candidate running for office, it has not happened yet in the United States. It is happening a little bit during the 2006 elections but nothing I have seen has impressed me thus far. It will definitely be harnessed during the presidential election so we will have to see. Hopefully, the candidates will realize that the mobile medium is a real great medium for action and change and will use it beyond the "getting alerts from the campaign trail model."
Internationally has been another story however. There is the Spanish elections of March 14th to look at and the SMS Get Out The Vote campaign that South Korean President Moo-Hyun used to make a major comeback from behind the polls.
2. You said at your presentation that the consensus is mobile texting is going to explode suddenly for the U.S. market. What are a few examples of what kind of events could do this?
Just as the most successful mobile campaigns abroad are on the grassroots level, the future of mobile politics in the United States will be the same. Because the mobile medium is a medium you have with you at all times, the location where these devices are used determines a lot. There are so many local issues for campaigns to "mobilize" around and each community already has its well-established networks of peer-to-peer communication to make this possible.
The mobile medium is really just a perfect tool for activists, especially when you consider how you could use mobile technology to coordinate at events where people are away from their home and or their place of work. Mobile can perform a really useful function there. And people at home watching the event on TV or the Internet can even use their mobile devices to chime in. The educated middle classes that are often the target of Internet activism already have the Internet they are used to. And for that population, the only time when mobile really makes sense is when you are on location, as you saw at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. At the RNC and DNC protesters used SMS bulletin board like services such as Txtmob and Upoc to coordinate strategy in real-time and proved to be extremely successful. That is one place where it makes sense to be coordinating physical Meetup like activities over mobile.
3. Is there any use for mobile politics for voter persuasion? For example, can a campaign use SMS in a way to reach an undecided voter? Or is mobile politics really only good for the super volunteers, i.e. the kind of supporter that will answer to call to action?
Earlier I said that mobile is not a persuasion tool, but text messages from friends are more likely to be read. If the mobile medium is tapped for its viral friend-2-friend nature, then it's a good way to get messages to people that are usually outside of your political networks. I mean, say I got a ringtone of a tapped conversation of a candidate doing something illegal. You can bet that I am sending that to my friends on both sides of the political spectrum.
4. How effective is mobile technology for GOTV operations in America? What are some examples?
Rock The Vote tried it and it failed. They just did not do it right. And it may have been to early in terms of SMS adoption. Mobile Voter is doing this now. They have had some success. We will have too wait and see.
5. Do you foresee the price of mobile technology (monthly fees) ever becoming more affordable either by carriers lowering their fees or finding a better way to fundraiser?
In terms of SMS bulk rates I think that most campaigns will already find them very agreeable. And those have more to do with aggregators then the carriers. In terms of fundraising via SMS, it's an issue now. Depending on the carrier they take 40 - 60 percent of the cut and stop you at $10-20 dollars a month per customer. There is a lot of talk within the Mobile Marketing Association and CTIA to lower this rate for non-profits. It will happen one day, I am sure of it.
6. Do you think political fundraising via cell phones will ever take off? Why or why not?
There are advantages and disadvantages to doing mobile fundraising now and even after they suspend there large fee. Its really great for venues where large groups of people are gathered and also a great way to give people an incentive to opt in. But in a way it also creates an "I already gave mentality" when an organization could have gotten more money via a cold call. I would be happy to talk to anyone interested about this.
Bytes for the weekend:
*ProgressOhio has posted OhioMoneyTree.org, a tool created by Plunderbund to visually map links in campaign contributes.
*GOP Web ads abound: NRSC's "Hang-Up Harry's Chain Gang" and RNC's "The Stakes."
Posted at 04:24 PM
Comments
Post a comment
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
