If political campaigning is all about talking to people and getting them behind you and your mission, then it comes as little surprise that Facebook is core to an effective 21st century campaign.? Facebook, after all, is people-driven.? That?s what we do: real people, real identities, real connections, and real social change.? So in 2008, when the ambitious Colombian Oscar Morales brought together 12 million people from 120 cities to protest against FARC, the world paid attention.? Something was happening on this social website, once limited to college students and their classmates.? In what seemed an eclipse of time for those of us who were there, at our headquarters in California that year, it was no longer just friends taking pictures and updating their statuses about where they were going.? Facebook ? as a site, as a social service, as a community ? had changed.
Fast-forward four years, and Facebook?s role as a platform for campaigning is no longer a matter of experimentation and surprise.? It?s an essential tool to raise awareness, build momentum, and get out the vote.? From the United States, where President Barack Obama?s campaign staff placed the social web at the core of his 2008 campaign, to France, where Christine Lagarde held Facebook Q&A?s during her IMF candidacy, political representatives and their staff are continuously devising new strategies to reach people and connect with them.
In my experience as Facebook?s politics and government specialist in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, the central question to ask is not how you are using Facebook, but why.? If you are a veteran in the political game and you?ve campaigned successfully for years, why start using Facebook now? ?If you are enthusiastic about using Facebook as a tenant of your political life, why have you made this strategic decision? What is your purpose, your goal, your vision?
When we start by asking ourselves why, the answers fall into line as quickly as a landslide election.
?Why? is because people?s social patterns are changing: Facebook is part of their everyday social experience.
?Why? is because people are influenced by the opinions and ideas of their friends.? According to a recent PEW study, people who are connected on Facebook as compared to other social networking services are 67 per cent more likely to persuade someone on their vote.
?Why? is because people are craving authenticity in their political representatives.? As digital communications has empowered the free, unencumbered and open exchange of ideas, people are asking their political representatives to participate in this open dialogue.? They are asking for spaces online where their voices can be heard, and also for their political representatives to share with them how and why they will represent the people on issues they care about.
?Why? is because more than 50 per cent of the total population in the UK is on Facebook.? That?s more than 30 million people, and more than 50 per cent of these people are coming back to Facebook every single day.
?Why? is because elections determine who will represent the people.
It all comes down to people.
Imagine this reality: every day, you have the chance for a group of the constituents you?re working for in the UK to gather in one room, and to go back to their homes understanding just a little bit more about who you are and which issues you are working on.? Then, the next day, another group of constituents gather.? They learn something new.? They talk about it with their friends.? They encourage their friends to listen to you, too.
In the physical world, this is an exciting but impossible daily routine.? In the online world, it?s happening, and it?s happening every day.? The most important thing you can do is be there; spark the conversation; listen to the people; let them be your guide.? If people aren?t at the core of your political strategy, then once again ask yourself, ?Why Facebook??
Elizabeth Linder is Facebook?s politics and government specialist in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region
Progress and Facebook are holding a workshop on Wednesday morning at Labour party conference ?Top lessons from the US elections: How to run a successful social campaign and reach your constituents through Facebook?. Find out more here.
Photo: Xuoan?s Dailies
Facebook, online campaigning, social campaigning
Source: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/09/26/the-social-campaign/
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