There’s been a lot of interest around here lately surrounding my.barackobama.com (affectionately known as MyBO) and how to use it to it’s full advantage. Thanks in part to an excellent diary by Kid Oakland this weekend, there have been many reports of people signing up at MyBO for the first time wanting to unleash the power of social networking to bring about victory this November.
I'm a newcomer to social networking in all it's forms but after reading this Rolling Stone article about the inner workings of the Obama campaign, I was inspired to sign up at MyBO and began organizing my county in advance of the Indiana Primary. We used MyBO extensively during the run-up to the Indiana primary and it is a good tool but it has some limitations... (More after the fold)
I think the biggest limitation of my.barackobama.com is more a function of user's expectations. Don't expect MyBO to organize your community for you, you must be an active participant in the process if you expect to unleash the full potential of this amazing tool. Following is a brief rundown of the process that led to building a successful organization in Kokomo, IN starting in late March through the May 6th Primary. This was originally posted as a comment in this diary on the 50 state campaign by Kath25. I'll attempt to expand on the "how-to" nature of the post below.
To get the most of MyBO: First, use the "find people" function to seek out groups/activities/friends in and near your zipcode. When you find people near you, send them a friend request and message them frequently asking what they are doing and who they know that is working for change in your area. I've always been apprehensive about contacting strangers online but in this case it proved a very useful tactic. If there are events in your area, sign up to attend, then actually attend the function when the time comes. As you sign up for events, you'll get points on the system for almost every action you take and you can move up in ranking of most active participants, more on that later.
When (not if) an organizer arrives on the ground in your area, seek them out and tell them you are available. People powered politics is no place to passively wait for a call, so don't assume that "they" will find you just because you are on MyBO or have signed up to volunteer. You will be called eventually but field organizers are more effective when they come to an area that already has active volunteers. You may have to make several calls to find your local contact; get on the statewide MyBO group for your state and you'll see some names and numbers come across emails as the organizers come to town. Call every contact you find until they put you in touch with the organizer assigned to your region. In the first days the campaign is on the ground, expect some disarray. Usually people trickle in with everything they own in the trunk of their car (or scattered through the front and back seats) and no place to stay. There will be a state-wide field organizing meeting for the staff within a 3-5 days of the first arrivals so count on the first person you talk to not knowing the name of your regional contact - that's not the point, you want to be on their radar.
If there are no activities planned in your area right now, consider scheduling an organizational meeting to develop a base of volunteers in your town. Visit the Action Center at MyBO and review the Grassroots Action Guide for most of the first things you need to know about beginning your local organization. Once you've scheduled the meeting, print out flyers and hang them around town to publicize the event, contact the local party, black churches etc. You will be amazed at the turnout you get. One of the kids that played Indiana 3 on 3 with Obama is a former young republican leader who responded to a flyer in a pizza place for our first organizational meeting.
When the campaign first came to IN, I was told there was no plan for a Kokomo office but we did all these things and developed an organization which created demand for a local office. We ended up with 3 staffers and several out of state volunteers to augment our 300+ volunteer base. Barack ended up doing a townhall here and even played the 3 on 3 basketball game in town. This would not have happened here if it were not for our early organizational efforts. MyBO was one source for this success but not the only one. Just as we've learned in the Blogosphere, friends on MyBO or subscriptions to groups don't translate into votes; technology is only effective when we use it to impact what happens on the streets of our towns.
The moral of the story is: MyBO rocks but it doesn't work on autopilot, you must get involved.
OK, here are my thoughts on the MyBO point and ranking system: on one hand, it's really cool and it can be a motivating factor which spurs people to action. On the other hand, it's totally lame because if you look at the few top ranked "activists" they just appear to be folks who've joined every single group and befriended every person they possibly can without having any evidence of actual grassroots activism. Let this be a cautionary tale, use the system as it's intended and meet your neighbors with the help of the tool; don't be a tool and game the system. Points and rankings don't win elections, local action does.