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Needed Facebook App: Union Membership
I want to briefly write up an idea for a Facebook application that I would love to see: The Union Member app. Think of it like the “My Neighborhood” application, but instead lets users select their union. It would give a central organizing mechanism for locals to communicate with each other, but by tapping into the other Facebook data, could allow union members in the same geographic region to connect outside of their actual unions.
The app could take into account the multiple associations / hierarchies of unions in order to connect and accommodate as many union members as possible. But in its most basic state, it could pull from the listings of locals on various union websites and provide organizing spaces for those members.
This is rough, not thought out, and from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing. But I wanted to get it out of my head, so there it is.
Facebook Changes "Political Views" Options to Political Parties
Today Facebook changed the way it lets users identify their political views today, replacing a simple spectrum of views with a cluttered list of international political parties. Organizing people into political parties allows Facebook to sell microtargeted ads to advertisers looking to reach, say, Democrats in Ohio. Unfortunately, the change in emphasizing in party over position will organize a small base of users who self-identify as members of the national parties, and scatter the rest into free-form identification.
Obama's Facebook App Finds Your Iowa Friends
Barack Obama’s campaign put its Facebook page to a new use just four days before the Iowa caucuses. Fans, or supporters, of Barack Obama received a message asking to remind their friends in Iowa to caucus.
The message, titled “3 Days to Go,” directs supporters to a page with all of their friends who have some connection to Iowa. You can check off the friends you want to invite to the caucus, and the app sends a caucus reminder to your friends.
Meanwhile, Jose Antonio Vargas reports in the Washington Post that Obama’s Iowa staff engage people in a variety of contexts, new and old, including Facebook messages:
In Sen. Barack Obama’s Iowa headquarters, young staff members sit at computers, analyzing online voter data and targeting potential backers. They zip one e-mail to an undecided voter and zap a different message to a firm supporter.Depending on the voter, they follow with Facebook reminders, telephone calls, text messages and, most important, house visits.
It’s getting down to the wire. If Obama’s new voter contact strategies work, there could be an unsuspecting wave of caucus-goers completely missed by traditional tactics and polling surveys. For reference, here’s how Jerome Armstrong predicts the caucuses will go based on turnaround alone:
Turnout numbers Favors
< 150,000 Edwards
150-170,000 Clinton
> 170,000 Obama
Two great new products from the Sunlight Founation
It’s a busy week for the folks at the Sunlight Foundation, which released two new web apps: Punch Clock Campaign, a Google map mashup of seven members of Congress’ daily schedules; and OpenCongress’ Facebook app to share your favorite bills on your Facebook profile.
Obama's Support in NH Riding on Facebook - Literally
Obama’s student organizing in New Hampshire is hitched to Facebook founder and Obama staffer Chris Hughes, who all day yesterday drove students to vote absentee in the Granite State’s Jan. 8 primary. The event was organized through Facebook, of course.
More than 500 people were invited to the event, but only 24 people actually signed up for the event online.
With an early Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire, some students will not have returned from winter break. Obama’s campaign is smartly throwing out hooks before finals start and the semester ends by driving early voters to the polls.
Change to Win's "Smack the CEO" Facebook app is pretty cool
Earlier this week, the union affiliation Change to Win released what I believe to be the labor movement’s first Facebook application, called Smack the CEO.
When you add the application, you can friends to join your own “Smack the CEO network,” and everyone enters a number for their annual salary. The goal is to show how many of your friends’ salaries it would take to match the massive windfalls of these anti-union CEOs. Its design allows for pretty nice viral opportunities, and it’s an ongoing project you can leave in your Facebook profile.
So go ahead, add the app and smack some ceo’s!
Jason Lefkowitz built the app – congrats Jason!
Talk about microtargeting.
Even prior to its pending advertising announcement, Facebook’s targeted advertising capabilties are impressive. I discovered this advertisement for ‘limited edition’ Buffalo Bills jerseys when I was looking at my own profile (narcissist, much?). This is not derived from georgraphic IP targeting, as my address registers as Alexandria, VA. So through my profile – either hometown, groups, or other variables – Facebook’s ads determined that I’d likely buy a Buffalo Bills jersey. (That is true.) It is scary to think how much more targeted their ads can will get.
Facebook Valued at $15 billion
In advance of Facebook’s major advertising announcement in early November, the preeminent social networking platform inked a ad distribution deal with Microsoft for $240 million, or a 1.6% stake in Facebook. Add in the other 98.4%, and in Microsoft’s eyes, Facebook is worth $15,000,000,000. Mark Zuckerberg, then, is worth anywhere from $3-5 billion. If/when someone buys Facebook, or when it goes public, the actual market valuation may be less than $15 billion, but really, once you have 9 zeros, does it really matter?
For all you Harvard students out there, you might want to do a comparison and see if it’s really worth sticking around for the degree. Could there be a Silicone Valley anti-Skulls & Bones led by Bill Gates? If so, Mark Zuckerberg surely is the newest member.
No one listens to the radio anymore
Today’s New York Times Magazine has a fascinating cover story profiling producer and newly-minted Columbia co-head Rick Rubin. This 10-page online spread is a great read that I have yet to finish, but one section popped out to me (unrelated to Rubin).
Columbia Records commissioned a group of “20 college students from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami to work on various music projects” with the label. They did a focus group with the students to see why it was so difficult to sell records.
The results rang true for me, at the least.
The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don’t consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it’s just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That’s how they hear about music, bands, everything.”
Pretty much. I don’t know if Facebook is yet to decline in popularity, but MySpace had a rapid fall from grace over the last twelve months.
This is a striking glimpse into the world of our generation. Established music empires cannot sell music, because we all act on whims.
The articles has tons of fascinating tidbits like this – I really recommend checking out the whole thing.
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