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end of year wrap up

It feels a bit like cheating to write an end of year blog post when I haven't been posting much, but I'm a sucker for tradition and a touch obsessive compulsive, so it's going to happen. And, well, I'm resolved to get this blog going again in 2009, so consider this a new beginning.

Anyway, this is my, I believe, fourth end of year post. I generally wait for Kristen to tag me, but she's pretty much abandoned her blog as well, so I'm not sure I can wait that long.

Here we go.

What did you do in 2008 that you had never done before?

• Spoke at a funeral

• Became really comfortable with public speaking — in fact, I get a rush from it now.
  

Did you keep your new year's resolutions and will you make more for next year?
Last year I said that I didn't make new year's resolutions and I kept to my word. Well, maybe I need to start making them and sticking to them because things NEED to get better. I've made 15+ resolutions for 2009 and things ARE going to get better.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
I feel like everyone around me is getting married and having babies, which makes sense because I am a single woman in her (late) 30's and we get like that. Anyway, a couple of friends with whom I was close in college had babies: Freyja and Kira. My new friend Ashton also pushed out a puppy and Mark's wife Maureen had a baby at the beginning of the year. I think that's it. Let me know if I missed anyone.

Did anyone close to you die?
My grandmother, Ruth Fields, died in February. And, yes, this has something to do with my answer about what I did this year that I have never done before. I read something at her funeral that she had asked to be read. I remember it rhymed and kinda felt like something you'd cut out of Reader's Digest and tape to your refrigerator if you were into taping things about not being sad after you're dead on your refrigerator. We're planning her unveiling now and I miss her horribly. I also know that, when I wrote last year that no one close to me had died, I would be writing about her death this year.

I miss you, Grandma, and I always will.

What countries did you visit?
I traveled a great deal this year, but primarily the 2,306 (according to United) miles between Washington DC an Seattle. Internationally, I only traveled to The Netherlands in August and to France in October.

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Some success at business development would be nice. But there's one thing I spent way too much time in 2008 really really really wanting that I would love to have in 2009, but I think maybe it's better just to, instead, regain my sanity and perspective and stop wanting it so much.

Maybe I shouldn't want it at all, as a matter of fact.

What date from 2008 will remain etched in your memory, and why?
How can I say anything but November 4? Holy shit. Woke up godawful early to vote and ended the day in tears amazed, AMAZED when Keith Olbermann announced that Barack Obama was projected to be the next president of the United States. Wonderful, beautiful, hopeful.



What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I don't really feel like I pulled off any great achievement this year. It felt more like endurance; I kept going despite it all. Sorry to be such a drama queen but it just was not a banner year. The bar is low, but 2009 will be a marked improvement.

What was my biggest failure?
That I merely endured?

Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was pretty healthy this year. I'm sick now with a cold, but the body stood up pretty well. Keep going, baby.

What was the best thing you bought this year?
I have worn my black Frye boots so often this year that I had to have the heels replaced. I am embarrassed by how often I wear them.

Whose behavior merited celebration?
I cried when Hillary Clinton called for Obama to receive the Democratic nomination by acclimation from the floor of the Convention. I respect her tremendously and know how badly she wanted the nomination — and for the right reasons — but she rose above in a way that all of us should aspire to.



Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Sarah Palin is repulsive. She is an idiot. But even worse than Sarah Palin are the fools who fell for her crap. You should all be sent to Guantanamo and forced to stay there for seven years without a trial. Okay?

Where did most of your money go?
Buying other people drinks and dinner. And dresses. I bought a hell of a lot of dresses this year.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I got pretty damn giddy about the election.

What song will always remind you of 2008?
There are two songs: "I Found a Reason" by Cat Power



and "Beautiful Child" by Rufus Wainwright.



Compared to this time last year are you happier or sadder?
I think I might be sadder. It's been a tough year. But I'm hopeful, so the chin is up.

Compared to this time last year are you thinner or fatter?
I think I might be fatter. I'm definitely not thinner. That's next year.

Compared to this time last year are you richer or poorer?
Richer.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Showed love.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worked. But more importantly, resented working. That's crap.

How will you be spending New Year's?
I celebrate on New Year's Day and generally just go to bed on New Year's Eve. I know it makes me sound like a boring old lady, but I want to capitalize on the hopefulness of the new year by waking up feeling good and spending the day doing something that makes me happy.

Did you fall in love in 2008?
I was in love when the year started . . .

How many one night stands?
No more one night stands for me. Late night text messages from friends with whom I have an understanding? Yeah, those, those happened. But I won't count.

What was your favorite TV program?
I tend to watch more television shows on Netflix now than on television. Whole series at a time. Discover a great show and then watch the hell out of it. Friday Night Lights is the latest. Season 1 was leaps and bounds better than Season 2, but I'll definitely be tuning in for the premiere of Season 3 on NBC on January 16.


Do you hate anyone know that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't hate people. But I do dislike a couple of people whom I didn't even know last year. How's that?

What was the best book you read?
I loved Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson, particularly in the midst of the election. I wish Hunter was around to cover this one.

What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
My love for Liz Phair returned with a vengeance this year after I saw her at the 9:30 Club in DC in August. I had been listening to Exile in Guyville and then realized after the fact that Whip Smart was amazing.


What did you want and get?
A Democrat in the White House.


What did you want and not get?
I don't want to get into specifics, but I lost something I didn't even know I had. The biggest surprise was in realizing how much I wanted it when I realized I couldn't.

What was your favorite film of this year?
"He could wield a pretty effective sword against what's going on right now."

I loved Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson.



What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I was at my grandmother's funeral on my birthday and I was as old as the hills.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting that thing I wanted.

How would you describe your personal fashion statement in 2008?
This year's uniform was a dress, black tights and black boots. And the headbands continue to go strong.

What kept you sane?
Who — Ray Page, Japanese salary man

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I have to be too old to answer this question with any dignity. Jason Bateman remains my longest running crush. I've developed new crushes on Kyle Chandler, Zach Gilford and Taylor Kitsch on Friday Night Lights. Hunter S. Thompson is my dead crush.

What political issue stirred you the most?
I'm pretty much at a boil at all times when it comes to politics, so this question has never worked for me. I had tunnel vision this year. I just wanted to WIN.

Who did you miss?
Grandma.

Who was the best new person you met?
Ray Page, Japanese salary man

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008?
I've learned a fair amount of humility in 2008 and he'll hate to hear it if he ever reads this, but I credit my friend Ray Page. I listen to his feedback in a way that I have never been able to before because I sincerely trust the source and, in the process, have gotten better at listening to feedback from others.

It's a really mutually supportive friendship that makes me pretty damn happy — except when we rag on each other mercilessly and I want to scoop his heart out and eat it with a side of fries.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your ear.
Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train.

The President-Elect's Social Media Grade - So Far

Barack Obama, since winning the Presidential election, has indicated that social media will be a part of his presidency, just as it was a part of his presidential campaign.

In the 18 days since he was elected, he has launched Change.gov, the Web site of "the Office of the President-Elect" and has done two weekly addresses via YouTube on the ChangeDotGov channel.

So, how is he doing?

Change.gov/Grade = B -

The most impressive part of Change.gov is the speed with which it was launched, just two days after the election, on November 6. But what about the content?

Positive:
1) It has a blog that is updated almost daily and often multiple times per day, meaning the site is giving a reason to users to keep coming back. (You can sign up for an RSS feed for the blog.)
2) The blog posts incorporate video from the ChangeDotGov YouTube channel, as well as photos, making it (albeit slightly) more visually compelling.

Negative:
1) The blog does not accept comments which, as far as I am concerned, means that it's NOT a blog and is instead simply a series of press releases written in more conversational tone and listed in reverse chronological order. Boo.
2) While the site encourages visitors to submit their comments on agenda issues , these comments are not able to be seen by other visitors to the site. In fact, it's unclear what will become of the comments. What then, is the motivation to submit? Peter Kim recently wrote on his blog that the incentive for social media participation is the "activation of the feedback channel - that others agree, disagree, share, favorite their content." What is the incentive when the content seemingly falls into the abyss, never to be heard from again?
3) This same sense of an "abyss" applies to the site's "An American Moment: Your Story" feature. What are they going to do with this content?

ChangeDotGov YouTube Channel/Grade = B-

Barack Obama is alternately being compared to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt — pretty good company to keep. The FDR comparison was only heightened with the launch of Obama's "Weekly Address from the President-Elect," which is being compared with the former President's Fireside Chats, which were used to provide comfort and motivation to the country in the midst of the Great Depression.

Positive:
1) Posting content to YouTube encourages its viral spread, particularly because of the feature which allows users to cut and paste code to embed it on their blogs, social network profiles, etc.
2) The "Inside the Transition" videos from transition team members, particularly the video from Heather Zichal, a member of Obama's Energy and Environment Policy Team, are great. Heather responds directly to comments that have come in on Change.gov (so, THAT's how they're being used), helping to communicate that the new administration really just might be listening.

Negative:
1) Both comments and ratings have been disabled. Is someone afraid of a little honest feedback?
2) Barack Obama is a great speaker. There's no doubt about it. But his style in these Weekly Addresses is all wrong for the medium. I know, I know, he's President-Elect and he needs to present himself as "presidential." But we already let him know that we think he's presidential by electing him to the Office. Now we're counting on him to change what that means. Obama? Yeah. Relax a little and come out from behind the desk. Give us a reason to want to share them with our friends — our friends who don't suffer from insomnia.

Do you agree that Obama could be doing better with his social media efforts?

4 Reasons Why Obama Should Still Engage in Social Media

Barack Obama is being called our "first social media President" due to his use of online word of mouth marketing to be elected President of the United States. Those of us who have been proselytizing about social media to our clients and colleagues simultaneously feel an inevitable sense of validation and a tinge of fear (and frustration) as clients feel inclined to ask, "Why can't we do what Obama did?"

(Folks, Obama's marketing campaign cost $640 million and had the key ingredient of any successful word of mouth marketing campaign: a really excellent "product" with a great story to tell.)

But now what? How can he continue to engage with social media successfully once he is in the White House — and should he?

Four Reasons Why Barack Obama Should Continue to Engage with Social Media

Number One: The 2012 Election is Already Underway

The 2012 Presidential election started on November 5, maybe even the moment that Barack Obama took the stage with his family in Grant Park. He is going to need money and the same grassroots infrastructure to get reelected and there's no time like the present to get started.

Number Two: Young Voters

Young voters have disproportionately voted for Democratic candidates in the past two presidential elections and the Republican Party, as it focuses on rebuilding itself following its huge losses in this year's election, is likely to be investing in strategies to engage young people and sell them on the Republican brand. To retain their support, Obama, with millions of young people already in his camp, must rely on young voters to engage their peers — and younger siblings and friends — as word of mouth ambassadors by reaching out within their social networks on his behalf.

Number Three: His Network Makes Him Stronger

November 5 was not only the start of the 2012 election for President, it was the start of the 2010 congressional election. Obama's former colleagues in the Senate and House would love to have the support (financial and grassroots) of Obama's network. Knowing that it remains intact — and, perhaps, is growing in size and strength — gives Obama a powerful bargaining tool and people to call on and mobilize when he needs a helping hand to see his policies through.

Number Four: He Has Created Expectations that He Needs to Live Up To

When I talk to people about social media, I explain to them that I think social media has contributed to and is reflective of a change in the relationship between consumers and the brands with which they do business. Consumers have expectations that brands need to live up to to be successful:

1) consumers want brands to listen to them,
2) they want brands to be honest and transparent, and
3) they want brands to provide them with the opportunity to help them achieve their missions.

Obama, as a brand, lived up to each of these expectations, in part through the use of social media. If he turns his back on them now, by demonstrating that he is no longer willing to listen, to let them in, and to involve them in creating "the change we want to see," he will lose them and he will have demonstrated that "change" was nothing more than a campaign slogan.

Do you have any reasons to add to the list — or do you think Obama should shut down his Twitter account now that he's heading to the Oval Office?

It looks like he has already made that decision . . .

how can you settle?

good morning

president election barack hussein obama

it's okay to feel morally superior

via Jossip

we can do this

a washington celebrity

Barack Obama comes back swinging in response to the McCain's accusations of Obama as a celebrity, along the lines of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.



Here's the original ad from McCain.



And, what the hell, here's the response from Paris Hilton, probably the best of all.

pitting a black man against a white woman

GeekLove asked me to post her videos about Hillary after reading my post about Marie Cicco's piece in the Post.

They're a little long, but they are, nevertheless, inspiring and should remind us all (yes, including Hillary) that the revolution that is the 2008 election should not be remembered as an election in which we allowed the media to pit a black man against a white woman and, in the process, let an old, white, millionaire man win.

dream. team.

Edwards, son of a mill worker and my candidate of choice, is endorsing Obama.

Make your own Obama poster.

is the force with barack?

del.icio.us tags: politics

Rob Garner from iCrossing posts on Media Post's Search Insider about their recent findings about how voters are using search. According to the research:

• Voters are relying on search to understand how the candidates' feel about certain issues.
  
• The top issues on their mind — as reflected in the most prominent searches — are health care and the economy.
• There are gender differences, however. Women are more likely to be searching for health care, education and the environment. Men, meanwhile, are searching for information about the economy, the war in Iraq, jobs and the "war on terror."
• Perhaps because he started out the campaign with the least amount of name recognition among the three remaining candidates, Obama has the "highest overall search interest."
  

the cycle of neglect has been broken

There's an editorial from Catherine Rampell in Sunday's Washington Post that says the efforts of nonpartisan youth voter engagement groups like Rock the Vote and Declare Yourself have, year after year, been a failure and that "the junior Senator from Illinois" (aka Barack Obama) has been the force we have all been waiting for to get young people to the polls.

No f*cking kidding -- except that I think there's more to it. Something had to happen to make it clear that it was worth it for the Obama team to try to engage those young voters.

Back in 2000, I was at the helm of one of those organizations: Rock the Vote (so, yes, I was feeling a bit defensive when I read the editorial). We did, as Rampell writes, try to increase the number of young people who turned out to vote by eliminating barriers to their participation and by suggesting that voting was a "subversive" activity ("Piss of a Politician. Vote." was one of the t-shirts our street teams were wearing that year). But we were also doing something else that Rampell neglects to acknowledge: we were trying to convince politicians and their campaign advisers to invest money in youth voter outreach and to speak to young voters by directly addressing issues that were relevant to their lives.

The Youth Vote Coalition -- which included leadership from Rock the Vote, the League of Women Voters, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, U.S. PIRG and the National Council of La Raza -- literally called on the candidates for the White House to dedicate a debate to address young voters (back in the day when there wasn't a debate every fifteen minutes). The idea was sh*t on by the Commission on Presidential Debates when their leadership dismissed our proposal with the response, "We can't dedicate a debate to every group that wants one. Left-handed flute players want their own debate."

(Literally. Left. Handed. Flute. Players.)

We KNEW that our organization's paltry budgets could not compare to the hundreds of millions of dollars that candidates were investing in reaching older, more reliable voters. We KNEW that, to create true, meaningful change and to get young people to vote, we were going to need to demonstrate to campaign advisers that it was worth it, that the cost of the youth vote wasn't too high for them to invest in. We KNEW that the "cycle of neglect" (young people ignoring the political process because the political process ignored them) would only be broken if a candidate stepped up to the plate and said to young people, "I want your vote." In the meantime, we made t-shirts and ads and we appeared on CNN and in the newspapers to remind the powers that be that young people were checking out and that a generational dismissal of the democratic process wasn't democracy at all.

Yes, Senator Obama has done a tremendous amount to bring young people out to the polls (which is due, in some part, to the tireless efforts of his director of youth voter outreach, a former Rock the Vote staffer, Hans Riemer). But, as I said up front, I think there's more to it. Other forces are in play that have made it possible for Obama to do what we were begging other candidates to do eight years ago.

Campaign strategists think about the cost per vote. Literally. How much does the campaign have to spend to get you to show up at polls and pull the lever in your favor? When the most effective media was television, it wasn't a good deal. Paying for ad time on shows that targeted 18-24 year olds was expensive and the ROI was low.

But today? The 2004 election -- which saw a increase in youth voter turnout -- demonstrated that young people were, post-9/11 and in the midst of the Iraq war, more confident that the question of who was sitting in the White House had some relevance to their lives. And they were voting Democrat.

In 2008, this bump in youth participation, coupled with the exponential decrease in the cost of reaching young voters because of the reach and engagement of social media, is what I think gave the Obama team the rationalization they needed to truly invest in young people, the incentive to break the cycle of neglect.

And then Obama brought the rest. But "the rest" that he brought would not, I believe, have been accomplished without social media. That sense of a national movement with unstoppable momentum? The over-capacity crowds at every stop? That's not television ads and direct mail, my friends. That's social networks. That's text messaging.

1) Young people needed to step up to do their part to break the cycle of neglect.

They did.

2) The cost of reaching young voters needed to decrease.

It did.

3) A candidate -- and his campaign -- needed to see the new ROI of investing in the youth vote.

He did.

And then he trusted this new media to not only reach young voters, but to engage them as well and to enable them to become evangelists for the cause.

Serendipity, folks. The cycle of neglect has been broken.

del.icio.us tags 03.07.08

Word of Mouth
Robbin at Brains on Fire can't figure out why folks in the C-suite are so freaked out about "loud and proud customers taking co-ownership of (their) success." As she says, "It requires letting go of control," something that the Barack Obama campaign, she points out (as well as Ron Paul, I point out) have been willing to do, to their benefit. In this election cycle, voter generated contact has increased the profile of candidates with minimal name recognition and have helped to turn out record numbers of voters at the polls. "Why," Robbin asks, "should a company care if its customers create art with your product or express their love in a song?"

Digital Advocacy
Katya at Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog has a list of 15 reasons why people make donations to organizations. Note, she says, that "'Because I loved the organization's brochure,' is not on there." What is? Word of mouth, great storytelling, a belief that they can have an impact, tax deductions, personal values, it's the cool/right thing to do. Check out the full list and consider adding a few of your own.

Fan Brands
Dave Armano is such a rock star. I would love to be able to think in terms of visuals and tell such simple yet fascinating stories through infographics in the way he does. This time it's the "Novelty Curve": the path from "I can't live without this" to "what was I thinking?"

del.icio.us tags 03.05.08

Pete Blackshaw, blogger, Ohio resident and new daddy, has spent some time looking at the interactive strategies of the Democratic presidential candidates and is impressed.

He's posted the the 10 Interactive Marketing Tips from Barack and Hillary on ClickZ and here is some of my favorite stuff from the list:

• The candidates' web sites are giving visitors plenty to do. They're not just asking for your vote; they are asking for your time, your money and more, effectively engaging voters and creating a movement. This is something that too many folks forget to do.

• The candidates understand the power of word of mouth and are ensuring that they are providing their supporters with tools to act as evangelists -- including embeddable video, the "B roll" of social media, and other "currency" to "drive buzz."
• The candidates' web sites are letting others speak on their behalf by pulling in consumer/voter generated content to their sites. Others should be so brave.

Thanks, Pete.

del.icio.us tags: politics

In a post on TechPresident, Isaac Garcia has a great analysis about how Senator Obama's campaign is an illustration of how the Long Tail theory is coming to life in politics. Essentially, just as technology has provided the opportunity for marketers to reach the most narrow niches of consumers, it has also enabled candidates to tailor their messages and engage those who may have felt left out of the process in the past - as donors, as ambassadors and as voters.

The Kaiser Family Foundation's health08.org has pulled together an "issue spotlight" on global health and HIV/AIDS, providing an analysis of Clinton, Huckabee, McCain and Obama's positions on what they will do as President to wipe out poverty-related disease in the developing world. You may have made your decision or cast your vote already, but if this issue matters to you as much as it does to me, we still need to be prepared to hold the new administration accountable to their promises when the dust finally settles.

Update: Matthew Kavanaugh is asking a valid question at The Huffington Post about the current crop of candidates' commitment to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. In the midst of reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), where are their voices?

couldn't have said it better myself

Who had the power to remove the video that illustrated Senator Barack Obama's supposed plagiarism of a speech made by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick?

According to YouTube, "This video has been removed due to terms of use violation."