FourSquare and Seven Months From Now: Would Lincoln Be on LinkedIn? (The Huffington Post)
More politicians look toward the web for campaigning tools as midterm elections approach.

Update: See also Kate Kaye’s earlier coverage at ClickZ.

Politico’s Morning Tech column has highlighted a clever use of mobile advertising in last week’s Florida primaries:

As the Sunshine State headed to the polls yesterday, down-ballot candidates bought Google online ads on mobile geo-targeted to specific districts, hoping to capture people who are doing last-minute research while waiting in line at the polls. Democratic State Senator and Attorney General hopeful Dan Gelber, who easily won his primary, used mobile Google ads for a 24-hour blitz on primary day. Lisa Small, likely soon to be declared winner of her circuit court judge race, also used the strategy, Google told us.

“For us, the biggest distinguishing factor is that every major newspaper in the state endorsed Gelber, so that’s a message we could get to voters in a few words in an ad, catching their attention on their phones as they’re going into the polls,” Christian Ulvert, Gelber’s campaign aide, told us. “Lower voter turnout was expected, so we turned to the digital world.”

Talk about in-the-moment targeting — these ads were aimed at people getting ready to vote, quite possibly as they were standing in the booth and looking up unfamiliar candidates on their cell phones at the last minute. We can imagine the kind of queries that these candidates might have purchased, for instance “voter guides,” “election,” “voting” and of course the candidates’ own names and those of their opponents (the folks at Google could no doubt help, since they could dig up information about what search terms people tend to use when they’re researching candidates).

I’d be curious to see how much an effort like this cost, both in the aggregate and per-click, and also how many people actually responded — though also note that a candidate’s ad would function as a virtual yard sign even if the viewer doesn’t click it. Obviously this tactic is about as niche an approach as you’re going to see, but particularly in a close race that hasn’t received much publicity, a handful of last-minute converts might make all the difference. Florida politics: taking late-cycle persuasion advertising to the limit!

– cpd

Israelis, Palestinians Expand Mideast Debate to Wikipedia (Tech President)
How Israel and Palestine are expanding their advocacy efforts through social media.

Open for Questions: The End of the Combat Mission in Iraq (YouTube)
Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes addresses questions regarding Iraq from the online community via YouTube.

Reach Older Users on Facebook and Twitter (PC World)
As the age of social media users matures, organizations must be mindful of engaging an older audience.

Timesavers to Manage Your Social Media Presence (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
Tips for making efficient use of social media efforts.

Vote Again 2010: Why You Should Hit The Polls
(The Huffington Post)
A coalition of over 30 youth organizations and media partners combine to encourage Gen Y to hit the polls through social media.

Debt, spending and taxes don’t exactly translate into blockbusters. Over the course of the past couple weeks, however, web videos on each subject have illustrated just how significant those issues are for engaged citizens.

A project called Bankrupting America set out earlier this year to escalate the issue of government spending by using innovative communications techniques. A major component was online video — not the easiest goal to fulfill given the platform, subject matter and audience.

After about four months of experimenting, Bankrupting America hit one out the park with its latest video and accompanying “Spending Fail Map.” Clay Broga and Michelle McAdoo ask people on the street about various government projects and whether they’re real or fake. It’s astonishing — and at times humorous — the stupid things our government funds.

“We tried to take a serious and concerning topic — how both parties in government are overspending our hard-earned taxpayer dollars in this time of economic need — and turn it into something that was both entertaining and informative,” McAdoo said.

The video recently hit viral status and is nearly at 150,000 views on YouTube. The best part? All it required was a little creativity and interviews on the street.

The office of House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) took the opposite approach. Its highly produced 13-minute documentary, “Obama’s Endgame,” chronicles the challenges of the national debt. Featuring interviews with Republican members of Congress, it’s a serious look at the consequences of inaction.

Conventional wisdom for years kept political and policy videos to about two minutes in length. The success of Cantor’s video shatters that notion. It currently has more than 100,000 views.

“Put simply, the public now accepts long-form online videos as a viable viewing choice; providing the opportunity to tell compelling stories and convey increasingly complex information,” writes Matt Lira, Cantor’s director of new media. “Undoubtedly, long-form video will play an important role in political communications going forward.”

Cantor’s video is significant for another reason: It builds on the success of the YouCut campaign. YouCut, conceived earlier this year as an interactive way to expose and eliminate runaway spending in Congress, has focused so far on smaller projects (albeit still expensive). As all politicians know — but some refuse to admit — it’s the big issues that need to be solved. It’s refreshing that Cantor is explaining the scale of the problem.

The third video making waves was produced by my colleague Brandon Stewart at The Heritage Foundation. It uses the concept of a theatrical trailer to tell the story of the impending tax hikes. It’s a clever way to communicate the seriousness of the issue in a non-wonky way.

“Obama’s Tax Hike: The Movie” has more than 25,000 views. More importantly, it has generated a robust debate about taxes on YouTube — in which Heritage is engaging. After all, isn’t that the point? A video could be hilarious and popular, but if it doesn’t advance the agenda, it’s a lost opportunity.

These three videos are just a few examples of the good work being done. They’re not the first and won’t be the last, but their success is an indication that Americans are seeking serious policy information in new ways.

Originally published by the Washington Examiner.

Dealing with the Disaster of Online Critique
(Tech President)
Learn pointers from the Air Force’s “Blog Assessment Strategy” for dealing with criticism online.

In a Crisis, Social Media are Popular Options (CNN Blog)
More people are turning to Facebook and Twitter for information and help in times of need.

What Do Voters Really Want? (California City News)
Research shows that the issues voters care about most may not be those that Congress is hearing about.