New Media Campaigning31st March 2009

ICT Champion – East of EnglandCircuit Rider Manager i-TRUST

is an “organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group” and/or “mobilize public support and use democratic tools such as lobbying in order to instigate social change”.

Source Wikipedia

campaigns can seek local, national or international objectives

New Media (aka WEB 2.0 aka ‘The Live Web’)

“is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies”

Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_media

New Media breaks down in to roughly the following;

Social Networking Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc.

Social Book Marking Reddit, Digg, Del.icio.us, etc.

Blogs Wiki’s Collaborative Document Creation Image Galleries Flickr, Photobucket, You Tube, etc.

Mobile Communication Devices

In the lead up to today's conference a survey has been available for organisations to indicate their knowledge and usage of New Media in their campaigns.

Links to the survey were distributed via various email distribution lists (hopefully the same lists used to send details of today’s event)

94% had HEARD of New Media

60% had used New Media of some form 100% had used Social Networking Sites 70% had used Forums 60% had used Blogs 60% had used Media Storage 60% had used Google Apps 40% had used Wiki’s 20% had used Twitter 10% had used Social Bookmarking

30% had used New Media as part of a campaign◦ Using a mixture of Social Networking Sites, Blogs, Forums and Twitter

When asked whether using New Media had increased the effectiveness of the campaign

1/3rd said YES

2/3rd said NOT SURE!

Increases the number of communication methods available

Get your message to people/groups that would normally be missed using more traditional methods of communication

Helps to build new and different networks

New Media solutions provide additional ways of delivering/promoting your message.

Old Media (phone, letter, e-mail, newsletters, press releases etc) still have their place

Think of New Media as additional tools in your campaigning tool kit.

Barack Obama 44th & Current President of the United States of America used New Media solutions to great effect during his election campaign.

Facebook Twitter YouTube

The first president to be allowed to have a Blackberry whilst in office.

Successful campaigning requires ◦ Research◦ Developing a Strategy/Action Plan◦ Preparation of Media – Old & New◦ Delivery

Often means a need to work with others◦ If local / in the same locale no worries◦ What if more geographically spread?

Ultimately a New Media Solution can be found for many things

It can be very useful for giving access to meetings/conferences/launches etc to those who could not attend.◦ Video Key Note Speeches and publish on YouTube◦ Podcast Speeches etc◦ Publish Photos of the event

Pros F R E E!!! (in most cases) Access to a GLOBAL audience Your ideas and messages can be spread

very quickly Can take on a creative life of its own VERY HIGH PROFILE – the latest ‘buzz’

Cons

Can be intimidating if not used to using the internet/technology

Can be time consuming. Have a clear plan

Can be fickle. What is fashionable this week..

Impossible to control. People/groups may take your message and spin it to their own ends

New Media Campaigning

Certainly not the only method and won’t always be appropriate

New Media can provide you with extra tools for your campaign kit bag.

Can provide a wider range of communication and increase your audience.

www.mediatrust.org www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/

www.commoncraft.com – explanations of various New Media in Plain English

www.aflsocialenterprise.org/icteast/

www.cover-east.org www.i-trust.org.uk

www.google.co.uk

Will be posted on http://campaigningandnewmedia.blogspot.com

OR

www.tinyurl.com/cuvffj

Thank You For Your Kind Attention