My AppleTV
I’m so excited about my AppleTV that I can’t help but frolic down King Street. Even on a dreary day, Charleston, SC is the best place in the world and you can’t help but frolic. So yeah, I frolic at times. What’s the problem with that?
My New Favorite UTPL Site
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
Every once in a while a legislator comes along that lets us experiment on them. Representatives Nathan Ballentine was one of them, letting us experiment with very cool video blogs. Now comes Representative Dan Hamilton who agrees with me that micro-blogs are the future.
Check out this video:
Did he just say RSS feed? You dang right he did. And No, I didn’t tell him to say that. I don’t think it’s a big leap to say that Representative Hamilton is the only member of the entire General Assembly who actually knows what an RSS feed is. Okay, maybe Senator Kevin Bryant does to, but like me, Representative Hamilton is a full fledge geek. The guy reads Wired and knows who Chris Brogan is. He carries an iPhone and twitters all day. You can’t help but love this guy.
Micro-blogging is the future…until another “the future” comes along. Blogs are exploding and content is getting crazy. People just don’t have the time read long blog posts anymore. They want us to get straight to the point. That’s why Twitter is rocking the world right now.
Representative Dan Hamilton’s website at www.hamiltonforsc.com isn’t a site that will be updated once a month, once a week, or even once a day. Count on Representative Hamilton to keep it fresh all day, especially when he’s in session. Add this site to your daily must-reads.
As for all the sites Under The Power Lines has built, this one is my favorite.
What Motivates A Blogger?
Yesterday my pastor said, “We talk about things we love.”
He was talking about the need to pray more, read the Bible, and to talk about our faith with others. I thought about that as I got home and I kept thinking about it as I began working. I annoy the hell out of my non-political friends because all I ever talk about is work. That’s what I love, so that’s what I talk about.
That’s also why we blog about politics…or is it?
Many of us blog about politics because that’s what we love, but take a look around South Carolina’s blogosphere and you will see that love isn’t most of our motivations. I think we are driven by three primary motivators:
1. Love
2. Hate
3. Money
Pretty simple, huh? Isn’t that what most aspects of our lives are motivated by?
When reading the political blogs, you need to know what a blogger’s motivations are.
Are they blogging because they love the subject?
Are they blogging to spew hate across the Internet?
Are they blogging because they are being paid to spread a message?
Know the answer before you trust a blogger. I think you will be surprised by the answers you find.
Hey man, nice shot
Should You Get Personal?
“Why Harbison Chickfila better than Main Street? Drive thru and cheaper!”
- SC Representative Nathan Ballentine, 5:40 AM Nov 21st, via Twitter
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
I’ve been trading emails with a South Carolina State Representative for the past week about a new website and social networking. He’s a little hesitant because he wants to increase his presence on the Internet, but he’s worried about the time commitment.
You know, we often forget that our legislators are citizen-legislators. Most of them have full time jobs and full time families. Truthfully I don’t see how they can balance their family and professional lives with serving in Columbia, constituent services, and community projects. I believe that when going out and attacking them as “status quo politicians” as many bloggers do, we should remember the commitment they have made and the extremely small return on their personal investment.
While trading emails, this State Representative asked, “if I go forward, should I blog and twitter about my personal life or just my political endeavors?”
The answer – 100% absolutely without a doubt blog and twitter about your personal life.
I believe that elections are only 40% about issues. 60% is about the candidate…the person. It’s about trust, honesty, hard work, and all those personal traits that connect you with the voter. You can’t even get to the issues if you don’t first gain their trust.
Take a look at John McCain and Mitt Romney. Poll after poll showed that Republican primary voters were much more in line with Mitt Romney than John McCain. Many Republicans had issue with McCain’s stances on immigration, values, campaign finance reform, and taxes. But Mitt Romney was labeled as the flip-flopper. Voters didn’t trust him and John McCain was the known commodity. McCain was the straight talking candidate who told you what he believed, whether you liked it or not. In the end Republican voters went with the guy they trusted, not the guy they agreed with.
Now take a look at Representative Nathan Ballentine. Sure, he talks a lot about issues, but he also talks about his kids, his wife, and how much he just paid for gas. He talks about those things that connect us with Nathan the man and not just Nathan the legislator. Agree with him or not, you can’t help but feel some sort of a connection to the guy who talks about how much he craves Chic-Fil-A every morning but knows he shouldn’t eat it.
Besides, talking about personal stuff is a lot more fun and much easier. No, people might not care that you just ate the best hamburger of your life at Five Guys, but they eat at Five Guys too. That’s just one more connection and it took you 15 seconds to post it on Twitter. Getting back to my second paragraph rant, that’s how you balance a new web presence with everything else you are doing.
A quick warning - obviously some things aren’t meant for the web and you should discuss it with your spouse before you start posting personal stuff. It might not be a good idea to post pictures of your children or to talk about where they go to school. That’s between y’all. My wife is extremely cautious about what pictures we post on the web. For example, pictures of me funneling beers while tailgating before a Gamecocks football game are a big no-no.
Oh, and don’t worry about the dumb anonymous comments. They do sting a little more when they’re about personal posts rather than issue based ones. Just realize that idiots will be idiots. Ignore or respond and then move on.
So get personal. It saves time. It connects you to voters. It works.
Become an Information Drug Dealer
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
A few weeks ago, SC House member said to me:
“You know what really gets to me Wesley? We cut taxes by $850 Million in the past four years and nobody cares. Voters demanded property tax cuts and we slashed them by half a billion. They didn’t care. We cut income taxes and eliminated the grocery tax. And still, nobody cared. In response they tossed out a bunch of our guys.”
Yup. That about sums it up.
The voters tossed out a bunch of incumbents because they lost trust in them and felt the need for change. That’s because you aren’t sharing your accomplishments.
In The Blogging Church, Brian Bailey writes:
“Information is a drug. Want proof? How else do you explain our insatiable desire to stay informed? No matter how much news and information we have, we’re constantly searching for more.”
You know the feeling too. It’s why you watch the news. It why the 24-hour news cycle became the 24-hour news cycle. It’s why you always look at those trash magazines in the grocery store line and why you listen to gossip around the Statehouse (or whatever your state capital is called). And it’s why you get up and read the blogs everyday. You want to know everything that’s happening.
Well, so do voters. They want to know what you’re doing – the good and the bad. The problem is that you’re not talking to them and telling them the good stuff you’re doing. You’re letting gossip blogs and the MSM tell the story for you! Big mistake! You just expect the voters to read through the voting records and understand what they’re reading. That’s freakin’ ridiculous!
If you don’t give voters the information you want them to know, they will go get it someone else.
And chances are that somewhere else is going to be an outlet extremely biased against you.
The Internet is cheap, simple, personal, and immediate. At a very low cost you can spread all your positive news minutes after it happens.
Information is a drug and most folks are addicted. It’s your job to feed the addiction. If you don’t, someone else will.
Some Geek Links Fo Yo Butt
The latest geek links from Political Net News.
- THR.com: Obama interview sets ‘60 Minutes’ viewership record
- WSJ: Yang to Step Down as Yahoo CEO
- Problogger: What I learned about Blogging from the U.S. Presidential Election
- Problogger: 10 WordPress Plugins for New Blogs
- Mashable: HOW NOT TO: Build Your Twitter Community
- Mashable: 5 Ways to Keep Your Drunken Self Away From the Internet
- Mashable: The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan
- CIO: 6 Stupid Mistakes Companies Make with Their Online Communities
- WAPO: Group Seeks Web-Savvy, More Open Government
- K Street Cafe: The Future of myBO and the Future of Advocacy
- TC: Facebook Rolls Out Verified App Program, Plus One Hell Of A Revenue Model For Themselves
- UK Guardian: podcast: How technology helped win it for Obama
- gary vaynerchuk: Yelling vs. Whispering. Introvert or Extrovert.
- Seth’s Blog: The number one secret of the great blogs
- diggnation: Episode 176
- e.politics: How the Internet Put Barack Obama in the White House
- Chris Brogan: How I Use Twitter at Volume
- TC: Is Obama Ready To Be A Two-Way President?
- Telegraph: Barack Obama launches weekly YouTube broadcasts
- FT: Newspapers face fresh printing pressures
- International Herald Tribune: Once greeted warmly, Google wears out welcome
- AP, Fouhy: Obama to capitalize on Web to accomplish goals
- NYT, Zeleny: Obama faces loss of treasured BlackBerry
Obama’s Obsessive Supporters…Classic
Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are
My brain is out of gas
The tank is empty folks. I realized it this morning when updating PNN. I couldn’t figure out which were the good articles to post because reading made my temples pound. That means its time for a break.
This is was a good election year for me. I helped the First Tuesday team lead Derham Cole, Mike Forrester, Tom Young, George Hearn, and Mike Sottile to the Statehouse. I helped re-elect Senators Greg Ryberg and Larry Martin, and Representatives Keith Kelly and BR Skelton. I also got the opportunity to work with Strom Thurmond, Jr and produce TV ads and mail pieces for many, many more candidates. In the general election I took a leave from First Tuesday and joined Senator Harvey Peeler and Lisa Sox to help maintain the Senate Majority… a feat accomplished by re-electing Senator Shane Massey and helping Mick Mulvaney.
Most thrilling was watching Under The Power Lines grow into a thriving business. We helped Senator Jim DeMint become the nation’s most tech-savvy US Senator and led Congressman Gresham Barrett and Congressman Joe Wilson’s efforts on the web.
2008 wasn’t all fun. I did suffer one stinging defeat with Scott Talley for Senate, but I have all faith that Scott will make a comeback and help lead South Carolina to great places. After all, I’ve heard his name mentioned for Congress, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General.
On top of it all, I started this blog and Political Net News.
So now it’s time to fill up the tank. I’m heading to Charleston today to see some friends and to hopefully catch the Goose Creek High football game on Friday night. They just won the regional championship for the first time ever. I then leave for Tulum on Saturday morning.
I’ll update PNN tomorrow morning, but then it will be down for one week. Don’t freak out. It will be back.
Have a wonderful week.
Live SC Election Updates
Add the #sc2008 widget to your blog
Just copy and paste this code into your blog:
<ul id=”tweet-list” style=”list-style-type:none;margin:0;padding:0;”></ul>
<script src=”http://twemes.com/sc2008.json?variable=tweme_data&count=10″ type=”text/javascript”></script>
<script src=”http://twemes.com/javascripts/display_tweme_list.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>
<script type=”text/javascript”>display_tweme_list(tweme_data, “tweet-list”, true);</script>
And then say thank you to the Indigo Journal team for creating this widget.
Make the call when you lose
I was just sitting here thinking about how many times in the past couple years that an opponent hasn’t called, conceded, and congratulated one of my clients. When one of my guys loses, I always make them call.
Seriously guys, don’t be stupid. This is a hard set rule of campaigns. Don’t be a sore loser. No matter how nasty a race got, be a gentlemen and make the call.
Unfortunately, I have this feeling that a lot of Republicans will be the ones calling this year.
Btw, know what’s worse than a sore loser? A sore winner. There are a few of those floating around South Carolina right now.
Recent Geek Links
- VB: Try Netflix Watch Instantly on your Mac right now
- VB: Report: Facebook looking to raise more money, fast
- Problogger: 3 Successful Bloggers Share their Blog Tips [VIDEO]
- Problogger: 10 Ways to Find Readers for Your Blog By Leveraging Other Online Presence
- Lateral Action: The Ultimate Productivity Toolbox for Creative People
- RWW: Read It Later Comes To Google Reader
- Bivings Report: Election Day web tools
- Wired: Facts don’t get in the way of Web political rumors
- Hubspot: Why Twitter shouldn’t creep you out: An evaluation of Twitter culture and relationship building
- RWW: Errors By Bloggers Kill Credibility & Traffic, Study Finds
- Lifehacker: Top 10 Online Freebies and Deals
- Lifehacker: Hive Five: Five Best Travel Sites for Cheap Tickets
- Mashable: Sixteen Great Twitter Moments
- Mashable: Will the YouTube Generation Take YouTube to the Polls? Heck Yes.
- Mashable: 35+ Sites for Web Savvy Families
- Washington Times: Information generation shapes ‘08 race
View more at Political Net News.
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