Politics and social networks

I’m no student of political science, but it seems to me that in large part political campaigns have always been about influencing social networks. As in most other decisions we make, I think people are most effectively influenced in their voting-booth decisions by the opinions of those around them. What is different in this year’s campaign is that for many people those “around” them aren’t around them physically. Those interested in thinking how web 2.0 tools could be used for archival advocacy might benefit from taking a look at how these tools are being used most effectively by the political campaigns. I will offer my use of my social network to work on behalf of Barack Obama as an example of 2.0 tools at work.

I’ve said before on this blog that I believe it is critical for the future of our country that Barack Obama be elected our next president. Early in the campaign, I created an account on Obama’s website and began receiving regular email updates (and many calls to donate!). I regularly post articles of interest to my Facebook account and I forward on items that others post. I’ve joined all the relevant Facebook groups.

Last week one of items I posted on Facebook was an article from Salon, “A Call To Arms,”  which challenged people to turn their outrage into action. The same day I got two relevant emails–one was from my 83-year old mother, forwarding on one of the many articles making the rounds in Democratic circles. She wrote, despairingly, “What can we do about this?”The other email was from the Obama campaign, containing suggestions for things people can do to help (including making a donation). I forwarded on the Obama message to my mother and suggested that she donate if she wants to help. She replied, asking how she could know whether a particular site was safe for her to donate online. (She’s 83, remember, and she’s still a little nervous about using her credit card online.)

So, convinced that I had to do more than just forward articles among my friends, I set up my own personal fundraising site: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/KateInPA and used the site’s tools to send out personalized announcements to contacts in my email address book. I sent one to my mother. She was the first person to donate–online.

But I can do more than that. On one of the blogs I read regularly I saw a video posted that I thought everyone should see. So, I can share that video with everyone who reads my blog. Please watch it:



If you want to learn more about the specifics of Obama’s plans, you can read about them at: www.barackobama.com/plan. If still have doubts because of things you’ve heard in the media, please go and get the facts. If you still have doubts, I’d be happy to talk to you about why I support Barack Obama.

My social network–and yours–has changed. Blogs, like this one, provide opportunities to share information for people who might otherwise have no way of connecting. I’m using my social networking to promote a cause I believe in. I hope you’ll consider making a donation to the Obama campaign through my donation site, starting your own site, passing along the video link, or taking whatever action you can to help Barack Obama become our next President. You can influence those around you, but just as when we discuss bringing about change in our profession, if you want change you have to work for it. And, as was pointed out in regard to the previous post, don’t write off the older members of our profession–or our country. We all need to pull together to bring about change, so use whatever tools you feel comfortable with. My mother is even now passing the link to my page along to everyone in her email address book. She’s doing what she can. Think about what you can do.

Granted, I don’t think archives will ever have the resources to put together the kinds of tools for its advocates that the Obama campaign has provided for me, but it’s not inconceivable to think of being able to use tools like these to promote archival advocacy, is it? What are we really talking about–personalization, sharing, linking, and regular communication. And, of course, finding a cause that people feel passionate about. Good organization, effective use of resources, and a good cause–aren’t those the keys to effective archival advocacy as well as an effective political campaign?

4 Comments

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  By David Kemper, September 18, 2008 @ 7:06 pm

  Nice work, Kate. Although I am a Canadian (with his own national election to deal with), I have been closely following the presidential race in the US. The presidential candidates are poised and attract devout followers. What an interesting set compared to our–YAWN–characterless, mindless political drones here in Canada.

  Besides the candidates, I truly admire the way in which Americans of all walks of life and political stripes stand up, express their outrage, and take action in some shape or form. Your online activity, for example, and your mom’s donation are perfect examples of people power in this Web 2.0 age.

  (To be fair, our Canadian candidates are their parties are using social media and networks.)

  Without becoming political, I agree that Barack Obama presents a very fresh face–and dare I say fresh ideas–in this campaign and would certainly bring the same to the White House.

  As I like to say, may the best campaigner win.

  It’s no secret to those with eyes and ears. The world is changing rapidly. From China and India to Russia and the oil-rich Arab states to Europe. And real dangers exist: the wild west between Pakistan and Afghanistan, for example. US supremacy is secure, for now. But without a vision for the future, the US will be overtaken, or in a more likely scenario bleed to death financially. Just as the US drained the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the War on Terror may do the the same to the US. God forbid.

  Again, I am a Canadian who is troubled by issues in his own country; but I still believe with all my heart that the US cannot afford to elect just another President – the American people need a leader with vision and the capacity to reunite and tap into the real energy of the US: the American people.

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  By Russell D. James, CA, September 18, 2008 @ 9:04 pm

  I lectured tonight on suffrage wants before the American Revolution and what everyone wanted with the vote and how people voted. They voted in blocks of neighbors. Their social networks were their neighbors and friends and fellow church-goers. The Baptists voted together, the farmers from Podunk Creek voted together, and the like. This made me think of the social networks we have now.

  I’ve been tapped to write two chapters for an upcoming e-book on Web 2.0 technologies for archivists – one on wikis and the other on the Facebook SAA group page. I’ve posed a number of questions to the Facebook group to help me get acquainted with the topic and many have commented that Facebook is the only way they get to “know” their colleagues apart from listserv professional topics and the occassional conference.

  Interesting how American social networks have gone from the personal to the impersonal (I know very few of the archivists on Facebook personally), from the local to the national. In a way we give up some things to get others. I’m not so sure that is a positive development.

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  By ArchivesNext, September 19, 2008 @ 4:59 am

  First, I need to correct an oversight. I should have also referenced a post by another one of my favorite bloggers, K.G. Schneider at The Free Range Librarian, “On politics, blogging, and being a Democrat” (http://freerangelibrarian.com/2008/09/14/on-politics-blogging-and-being-a-democrat/). She writes, in part:

  “I attended an Obama rally a few months back where the organizer said this wouldn’t be won by blog posts, and I agree with him. Phone calls, door-to-door, get-out-the-vote — all this is key.

  But it’s also all right to use this blog not in lieu of our actions, but in support of them. I see all elections as crucial — local, state, national. But this particular election cuts to the quick.

  [. . .]

  We need leadership, and Obama is a powerfully strong candidate for president. We’re incredibly fortunate he is running for office, and we have a chance to make this happen. Now and again, I’m going to talk about politics here, because it’s one more place to remind ourselves: yes we can. And yes we must.”

  Go read the whole thing to hear another information professional’s view on the election and blogging.

  David–thanks! Loved your interview with yourself post, by the way.

  Russell–I’m not sure I agree with your impression that we’ve had to give up personal social networks in order to gain these “impersonal” ones. We all still have our personal social networks–although they may not be as rich as they would have been 50, 100, or 150 years ago. But there are many, many reasons for that decline, so it’s not a quid pro quo.

  I actually use tools like Facebook to keep in touch with people I know who are scattered all over the country. Facebook helps me keep in touch. And I also have “friendships” with people due to Facebook that I never would have had otherwise. These aren’t the same kinds of relationships that we have with people we’ve met and spent time with, but they are social connections that would never have taken place without this application, and I don’t see that as a bad thing.

  There is no way to take us back to a time with the old social structures, even if we wanted to. The world can’t go backward, and it never sits still, so we have to keep moving forward with it.

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  By Lauren, September 26, 2008 @ 12:22 pm

  Hi, I’m doing some blog reading catch up today.

  This post, about the importance of being politically active among other things, made me think of the recent call in the SAA newsletter for archivists to blast Tom Brokaw with questions (for tonight’s presidential debate in Mississippi), as a way to push the candidates each to express an official stance on PAHR, the Presidential Records Act, etc. The strategy was interesting.

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