Today's politicians have a lot to keep in mind when running for office. Our panel of experts and authorities will discuss today's "Facebook Candidates" and how the public world of social media has impacted modern political elections.
Featuring:
- Moderator: Sam Tift, Student, American University (@USMiddleClass) - Sam Tift has a young background in social media communication. As a political science major, Sam saw new media as an emerging component of grassroots campaigns. Sam spent much of his junior year at American University researching the impact of social media on issue campaigns, political campaigns and government transparency. Since November 2010 he has independently operated social media accounts targeting union members and progressives. He hopes to see greater democratic participation through social media in the future.
- Krystal Ball, Democratic Strategist (@KrystalBall1) - Krystal Marie Ball is a 29-year-old Democratic Strategist and former Virginia Congressional Candidate, in addition to being a Certified Public Accountant, software engineer, small business owner and mother. Krystal was recently named by Forbes Magazine as number 21 on the magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in the Mid Term Elections” list. The Week magazine rated her as one of the Top Eight Political Stars of 2010, along with Marco Rubio, Scott Brown and Chris Christie. Although Krystal is a committed democrat, she is passionately dedicated to civility and to improving the quality of political discourse. Profiled all over the United States for her innovative use of Social Media in politics, Ball's compelling political vision for her party has been featured as far away as The China Post. Krystal was the Democratic Nominee for US Congress for the 1st District of Virginia in 2010. Although she did not win, her electoral performance was exceptional given the overall climate for Democrats in 2010. Her campaign displayed an unusually strong fundraising prowess and excelled in the use of social media in politics. The campaign raised over $1M as a first time candidate from more than 6,000 donors in all 50 states. Follow her at @KrystalBall1.
- Asher Huey, New Partners (@asherhuey) - Asher Huey is a new media political consultant based of out Washington, DC. He has a background as an organizer and works to use online tools as organizing resources. He is a graduate of American University. To learn more about asher: newpartners.com/about-us/asher-huey.php and follow him at @asherhuey.
- Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director for Online Advocacy, Center for American Progress Action Fund (@drdigipol) -
- Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D. develops and implements Social Advocacy strategy at the Centerfor American Progress and CAP Action Fund. He founded and convenes the InternetAdvocacy Roundtable; teaches course on internet politics at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown,and American Universities; blogs atTechPresident.com, HuffingtonPost.com, and KStreetCafe.com; serves on the boards of directors for E-Democracy.org and EnlightenedCitizenry; and serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Information Technology& Politics and the Journal of Political Marketing. He taught the world’s first internetpolitics course at George Mason University in 1995. Find him on Twitter, Sledeshare.net,YouTube, Facebook, and across the web at DrDigipol.
- Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief, USA TODAY (@susanpage) - Susan Page is the Washington Bureau chief for USA TODAY. She's interviewed the past eight presidents and covered the last eight presidential campaigns -- from an era of faxes to the advent of email and now tweets and Facebook postings. She has a bachelors degree from Northwestern and a masters from Columbia. Follow her at @SusanPage.
- Greg Pinelo, Partner, GMMB (@gregpinelo) - Greg Pinelo is a Partner in GMMB’s Washington office. He is an award winning political and communications strategist for a wide-ranginggroup of corporate, nonprofit, national association, government and electedclients. During his diverse 18-year career at the firm, Greg has founded GMMB’s Creative Group, run the Los Angeles office and now helps lead the firm’s campaign consulting team. Greg was a key member of the media team for Barack Obama’s historic campaign for the Presidency, writing and developing many ads that aired nationally and in battleground states during both the primaries and the general election. He was also part of the speaker preparation operation at the highly successful Democratic National Convention in Denver. Greg developed advertising for Jim Webb's upset victory in the 2006 Virginia Senate race, Mark Warner’s winning campaigns for Governor and the U.S. Senate and multi-state efforts for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Greg’s work extends well beyond the political realm, with a clientele that has included the Save Darfur Coalition, CTIA – The Wireless Association, the Motion PictureAssociation of America, the Directors Guild of America, the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, to name a few. Greg was instrumental in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Covering Kids & Families campaign, for which GMMB received the prestigious David Ogilvy Award recognizing outstanding research-driven creative. He also coordinated the development of advertising for the foundation's Cover the Uninsured Week. A native of Kentucky, Greg received a B.A. from Oberlin College, where he majored in both history and political science and lettered in varsity basketball.
- Dave Stroup (@davestroup) - Dave Stroup is a technology professional and online activist from Washington, D.C. In January 2011, he successfully led a grassroots effort to draft Bryan Weaver for D.C. City Council. Dave is a former editor of DCist and presently advises the Weaver campaign on social media and online organizing strategy. Follow him at @davestroup.
