GOP Falling Off The New Media Bandwagon
by Leigh Wolf
The Republican Party learned a hard lesson in technology during the 2008 Presidential election. Realizing Obama obliterated the Grand Old Party by using all the shiny new technology he could get his hands on, our party was left desperately searching for our own plan.
The College Republicans have been effectively using new media since 2004. I recall many conversations with a multitude of Republicans where I practically begged them to use Facebook, or the now passé MySpace. I was told time and again that these were just passing fads and that “all the tech stuff” was unproven and therefore not worth the GOP’s time. Republicans were completely unaware that these “passing fads” were exactly the opposite. Young voters get their news, TV and radio from the internet. They access politics almost exclusively on the web. It’s impossible to reach large numbers of young voters through old school methods.
While there were several token attempts at using new media, by-and-large we instead stuck with only the old school: precinct-walking, phone banking, etc. It is incredibly important to compliment pre-existing and successful campaign methods with the new, web-based techniques. It wasn’t until the numbers came in from the 2008 election that the Republican Party realized the error of its ways. Obama had beaten us in the 18-25 demographic by nearly 3-1. College Republicans know that our message is capable of resonating with many young voters. However, when some in our party refuse to accept the reality of a complete paradigm shift in modern communication, it’s no wonder the Democrats took us out back behind the tool shed. Now we have a party frantically searching for our answer to the Obama campaign strategy.
Politicians, leadership and local organizers are running around the state throwing out catch phrases and buzzwords in an attempt to re-brand the party as technology friendly. The sad and embarrassing reality is that even the so-called technology experts in our party just don’t get it.
There are three fundamental flaws with the Republican Parties new media strategy.
First is a basic misunderstanding about what new media and web 2.0 actually are. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the rest exist to build an online neighborhood of interested parties. Rather than the old approach of pushing our message to supporters, we must bring them into our online community and encourage them to become a part of our movement. We’re supposed to be making friends and influencing people, not spamming them.
Second is the sporadic and awkward implementation of technology. Many campaigns use technology for the sake of using technology. If a group or candidate doesn’t understand how or why to use a technology they shouldn’t be using it. For example, campaigns create blogs but never update them, they create a Facebook group but never contact their supporters. I’ve also seen countless campaign YouTube videos that are long, static and boring. The hit count means the viewer clicked on the video, it doesn’t mean they sat and watched it. These are just a few examples of the Republican Party using tech without actually using tech.
Third and finally is that the party doesn’t realize that new technology is absolutely useless if they don’t give us something to rally around and fight for.
The party must bring to the table fire-breathing conservative rhetoric to motivate young voters and bring us into the fold using new technologies. The amount of potential energy and excitement in the youth vote is incalculable. The party needs to understand that what they call new media, young voters call media. We watch more TV on the internet than we do on cable. We get almost all of our news from the web. In the tech era, the seeds of change are planted in cyberspace. Until the GOP decides to treat technology as THE way, instead of A way, to reach young voters, we will continue to lag far behind our political adversaries. There is no better time for the Republican Party to embrace new media because we are now the outsider party. Obama is the establishment; we are change. Over the next 2 to 6 years, this will slowly become the political reality, and if we are communicating that to younger voters in effective ways, we will win their vote and put Republicans back in power.
Leigh Wolf is the Co-chair of California College Republicans, and a Dana Report contributor. Contact Leigh at Leigh.Wolf@Collegegop.org, or on Twitter @LeighWolf.
Great article. It’s important to note, as you so thoroughly did, that technology isn’t just some accessory to communication among the young voters but rather THE preferred medium of communication for a huge percentage. This doesn’t mean that the entire youth vote is necessarily plugged into Facebook or watching videos on YouTube. Technology as a medium of communication includes anything from texting to blogging. You’re absolutely right in that the Republican Party needs to be able to consistently communicate to young and not-so-young voters alike by embracing technology on every level. It’s probably a little more cost effective, too!
I’d also like to add that the opportunity for community building with interactive (technology) media is tremendous. The fact that I’m able to interact with (and contribute/modify) an editorial I like or don’t like, agree or disagree with, means that I can be a part of the editorial and really the general distribution of information. Technology will not completely displace the “old school” methods of campaign communication anytime in the near future. However, It has already and will continue to prove itself an essential tool for every election to come.
President of the SF State College Republicans? Last time I checked that was me. I don’t know whether it’s Leigh or the Dana Report, but one of you should check your sources.
James is right, I’m currently the Emperor of SFSU. James heads my puppet government that has the outward appearance of a democracy.
Haha. You must excuse Leigh he is currently the resident DB of the club.
This is ridiculous. You say that your party is frantically searching for an answer to the Obama campaign strategy. You seem to overlook the fact that Ron Paul ran a very effective grassroots campaign over the internet and continues to do so with his Campaign for Liberty. Not only did he raise a lot of money without any mainstream media support but he also reached out to the young voters with his traditionally conservative message. Maybe your party should stop its frantic search and start listening to the one member who has a track record of successful campaigning through technology and who has the message to back it up.