Just because you have a blog, a twitter account, a Facebook page, a MySpace page and an official YouTube page doesn’t mean you understand social media. I figured that out first hand. You would think by 2007 political campaigns would take bloggers seriously. Here is my story:

This afternoon I ran over to Love Field to cover Fred Thompson’s visit to Dallas for my blog. He is ‘considering‘ running for President in 2008. Who is Fred? You might have seen him in Top Gun, No Way Out, The Hunt for Red October, Days of Thunder or Die Hard 2. I have been a fan of Senator Thompsons for quite some time.

I grabbed my Nikon (with the big fat telephoto lens) and headed over to the private jet area. Three photographers were huddled together along with quite a few supporters waiting for the Senator.  I started chatting with the camera guys since I was carrying a camera every bit as big and cumbersome as theirs.  The guy to the right (he didn’t give me his name) came over and told the photographers that he had a special place for them.  He looked at me and asked, “Who are you with?”  I explained I was a blogger covering the campaign.  He said, “Oh, BLOGs…  Nope, you don’t get in.”  He then ushered the ‘real’ photographers from the ‘traditional media’ to an honored spot in front of the supporters.  The TV guys were next and in the end you had five SLRs and two video cameras pointed at the senator (see photo below) while my camera shot photos from 100 yards away.

The guy who wouldn’t let me in then came back and I snapped his photo (i.e. the photo in the upper right).  He was bothered that I took his photo so he confronted me and asked me to spell the URL of my blog.  His attitude was generally suspicious, condescending and dismissive.  I couldn’t help but realize that he just doesn’t get it.

Citizen journalism (i.e. what I was/am doing) can be very powerful for candidates.  Just ask Howard Dean.  Don’t dismiss the guy wearing a “I’m with Fred” badge and a camera as “one of those Blogger types!”  Instead embrace them, treat them just like you treat traditional media types (i.e. the ones that typically do not support GOP candidates).  In any event, I decided not to let that ‘old fart‘ taint my support for Senator Thompson and I even got a few pictures of the senator as seen in my Flickrstream here or below:

I had a conversation with a large radio station operator today and we discussed how our entertainment marketing systems (like FanPodCast) might help radio stations enlist and leverage thousands of potential ‘citizen reporters’. Dan Gillmor is perhaps the foremost proponents of citizen journalism, but as J.D. Lasica noted in her 2003 Online Journalism Review article, most audience participation (i.e. user comments) have been limited by a lack of tools. Sure, lots of ‘citizen journalists’ use mobile cameras to capture photos or video, but those tools have not been connected to traditional media outlets (such as radio stations) where that news could be disseminated to mass audiences.

What if we could help citizen reporters participate? Our social podcasting system could allow a radio stations to contact listeners in various verticals including geography, age or interests. Imagine that a radio station manager hears a police report about a large fire near downtown. He enters a zip code into our system, records a simple message and presto our system dials everyone within a predetermined radius of that zip code and plays his message. Based on the response requested, press one if you are at the scene, press two if you saw the scene but are no longer there, or press three if you can head over the fire (i.e. this might not be a good suggestion). Our system could offer a live connect to the manager or producer working the story or prompt the listener to record his observations. That content could be played on the air, included on the website or uploaded into various iTunes podcasts or audio feeds.

Interested? Give us a call.