Social networking guru CC Chapman has a great post about how the John Edwards campaign folks (1) initially tried to connect with him via Twitter, (2) sent some low-level flunky to preach to him about "pushing some information" about Edwards out to his friends, and (3) asked him if he ever used MySpace or Delicious. Niiiiicely done. Great way to alienate a power-networker and connector.
CC very politely pointed out the many ways that the John Edwards people were being hamfisted in their approach to social networking and viral campaigning. Barely an hour later, CC got a response from Amy Rubin, director of the social networking part of Edward’s campaign. She was quick to admit that they had a lot to learn and that they were open to suggestions from leaders in this field.
So quick save by Amy Rubin. But we’ll see if they actually plan on effectively leveraging the power of social networks or just apply the typical broadcast, command-and-control model that other political campaigns have used.
And they wonder why John Edward is the real people’s candidate. Reading minds helps him navigate those tricky social situations.