SMS from Obama Campaign for Opting-In VP Notification Text Message

As you may know, the Obama Campaign this week announced that supporters can sign-up to be the first to know about who Barack Obama’s VP nomination pick is via text messaging. Obama’s campaign has become the defacto case study on use new and emerging media for everything for fund raising, organizing and motivating his supports.

Garrett Graff writes an excellent op-ed piece in the New York Times, “Text the Vote“, on the three central reason’s why the text notification of Obama’s VP pick is more than just a candidate adopting the “latest tech fad”:

• Text Message increases turn out by 4% at $1.56/vote
  “A study conducted during the 2006 elections showed that text-message reminders helped increase turnout among new voters by four percentage points, at a cost of only $1.56 per vote — much cheaper than the $20 or $30 per vote that the offline work of door-to-door canvassing or phone banking costs.”

• New Younger & Minority Voters are Effectively Reached via Text Message
  “For Mr. Obama, who is building his campaign around bringing in new young voters and registering minority voters, there’s no more effective outreach than a text message. Cellphones, which legally can’t be called by pollsters and can’t be reached by campaign “robo-calls,” are the most intimate form of communication technology today.”
• Build a SMS Phone List: VP Pick Notification as the Hook
  “The move should add thousands — and more likely tens or hundreds of thousands — of cellphone numbers to what is already one of the most detailed political databases ever created.”

I’ve never heard of Garrett Graff before, but I’d keep his name in mind when it comes to how emerging media is changing the landscpae of marketing and PR – no matter if it’s for selling a consumer product or helping elect the next president of the United States.

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Ever wanted to reach Halliburton Employees, 30-65, from Texas?
I’ve been playing around with the Facebook advertisement system, even posting a few ads here and there. The most fun I have right now is using Facebook’s ad targeting tool to mine the demographic data from their user profiles.

A marketer can target users by workplace (ranging from the French Embassy in the US to Exxon-Mobile), countries (over 30 countries representing +39 million users) and interest (”A Clockwork Orange” to Judaism) and other data. For example, I can now target about 40 people who work for Halliburton (They have a Facebook Network?), live in Texas and are from 30-65 years old.

And more then that, I thought it would be interesting to get some high-level demographic data on Facebook in the following areas:

1. Top US Geek Cities and Facebook Users (Geek Cities as defined by Wired Magazine)
2. All Countries Facebook Advertising targets for by Population: From Lebanon to the Dominican Republic
3. US Facebook Users by Age Group: College Age Still Dominates
4. US Facebook Users by Educational Background: 21% are Highschoolers?
5. Largest US Cities and Facebook Users: 20% of Chicagoans on Facebook?
6. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask and Facebook Users: Where are the Ask/IAC people?
7. Microsoft Facebook Users by Age Group: Over 30% over 35 years old
8. Top Software Companies and Facebook Users (Software Companies defined by Fortune)

Top US Geek Cities and Facebook Users (Geek Cities as defined by Wired Magazine)

Note that while the data from Facebook is interesting, one should be cautious about the data:

• Self-reported profile data always has accuracy issues
• Many users do not report their age, workplace, full interests etc
• Just because there are 10,000 Microsoft employees on Facebook does not mean they are active on Facebook.
• Despite Facebook’s stringent policies there are fake and multiple profiles on Facebook

With that said, see more below graphs and data below.

All Countries Facebook Advertising targets for by Population: From Lebanon to the Dominican Republic

US Facebook Users by Age Group: College Age Still Dominates

US Facebook Users by Educational Background: 21% are Highschoolers?

Largest US Cities and Facebook Users: 20% of Chicagoans on Facebook?

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask and Facebook Users: Where are the Ask/IAC people?

Microsoft Facebook Users by Age Group: Over 30% over 35 years old

Top Software Companies and Facebook Users (Software Companies defined by Fortune)

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The recent Comscore analysis of social network websites’ audience is being widely and incorrectly reported across the blogosphere and news media. If you haven’t seen the report, here’s a quick glimpse at the takeaway statistic.

As you can clearly see, the statistic being reported is unique visitors, a common web analytics statistic indicating that an IP address has made one visit to a website. Unfortunately, the statistic being reported in the press is user, which is distinctly different from a unique visitor.

I recommending reading the rest at Unit Structures

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