Social/Media Campaign 2012

In 2007 and 2008, during the emergence of social media, I covered the presidential campaign for the Talk Radio News Service. Tomorrow I depart for a few weeks on the road covering the 2012 campaign.

Some of my time  - particularly early in the primary process – will be spent creating content independently for the KoPoint Wire. I’ll also do some fun stuff alongside SoundCloud, Talk Radio News, and a few smaller organizations. Twitter and Google+ will be my primary status platforms, I’ll push audio reports and tour thoughts to mySoundCloud account, use Tumblr to curate campaign related social news, post photos and snapshots to Instagram, and summarize social campaign content with Storify.

The majority of my time will be spent on a bus tour with Americans Elect. Americans Elect is a non-partisan organization that aims to place an independent candidate on the ballot in all 50 states in the 2012 General Election. From their website:

THE GOAL OF AMERICANS ELECT is to nominate a presidential ticket that answers directly to voters—not the political system. American voters are tired of politics as usual. They want leaders that will put their country before their party, and American interests before special interests. Leaders who will work together to develop fresh solutions to the serious challenges facing our country. We believe a secure, online nominating process will prove that America is ready for a competitive, nonpartisan ticket.

I will be creating content for and I will be covering much of the campaign for Americans Elect, but I am not a voice for or of the organization. To this point we’ve had a great relationship and I’m fascinated with their passion for post-partisan politics. But we are independent actors and my role is to make media with and cover the campaign with Americans Elect, but not necessairly to endorse their position(s). This relationship is great as it allows them to leverage the transparency and trust equity of journalism, and allows me to have full, up-close access to an emerging movement.

I’ve long maintained that social media represents the democratization of the dissemination of information. The next few weeks are sure to be intense, but I’m incredibly excited about digging deep concurrently in to both politics and emerging media. Our team will be traveling the east coast and I’ll spend as much time on the streets talking with social media voters. I’d love to hear from you and your thoughts on the impact of social media on politics.

Take care. See you soon.

- Dan