Last week’s post on New Media and the RPV generated quite a response and served to show a disconnect between the Republican Party of Virginia and the New Media. But this disconnect is not a matter of a disrespect toward citizen journalists or social media from the RPV but a severe misunderstanding of communication and message control that is vital to politics, whether on a state party level, a campaign level, constituent relations and beyond.
HamptonRoadsGOP.com is not alone in sites that gives a false sense of new media know how in Virginia Republican circles. But it contains elements that show how little the RPV grasps new media and what it means to a unified message.
Headed by former 2nd District Chair Bruce Meyer, it enjoys an inside relationship with RPV based on his chairing the upcoming RPV Advance. This has led to HRGOP having an “exclusive” insight into what is coming up at the Advance, taking control of the message away from the RPV.
HRGOP is also run by Aaron Gulbransen, who’s email address was used to send a very devisive letter about Bob McDonnell to a large number of Republican and Democratic operatives in the state in August.
HRGOP blogger Tim Johnson has been suspended for two weeks for using false names and sock puppetry to “anonymously” harrass other bloggers in Virginia.
Lapses in ethics in usurping RPV’s message, utilizing the web to create a false impression of a “movement”, and a swath taken at our gubernatorial nominee are all symptoms of what is wrong not only with RPV’s new media outreach but ability to control the message.
All of this stems from an outright failure to understand the nature of new media and how it works, how it defines your message, defines your brand, and contributes to your successes or failures.
Jeff Frederick replied to last week’s post, opening with the admission that he rarely reads blogs. The party is looking to create a Virginia Internet Republican Committee (VIRC):
We’re very busy at structuring outreach efforts at the Party, bringing in people that may not always look or sound like Republicans. Well, we recognize that the online community is another group we need to reach out to, and this is the idea behind the VIRC, and so we are moving that idea to reality
The online community has already tried to reach out to RPV with members of The Jeffersoniad drafting a memo after Frederick’s election to Chairman. RPV’s response to this memo was to ask for people to step up to help, which they did. Only RPV’s subsequent response was not to ask for their input on anything, merely a request that they blog at RPV’s new site that was released a few days before Election Day.
The nature of blogs and social media is that it is not a top down structure where the Party builds something and everyone flocks to it. It is a conversation, not a lecture. Attempting to build a structure on the state level and then trying to hammer the square pegs that are bloggers into those round holes will only upset the pegs.
When RPV does reach out to find bloggers to help move the party forward, they don’t even look within the state. Frederick mentioned that the Advance New Media panel will feature Cyrus Krohn, RNC’s eCampaign director. (Washington Post: Right Click – 7/23/08) Krohn developed the GOP’s 2008 Platform website that solicited public input on what the Platform would be and has helped the RNC in other online outreach efforts. How successful have they been?
Beyond that, what works on a national level, with a national party, does not necessarily work on a local, grassroots level. While a web presence is a must for any campaign in this day and age, a full fledged eCampaign is not necessary for a Board of Supervisors race or even some Delegate races.
What are the best online tools to use to appeal to a district in Southwest Virginia? Is it worth using Twitter to connect with activists and voters in Virginia Beach? Do Richmond voters care about Facebook?
These are questions best answered not by someone familiar with the tools but by someone familiar with those areas, those markets, and how they can best be served by those tools. A national director of eCampaigning is merely a big name that one can slap on a panel to make it look official but delivers no real lesson to those that need it most.
A national director of eCampaigning is merely a name out of a rolodex because RPV had no idea who else to turn to.
When the party is faced with a tough road ahead it needs solid leadership behind which it can unify. A standard bearer that can craft, deliver and control a solid, unified message that brings the party together. Instead, RPV is delivering a disjoined effort in communicating its brand, an effort that threatens to derail not just RPV’s attempts to communicate with the new media but any attempts to communicate with and rally the grassroots as we approach 2009.
Until leadership learns how to deal with message control in the 21st century, it is going to be hard for them to convince Republican activists that there is a brand worth investing in, that there is a unified ticket worth getting excited over, or that there is a reason to be a Republican.
UPDATE: Eric Odom at #dontgo Movement makes some great points:
The GOP has a hard lesson to learn here. In summary, that lesson is that you can never, under any circumstance, control new media. You can’t control the message, you can’t control the technology, and you can’t control the people. You can’t “use” new media, and you can’t make it push your agenda.
And you can never, NEVER insult the blogosphere and then expect it to embrace you.
The real trick is to roll your sleeves up and immerse yourself. Don’t claim to be a “professional”. Instead, claim to be someone wanting to learn and build relationships. Work to develop networks and build friendships. Work to help people trust you.
Then, and ONLY then can you launch a website and integrate it safely in to the center-right blogosphere. As an individual you can do whatever you like, but as an organization with a partisan agenda, you have everything to lose.
