User-Generated Politics

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Yahoo!-sponsored panel discussion at the American Association of Political Consultants' annual meeting in Santa Monica, CA, on the subject of Politics & Online Advertising.  You can tell by the title of the session that the thinking on the subject was already pretty narrow.

I conducted a highly informal poll (of employees in our NY and LA offices, to be exact, naturally limiting my respondents to kids under 30 who both read and respond to "Public" emails), and asked them a couple of questions.  Where were they currently getting their information on candidates and issues?  What sources did they find most credible?  What did they feel was missing from the the media that would help them to be a better-educated voter?

Not unexpectedly, very few respondents got their information from traditional mainstream media channels.  If they did, it was through the .com versions of a CNN or MSN.  Where the real education process was occurring was through user-generated content.  Sometimes it was facilitated through a moderated channel (Yahoo!'s Democratic Candidate Mash-Up, or YouTube's Virtual Republican Debate) and then shared with others, but frequently the message was consumed in the form of actual content created by friends, or "friends" – those trustworthy individuals you've never actually met – and passed along through their networks.

I showed the audience a short video of what the next generation of voters was using to make decisions.

The consultants attending the AAPC panel were sort of stunned that they had effectively lost control of so much of their candidate's message.  Most were neither monitoring, responding to, or more importantly, creating any of the dialog that was happening in the world regarding their cherished and carefully-crafted brands.  They were quite proud that they'd translated fundraising activities to online channels, but few were thinking about what else was circulating along with their highly-optimized pleas for support.

I love democracy in action; in the world of UGC, there is not universal truth, only my truth.  And depending on how provocative or entertaining the "truth" is, I can influence more voters than a 30-second ad run on national television, costing millions of dollars.  I can create a national dialog around a subject that the party may not have registered as worthy of discussion.  Hell, I can create a national dialog around an outright lie.

The managers of "brands," whether consumer goods or political candidates, are navigating a new landscape, and their participation in social media is not optional.  Be the creators of the content, be worthy of engagement on a subject you want to talk about – but at the very least, know what's going on out there and be prepared to respond to it.

Oh: and the kids' answer to my question "What's missing from the mainstream media?"

"The truth."