B2GMedia

A survey of the California AG candidate websites

Ryan — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:23:05 +0000

At B2G we try to stay on top of what everyone’s doing out there, and here in California we expect to see some of the best campaign websites emerge for the 2010 cycle. Most of the field has their developers and designers already tweaking stylesheets and enhancing their flash movies.

As new candidates enter they will have to at least meet the standards set by the other opponents. So far in the Attorney General race, the competition is stiff. In this post we analyze Chris Kelly (kelly2010.com), Kamala Harris (kamalaharris.org), and Ted Lieu (tedlieu.com).

1. Chris Kelly

URL: www.kelly2010.com
CMS: Drupal
Donations: ActBlue

There are a couple of interesting things to point about off the bat here. This Chris Kelly, for all of his tech-savvy-ness, being a Facebook exec and all, wasn’t able to grab chriskelly.com back in 2000 before another Chris Kelly of Chapel Hill, NC did. And going off the Facebook theme again, there is a clear influence in color and font from his current employer. Not to mention, Kelly is the only AG candidate to show his Facebook widget on each internal page.

Kelly’s home page is simple and effective. The design is smooth and familiar. The flash box is nicely placed and not too active. We also like that the top third of the bottom content row is visible. This way it’s above the fold so we know it’s there, but we don’t have to scroll down if we don’t want to. For most first-time visitors that’s a plus.

2. Ted Lieu

URL: www.tedlieu.com
CMS: Drupal
Donations: Durkee and Associates E tribute

Lieu takes a less sophisticated, more playful approach to his home page. On first glance it might appear like a Web 2.0 startup: rounded corners, pastel colors, light gradients. The interactive image rotator is nice but doesn’t sit well in the center of the site. The menus on top, left, and bottom are redundant. Common practice says if you give people too many choice they do nothing. It is no surprise, then, that Lieu has the lowest traffic (based on Alexa rating) of all three candidates. In my opinion, it also has the poorest design.

3. Kamala Harris

URL: www.kamalaharris.org
CMS: Drupal
Donations: NGP

Kamala has my favorite website of the three. My only complaint is that the home page never paginates its content. I’m not sure why the web team would allow for the content to go on and on. There may be some SEO intention here, but it is not user-friendly. There are, however, plenty of other things Harris and her team got right.

I love the splash you see when you first get to her page. Better yet, I love that it won’t take me back to it after I clicked skip. The splash itself is boldly designed with a terrific picture of Kamala Harris against a blue starry background. It asks for email and cell phone numbers for text messaging. Another good sign.

The rest of the site is bloggy, but I’m willing to forgive. The interior pages have roughly the same layout and feel and I quickly lose interest. However, this is an Attorney General’s candidate website; you don’t need more than 30 seconds. And she got it right. What you need is the email addresses of as many visitors as possible. So her splash and landing pages, which is all 99 and 98% of her traffic, respectively, will see, must be the best. And they are.

Conclusion

It is interesting to note that all three candidates are on Drupal instead of one of a closed CMS (kamalaharris.org is still rocking the Drupal favicon). I will be curious to see which service they go through for email and newsletter management as well. Time to sign up!

Event success!

Drew — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:07:55 +0000

Thank you to all that showed up and all that participated as event panelists. We have been receiving stellar reviews these past few days and have to give credit where credit is due – to you!

The conversation moved from the simple question of “what does ‘2.0′ really mean” all the way to a concerted search for the inter-play between traditional politics, new media, and the message. It was an exciting conversation to say the least. We are currently cropping video and transcribing text, so stay tuned for those gems yet to come…

Ultimately, the event was a great success and we have already started planning for a second in San Francisco. Stay tuned!

Thanks again to all that participated. What were your thoughts?

Our Challenge…

Drew — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:00:18 +0000

I came across this quote today.

“We must use all available technologies and methods to open up the federal government, creating a new level of transparency to change the way business is conducted in Washington, and giving Americans the chance to participate in government deliberations and decision-making in ways that were not possible only a few years ago.“
—From Barack Obama’s campaign platform on technology

Do you think the President can accomplish these goals? Was it just a campaign promise? Notice that he says “only a few years ago.” Is this true? What will inhibit this progress? What can we do to impact it?

Food for thought I guess.

From Tech to the Top

Ryan — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:06:18 +0000

I recently came across this post on CNN about whether tech personalities can break into politics. It is a well-written article that compares Whitman to other political novices who made it into their state’s top office. Jesse Ventura, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Ronald Reagan each made the leap. Meg Whitman, with her tech cred, shouldn’t have to jump much further than these guys, right?

It begs the question: If being CEO of eBay makes you qualified to run the state, does that mean Arnold should take over Google? Or Facebook? (Hey, even a 24-year-old can run it!) I think it is a disservice to those of us who care about public offices, who might have a degree or two related to the field, who still believe as the Founding Fathers did that one should not be able to purchase high office.

The fact is, Whitman, without her billions, is not a serious candidate. Schwarzenegger made movies and had charisma, so millions knew and admired him. His net worth helped but was not necessary for him to become governor. Whitman is a different story. People know eBay; they do not know Whitman. She is a capable and smart leader, but as Arnold found out the hard way, the political stage is unlike any other. If Whitman thought her Board at eBay was tough, wait till she wrestles with the Capitol. It is infinitely more complex, more conniving, and there’s no way around it.

For these reasons I do not think a Whitman administration is good for the state. We need a political leader, not a private one.

Gov 2.0 Hits Home in San Francisco

Ryan — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:35:12 +0000

Following up on yesterday’s Gov 2.0 post, I found another, much closer to home example of this trend. San Francisco, home of Twitter and a host of other Web 2.0 companies, launched its very own App Store. In a move to make government more “transparent” and increase “access” to data in SF, Mayor Newsom proudly announced the launch of a new website: DataSF.org.

Data SF

On this site the first featured app has a crime feed that doesn’t seem to populate, but there is a very simple API that seems to lend itself to mobile and web apps. I wish more cities would make crime data so accessible. Further down the list in the crime category is a link to Crime Reports and Spot Crime, both of which provide a nice Google Maps interface plotting different types of crimes. Spot Crime, however, provides an RSS feed of the reports for a host of cities throughout California. Crime Reports did not provide an explanation why they don’t do the same.

Other apps include one that tracks taxi cabs, hosted by the Exploratorium, a popular science museum near the Golden Gate Bridge. My personal favorite is Every Block, an app that ties blog posts to specific locations in the city, so you can see what people are writing about your neighborhood.

My conclusion is that our tech-savvy mayor, though he will need more than a handful of fancy gadgets to win the gubernatorial election, is taking this city in a new and bold direction. I hope more mayors in the Bay Area follow suit.

To Gov 2.0 And Beyond

Ryan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:27:39 +0000

It has been a very active month in the Government 2.0 universe. The Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington, D.C. ended this week, just in time for Facebook to launch its government page. Not to be outdone, Google launched a government page recently too.

We appear to be in the midst of a culture shift in the public sector. The momentum of the Obama campaign and President Obama’s subsequent win is beginning to spill over into the administration itself. The most telling event was the release of the United States Government’s own App Store, Apps.gov, created by US Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra.

Interestingly, under the Blogs and Microblogs section, there is only one app: WordPress. Where’s Twitter? Conspicuously absent.

The emergence of a more tech-friendly government can only mean good news for startups. At best it will lower costs, improve efficiency, and provide citizens with yet another window into public offices. At worst, it will throw more information into an already crowded Internet or provide hackers with another tunnel to infiltrate sensitive databases.

It has already sprung a host of enthusiasts, notably Adriel Hampton who recently ran in the California District 10 race. Other great resources are TechPresident, SocialGovernment, and the new Huffington Post Technology section.

My conclusios: Gov 2.0 is on the move and it’s good for the country. It’s also good for B2G. You can’t beat that!

Time is money, even in politics

Ryan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:51:34 +0000

More like especially in politics.

And since these days a campaign is more like a startup anyway, anything that can be kept from being outsourced or managed for a fee in-house is as good as the hourly wage not paid.

Here are a few huge savings campaigns typically find by going the Internet route:

Stamps. Unless you want to take that age-old novel approach of sending something in hard copy. These days it’s a classy unexpected touch to get a nice mailer from a campaign office. More common is the ubiquitous campaign email with donation links every other sentence. But that’s the way business is done in an Internet campaign. No stamps!
Bank accounts. It takes time to set up a bank account. And when you accept credit cards, you basically have to post a bond against the payment in case it fails. There’s a lot of risk, and that’s why many companies have emerged in this space. Small companies will go with PayPal or Authorize.net rather than deal with credit card companies themselves. And these days, if you’re a Dem at least, you have ActBlue. No more bank account fees!
Data Acquisition. This has been going on for decades, but at least since the 1970s, it’s been a fool’s errand to go out and collect your own demographic data. Stop right now if that’s what you’re considering. Go instead with VAN or Aristotle. They’re the data gods and have every bit of voter information available for your download, if you’re a legitimate candidate. Oh, and you have to belong to the right party. But don’t worry, if you’re a Democrat or Republican, at least, you’re pretty well covered.

Mass email, electronic bank account providers, and online voter file administration have saved millions of dollars and hours over the last several cycles. What will come next? Stay tuned to this blog and we’ll drop a few hints…

Climbing The ICT Mountain

Drew — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:28:02 +0000

It is (and has been) my opinion for some time now, that today we stand at the foothills of an unconquered mountain. This mountain is made of new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and we have yet to ascend even the foot.

We have however, come into contact with the first plataue – “Web2.0″. Unlike other great techno-cultural developments of the past, ”Web2.0″ cannot be conquered with the same tools and strategies that conquered the traditional Media mountain, or the strategies that attempted to conquer the first Internet boom.

“Social Media” is grounding itself in the fabric of social life, reflecting a fundamental shift in the way individuals view media. Because of these shifting perspectives, we too must reconsider our own perspective. To communicate effectively in the 21^st century, we must recognize the changes in the way ordinary people receive and distribute information.

Individuals do not want to be told “what is” and “what isn’t” anymore by news channels. The status quo is smarter now; the status quo is younger now. Individuals now turn towards each other as the new information authority.

We know that the Media landscape is changing for the broader, and the better. With this change, new opportunities for political communication become farther reaching and more effective - Obama’s team figured it out.

However, it is my believe that to climb to the top of this mountain takes even greater insight and greater innovation…we are by no means done just yet.

Within B2G exists the insight and the innovation I know is necessary to create the future, and let us never forget that creating the future must be done together, we are all connected, with or without the ICT Mountain and a Web 2.0 plateau…