TEXT HOPE: Politics 2.0 teaching Biz 2.0 a lesson or two

DISCLAIMER: This is not a political post. So stick with me . . .

Did you notice the words at the bottom of the latest Obama TV ads? I hadn’t, until I had a chance to catch up with my Bill Moyers Journal podcasts. The Feb 29 podcast features media expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson discussing how the Presidential candidates are using the web as well as positioning their message. Audience segmentation, how text messaging is being used, using biographies to hit campaign points.

And part of what they’re doing on this channel is different, candidate to candidate. So when you look at the ads for Barack Obama across the recent primaries and caucuses, in some of those ads, you see an instruction that I bet went past you when you saw all those spots. And certainly, it passed me, until I asked one of the students what it was doing there. It says, “Text hope.” And then it gives you a number.

They didn’t mention the T-Shirts with the text messaging info, but I’ve seen them around Austin for at least two weeks. Good stuff. While I prefer the podcast, a quick scan ot the transcript and related blog post is insightful as well.

I just hope the politicians keep thinking out of the box AFTER they get in office. What are the chances that [partisan political candidate name here] will keep using the Twitter, MySpace, Second Life, and text messaging once they win?

Bill Moyers Journal 29 February 2008 Transcript, Blog Entry, Profile, Podcast/Vodcast.