Part 5: Text Messaging and Voter Turnout

The Obama “movement” used classic community organization tactics. It activated kids to pester parents, built social networks to involve even mildly tech savvy volunteers – give them a mission and “foxhole” buddies watching one another's progress. They transferred campaign staple tasks to these networks to take advantage of "participatory production": phone contacts, spam-filter-avoiding mass e-mailing, fund raising, canvassing...all from the comfort of home in your own neighborhood. Presidential politics truly became local.

Many conservative rebuilders fret about “tech” when they ought to fret about their lack of any social network. None of this is more than everyday stuff to most Americans. Text messages? Emails? C'mon!

It's all about making people welcome at the party, whether in person or on-line. Remember the “laughable” Obama e-mailed announcement of his vice presidential choice? “MyBO”, the campaign's portal, devoted its entire home page to an email sign up form to "Be The First To Know".

Read the message sent to followers by Obama's “futurist” David Plouffe:

“Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign -- choosing a running mate. You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice. Sign up today to be the first to know.

You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone. Once you've signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity. No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.

Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.

Thanks,
David”

Let's dissect the message: It thanks members for their efforts in building the movement. It invites them to be privy to an exclusive – the first to know this “important decision.” Better, one can easily forward this exclusive in-the-know knowledge to anyone. And for nothing a phone call or e-mail to sign-up. Harmless fun...and the "movement" garnered countless e-mails and phone numbers for a mere press release and a few minutes advance notice. Brilliant!

The “movement” followers treated the announcement like waiting for Santa. Like Saint Nick, it arrived at 3 a.m. to fulfill the anticipation built over a week of waiting amid the rumors.

Here's a bigger point: A study of 4,000 people on the effects of text messaging found that people who received a text message reminder to vote the day before an election were 4.2 percent more likely to get to the polls. What would that be worth to (probably former) Senator Norm Coleman about now?

So, it's time to stop laughing and get to work replicating. It begins with a concerted effort to create “social proof” that conservatism and Republican politics is a place to be. Instead of “beg letters”, the GOP and sympathizers could instead send invitations to on-line meet-ups.

It's easy to forget that half of America’s kids never go to college. While every campus has some political party representation, and locally active businesspeople and professionals throw cocktail receptions and Lincoln Day Dinners, there is plainly no equivalent outreach to the working world, whether youthful or otherwise. Almost 80 percent of the workforce is non-union. Get after them!!

These young Americans are working and paying taxes, and many question why all those taxes are withheld, or what value they receive. They are distrustful of such government programs as Social Security, many expecting zero from their contributions. And they are stable in that they tend to remain in the area of their upraising, involved in churches, schools, clubs and volunteer organizations – They know their neighbors. And what are conservatives doing to engage these “youth voters?” Cocktail receptions? $50 a plate dinners? Beg letters for contributions?

This is the fifth essay of a series, Please take the time to scroll down to the others. Comments are welcome!