Video


Once, the only way to reach millions of people with an important message was through expensive media like TV or radio. Now, video-sharing sites have made it possible for anyone to be a broadcaster. The amount of content currently pouring onto YouTube alone — about 200,000 three-minute videos added every day — is the equivalent of 385 always-on TV channels. In July 2008 in the United States, approximately 91 million viewers looked at nearly 5 billion videos on YouTube. During the 2008 election, 4 out of 10 Americans reported watching political video online. What are the best practices for spreading your message in this new media environment? Join the conversation here.

Antonella Napolitano's picture

The Europe roundup: MerrionStreet.ie: the government news service goes live - but not for citizens

  • Ireland | MerrionStreet.ie: the government news service goes live - but not for citizens
    The Irish government has recently launched MerrionStreet.ie (named after the Dublin street on which Government Buildings is located), "the Irish government news service".
    The website is aimed at creating a new approach in communicating with citizens and based on the WordPress Open Source software platform. In an interview to Silicon Republic, the team behind the website even cited Number10.gov.uk as a particular inspiration for MerrionStreet.
    But Richard Fahey is not convinced that they are on the right track already: in a long and detailed post, he reviews the social media strategy of the government website, comparing it with those of UK and US.
Antonella Napolitano's picture

The Europe roundup: The European Commission Youtube channel...and a strange brand association

[We are getting suggestions from our readers about interesting initiatives and speakers for the PDF Europe conference. Thank you all.]

  • EU | The European Commission Youtube channel...and a strange brand association
    EUtube is the Youtube channel of the European Commission, providing instructive and sometimes funny videos on many issues and EU initiatives, with a pretty innovative attitude.
    For example, watch the funny "Chemical party":

PdF Network | How to Build an Organization Using Online Video

Standing in line, pulling a lever, filling in bubbles -- voting in America isn't exactly on the cutting-edge of technology.

But with just a video camera, a simple question and an internet connection, one small organization is transforming Election Day itself.

How can your organization use online video to change politics?

Join the PdF Network on Thursday, April 15 as Barnett Zitron and Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday, show us how a camera and an idea can spark a national conversation.

Thursday, April 15th at the PdF Network
Reform by Video: How to Build an Organization Using Online Video
1-2 p.m. EST

Join the call!

Check out our upcoming PdF Network calls...

PdF Network | [RESCHEDULED] How to Build an Organization Using Online Video

UPDATE: This call has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 15th. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you'll join us then!

Standing in line, pulling a lever, filling in bubbles -- voting in America isn't exactly on the cutting-edge of technology.

But with just a video camera, a simple question and an internet connection, one small organization is transforming Election Day itself.

How can your organization use online video to change politics?

Join the PdF Network on Thursday, March 18 as Jacob Soboroff, Executive Director, Why Tuesday, shows us how a camera and an idea can spark a national conversation.

Thursday, March 18th at the PdF Network
Reform by Video: How to Build an Organization Using Online Video
1-2 p.m. EST

Join the call!

Check out our upcoming PdF Network calls...

6.3M Views on YouTube: Moving Video Online

6.3 million: that's how many people viewed Obama's 2008 race speech on YouTube. 8.7 million clicked to see him dance his way onto the Ellen show.

By the time the Democratic and Republican national conventions of 2008 rolled around, Obama's team had uploaded about 1,110 videos on the candidate's YouTube channel -- more than four times what the McCain campaign had uploaded.

Is there a secret to moving a video messages online? What's the right mix of content, quality and, yes, quantity?

Join the PdF Network on Thursday, February 4 as Kate Albright-Hanna, formerly Director of Video for New Media, Obama for America, and now at VBS.TV, shares tips on building the right mix of compelling video content online.

Thursday, Feb 4th at the PdF Network
Digital Conversations: Using Online Video to Grow Your Campaign
1-2 p.m. EST

Join the call!

Check out our upcoming PdF Network calls...

Building a Moms’ Movement

In the 2008 election, women turned out in droves to raise money and to cast their votes.

Still, they were unpredictable till the end, making up 60 percent of all undecided registered voters just two weeks before the election.

How do you harness a constituency that is engaged and looking for real answers -- not to mention one that’s too big to ignore?

You can start with one group: mothers. In 2006, the U.S. Census estimated that mothers make up 55% of women ages 15-44, and 80% of women 40-44.

Thursday, July 23rd at the PdF Network
Forging Alliances Online: How MomsRising Built a Versatile Activist Force
1-2 p.m. EST

Join the call!

Since it was founded in May 2006, MomsRising members have taken over a million online and on-the-ground actions on issues ranging from paid sick leave, to healthcare and fair pay. MomsRising works with over 90 aligned organizations, leveraging its grassroots base to achieve their shared policy goals.

Earlier this year, the customizable “Momsrising.org Mother of the Year” video went viral. It gained more than 10 million views to date -- and more than tripled the organization’s membership in just a few days.

This Thursday, Rosalyn Lemieux of Fission Strategy and Katie Bethell of MomsRising will show us how they’re using technology to band moms together nationwide.

Join the call!

Upcoming PdF Network calls:

Aug 6 | Journalists and Bloggers: Navigating the Changing Media Landscape | Scott Rosenberg, co-founder Salon.com & author of "Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters"

Sept 10 | How to Harness Changes in African American Participation Online | Cheryl Contee, Fission Strategy & JackandJillPolitics.com

Sept 24 | Measuring Online Advocacy & Fundraising: Learnings from the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study | Marc Ruben & Karen Matheson, M+R Strategic Services

RSVP here!

Oct 8 | Thirty Staffers and No Office: How to Make the Virtual Organization Work, the MoveOn Model | Ilyse Hogue, MoveOn.org

Oct 22 | Mobile Volunteers: How to Harness Microvolunteering for Your Cause | Jacob Colker, The Extraordinaries

Dec 3 | A $10 Challenge Turns into $25 Million: The "Nothing But Nets" Case Study | Shannon Raybold, UN Foundation

RSVP here!

Missed a call? Listen to a podcast of any one of our previous calls and learn about how to Google for votes, fundraising and organizing through Twitter, evaluating returns on investment in social media, how to pitch (and not pitch) a political blogger, building a social network, longtail nanotargeting, and more.

PdF 2009 Video--Michael Wesch's "The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity

Here's the video of Michael Wesch's keynote talk from the second day of Personal Democracy Forum 2009. Wesch, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, first gained acclaim as the author of "The Machine is Us(ing) Us," a video about how the internet is changing society (that has been viewed more than 9 million times), and I was thrilled that we were able to get him to speak at PdF this year.

#IranElection: Using Social Media to Drive Social Change

In the tumultuous days after the Iranian election, we turned to the internet for a moment-by-moment account of events on the ground -- and wondered how all of this would affect the ultimate outcome.

Supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi used the internet to campaign and organize -- but the Iranian government also used technology to its advantage.

For all of the potential of the internet to change political communications, is technology changing the fundamental nature of power?

Can the keyboard ever win against the barrel of a gun?

Fresh off her lunchtime session on the topic at PdF 2009, Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org, will share share insights of Iranians' and our experience of this and other controversial elections through social media.

Thursday, July 9th at the PdF Network
Social Media in Crisis: Lessons from the Iran Election Aftermath

RSVP here.

And we’ve added a whole slew of upcoming calls:

July 23 | Forging Alliances Online: How MomsRising Built a Versatile Activist Force | Rosalyn Lemieux, Fission Strategy

Aug 6 | Journalists and Bloggers: Navigating the Changing Media Landscape | Scott Rosenberg, co-founder Salon.com & author of "Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters"

Sept 10 | How to Harness Changes in African American Participation Online | Cheryl Contee, Fission Strategy & JackandJillPolitics.com

Sept 24 | Measuring Online Advocacy & Fundraising: Learnings from the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study | Marc Ruben & Karen Matheson, M+R Strategic Services

Oct 8 | Thirty Staffers and No Office: How to Make the Virtual Organization Work, the MoveOn Model | Ilyse Hogue, MoveOn.org

Oct 22 | Mobile Volunteers: How to Harness Microvolunteering for Your Cause | Jacob Colker, The Extraordinaries

Dec 3 | A $10 Challenge Turns into $25 Million: The "Nothing But Nets" Case Study | Shannon Raybold, UN Foundation

Missed a call? Listen to a podcast of any one of our previous calls and learn about how to Google for votes, fundraising and organizing through Twitter, evaluating returns on investment in social media, how to pitch (and not pitch) a political blogger, building a social network, longtail nanotargeting, and more.

If You’re Not on YouTube, Do You Exist?

"If you're not on YouTube, you're not part of the discussion."

So said Steve Grove of YouTube in a Newsweek interview just before the first of the 2008 presidential primaries, adding, “It’s the world’s largest town hall.”

By the end of 2008, online political video had expanded beyond “macaca” and 1984. Users (and sometimes, snowmen) submitted questions for candidates to debate; candidates uploaded campaign videos that made their way to primetime without spending a cent on advertising; and a single candidate speech garnered over 6 million views.

The amount of content currently pouring onto YouTube alone — about 200,000 three-minute videos added every day — is the equivalent of 385 always-on TV channels. In July 2008 in the United States, approximately 91 million viewers looked at nearly 5 billion videos on YouTube. During the 2008 election, 4 out of 10 Americans reported watching political video online.

Are any of those eyeballs watching your videos?

Join us this Thursday, June 25th at the PdF Network, where Head of News and Politics at YouTube Steve Grove will clue us in to “Politicians and Campaigns on YouTube: What's Working,” and of course, what’s not.

To join the call (and get the opportunity to pose your questions directly to Steve), you’ll need to join the PdF Network.

Once you’ve signed up, you’ll be able to RSVP for this and any of our other upcoming calls with such experts in the tech and politics space as Katrin Verclas (MobileActive) and many more.

Oh, and if you’re coming to the PdF Conference in June, your PdF Network membership is included in your registration.

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The Revolution Will NOT Be Twittered

"Mock not," pleaded blogger Andrew Sullivan as he posted an instaclassic of hyperbole, "The Revolution Will Be Twittered" in praise of Iranian supporters of Mir Hussein Moussavi who took the streets and - in some cases - used the short-form blogging services to post about the scene in Tehran.

Mock on, says I.

There is something like digital catnip on the breakfast bar for western politicogeeks in the story of Iran's disputed election and the ensuing power struggle roiling the Middle East's largest theocracy. Anything that suggests that some of the tools and tricks adopted among the wired, iPhone-wielding politically active classes in the United States may be used to - dramatic pause - start a revolution in one of the world's most dangerous countries carries the potency of a synthetic narcotic injected into the great XML vein of the Internet...

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