so damn busy

My co-worker, Jennifer, recently pointed out to me that I comment on how busy I am pretty frequently around here, usually as an excuse for why I haven't been posting.

Observant, isn't she?

Being busy sucks, particularly when you miss out on finding useful resources past the point where they could be useful, like this news item from last Friday, the 13th, about a recent survey by Burst Media about the rising role of the Internet in political campaigns -- which sure would have been handy for my presentation this past Thursday.

But we've been talking about me doing the presentation for folks in the office, so maybe it will come in handy just yet . . .

According to the survey,

• nearly 27 percent of voters think that the Internet is the most useful resource for information about an upcoming election - more than those who look to television, newspapers or radio;
• nearly 24 percent of voters have clicked on a political ad for a candidate or for an issue campaign; and
  
• more than 40 percent of voters have visited a candidate's web site and nearly 37 percent have visited an issue advocacy organization's web site.

One of my tips in last week's presentation was that effective digital advocacy efforts have their potential supporters something to do. To not do so was to waste an opportunity to mobilize volunteers on their behalf, but it was also disempowering and, without something to do, those supporters were not likely to come back.

The Burst Media survey backs this up:

• nearly 46 percent of those who visited an issue advocacy site signed an online petition;
• just over 37 percent of those who visited an issue advocacy site signed up to receive email alerts and nearly 40 percent of those who visited a candidate's sign did the same;
• just over 19 percent of those who visited an issue advocacy site signed up to be a member;
• nearly 18 percent of both those who visited an issue advocacy site and those who visited a candidate's site made a donation; and
  
• nearly 14 percent of those who visited an issue advocacy site and nearly 17 percent of those who visited a candidate's site signed up to volunteer.

Jennifer, if only I wasn't so damn busy, right?