I hate the argument that mobile is going to take people to “another level.” The reality is both more affecting and mundane.

Social media is currently operating on “another level”: detached from reality. A person’s phone is personal and most commonly carried. Finding a way to connect these media produces an evolution, not revolution, in how we can work together.

The recent spat of mobile apps referred to in articles are often unengaged tools. Apps that adopt content and form from pre-existing media never realize their potential, such as the Kevin Falcon, Meg Whitman and Victoria Votes apps (all made by the same company). Mobile and Social Media are new media that must be considered within the current media framework of newspapers, television, radio, websites, movies, phones, billboards and on and on. Ask the teams that used them how effective they were, if at all.

David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager admitted as much: “The real drivers were old school.” http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/11/15/vp-basen.html It wasn’t so much Facebook and Twitter, but emails, websites and volunteers that made the difference in 2008.

In fact, there is little evidence that social media has yet produced. The Dean ’04 and Obama ’08 boosts were largely a benefit from being the early adopters, rather than the ability to best strategize their use. In the US’s recent election, remember, it was the Republicans who out-did the Democrats, a complete turn-around. Moreover, the research is not definitive and in fact leads to social media not having a significant statistical affect on turn out. The promise was not delivered.

By itself, social media has little to offer, but link it to the real world and its ‘broad affect’ will lead to greater group action. Consider, for instance, the introduction of the radio. To begin with reports were made on the air, then the phone was introduced; now people had the opportunity to get in on the conversation to say their piece to the masses, and even ask questions –  preminiscent of Twitter – many Republican’s were successful at boosting their radio presence using Twitter to get supporters to call-in when their candidates went to open calls.

Expect to hear the term Transmedia more often. It is the cross-platform approach to communications required in a landscape proliferated by media and types. Having the right mix, using each to its strength, and interplaying the platforms to maximize audience engagement are the soon-to-be ‘issues’ of the media and campaign world.

Knowing what each tool provides and what it can’t is essential to your strategy.

Twitter is good to find out what’s happening “right now”, but it does this by sacrificing substance and perspective. It forces users, if they want to be successful, to provide a succinct message or teaser to get people’s interest (FYI: capitalization helps here, but not if everyone does it!).  Providing links is good to provide people the next step to take their interest. In this way it’s useful in funneling people to your site. Direct calls to action might be useful, but only if your followers are sufficiently supportive (you have to test the utility out). Be sure to use other @user_names and hash tags to show up in searches and build a community conversation. Direct messages offer users the chance to connect more personally one-to-one, but only if both users follow each other.

Facebook provides a closer-knit community, well made for viral distribution if your message is appropriately packaged. It is not the place for lengthy conversations as you might find in a blog or for news releases. While you can use the Status Updates as a Twitter feed, most peoples’ main page is set on “Top News” which now shows those links most clicked on. The value of being clicked on more often does not create greater visibility in Twitter – only if you get re-tweeted. Facebook is a place to show your face – use it to introduce yourself (as long as it’s public) and display your brand. Discussions and Events have questionable use. It is useless for survey’s as the population of Facebook is hardly representative, to say nothing of those that follow you.

Which brings me to a final point regarding social media. It is social, meaning some people are ‘in’ your ‘crowd’ and most never see you. It is a great way to connect your ‘crowd’, but not a place (necessarily) to reach out and build a base. Sarah Palin must be the most ‘successful’ politician using social media where she claims 2.56 million ‘supporters’. Of course, these are not supporters but ‘friends’ and they’re not really friends, but just interested people. To be really successful it has to be tied to the ‘real’ world.

Mobile allows your campaign to fit into the volunteer or voter’s life. If two colleagues bump into each other, why not sign them up to the campaign, or alternate-reality ‘flick’ the form to a friend. What about providing a stronger connection between candidate and voter? Volunteers could collect videos from supporters to later use in an ad campaign, or collect personal issues and messages to the candidate he/she could later respond.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) app was one of the most effective in the political, social media realm. It encouraged users to take photos or video for famous ‘gotcha’ moments like Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s (UK) “bigoted woman” comment or  Sen. George Allen’s “Macaca” moment. The app was useful because it provided Republican information on all candidates, was linked to twitter, RSS and Facebook profiles, and had an “Action” center. If an app doesn’t have a native call-to-action then make sure you don’t spend any money on it either.

The app that most connected to this spirit was the Organization for America app which I’d encourage you to check out here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/iphone2010. More on this in later posts.

Smartphones are such awe-inspiring devices for the new capabilities we can all have on the go. The value of the feature-set is still yet to be determined. As mobile sales passes desktops by 2013 it is sure to become the must-have for the modern lifestyle. The proliferation of blackberries into government and business is only the first wave of change and expect similar social dislocation of work-life balance in the future…