Facebook Activism

The guys over at Future Majority have a bunch of interesting posts about using Facebook in a variety of ways to engage, empower, and mobilize young voters.

There's a terrific post by Matt Connery about using Facebook to build a voter file. There's also a post on Future Majority (that was originally posted at Lose the Label and then Daily Kos) about organizing students through groups and other features on Facebook.

‘Survivor’ creator to launch political reality-TV show

Check out this article from the Boston Herald Business Reporter from today...

‘Survivor’ creator to launch political reality-TV show by Jesse Noyes

Like the reality show “Survivor,” politics is full of plotting, backstabbing and, well, voting.

It seems appropriate then that “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett is teaming up with MySpace [website] to launch “Independent,” a reality show aimed at finding a new generation of politicians.

The gimmick of “Independent” is that users of the social networking giant MySpace will help elect a politician who best reflects the “voice of young Americans.”
Aspiring politicos will be encouraged to post video applications on MySpace and finalists will appear on the television show out on the campaign trail.

The winner of the show will get a $1 million prize, which either must be given to a political campaign or used to run for office.

The show will likely debut in January 2008, said Jeff Berman, general manager for video at MySpace. “We’ve seen an enormous uptick in the political activity on MySpace,” Berman said. “We’re taking our cues from our community and they’re saying they want more when it comes to politics and when it comes to video.”

Just where “Independent” will land is up in the air.

Since MySpace is owned by News Corp. [NWS], which also owns Fox, it would seem Fox would be the likely choice.

But Burnett is planning to pitch a number of networks.

Recently, MySpace has done more relating to politics. Earlier this year, the site created an “Impact” channel, which features profiles for all the current presidential candidates in 2008.

But young voters aren’t known for turning out in huge numbers at the polls, so will they tune into a show all about politics?

Berman said more young voters are getting involved in recent elections. “We are fully confident that there’s going to be a huge following for this,” he said.

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You can read the article here too.

What's on the Minds of (CA) Youth?

A new poll of 600 California residents ages 16 to 22 commissioned by New America Media, found family disintegration and neighborhood violence more distressing to California's teens and young adults than global warming or war.

The survey is one of the first to track down youths -- notoriously difficult survey targets -- solely by cell phone. It found that they are inwardly focused -- on their future marriages, parenthood, homeownership, education and communities.

To see how CA youth size up, read the article about the poll here.

Obama, Giuliani Lead Among Young Voters

The latest Harvard IOP poll of 18-24 year olds came out yesterday. It included questions about ’08 primary candidates, social networking, issues preferences.

Sen. Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani get the most support from young voters, according to the poll. Among young likely Democratic voters, Obama's presidential bid gets 35% support, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton at 29% and John Edwards with 9%. On the GOP side, Giuliani gets 31% support of young voters, followed by Sen. John McCain at 18% and Mitt Romney at 8%.

You can check out the executive summary and find out more about the poll here.

Study Shows College Students Know More About Politics Than American Idol

In a victory for young people everywhere, the stereotype of the self-involved, culture-obsessed U.S. college student is wrong, according to a new study.

Check out the article about the study here.

Among the findings:

* Half of the college students and 40 percent of the non-college students could name their respective members of Congress. Nearly two-thirds of college students and more than half of the non-college students could name at least one of their two U.S. senators. In contrast, only about 15 percent of the young people knew the name of the most recent winner of “American Idol” and about 10 percent knew the winner of “Dancing with the Stars.”

* Approximately 79 percent of college students and more than 73 percent of non-college students said they had voted in the November 2006 elections, but only 10 to 12 percent of respondents reported ever voting in “American Idol” and significantly fewer had voted in “Dancing with the Stars.”

* At least some of students’ Web activity is political. On average, college students belonged to almost four Facebook advocacy groups. According to the Tufts study, Facebook tends to be used more for advocacy of Democratic political candidates and liberal or Democratic causes than for Republican candidates or conservative or Republican causes.

* More than 61 percent of college students had participated in online political discussions or visited a politically oriented Web site.

So eat that!

Generation Engage

Generation Engage is a nonpartisan youth-civic-engagement initiative that connects young Americans to political leaders, to other civic organizations, and to meaningful debate about the future they will inherit. There was a good piece in the Politico that spotlights the organization and shows how it's trying to bring political access to young people.

According to the organization's website, Generation Engage partners with local HotSpots: social venues where young people in a given community congregate socially (pool halls, cyber cafes, community centers, places of worship, etc.) to provide a venue for members to gather and connect with civic leaders. These events allow political leaders to vie for young voters' support as they should: face-to-face and not over the airwaves. Then the organization connects its local forums among multiple cities and local HotSpots, through videoconference technology, leveraging one event into many. Members, gathered at Engagement Forums can hear from and ask questions of prominent political figures, via Apple's iChat video conference technology. For politicians, these forums open cost-effective channels of communication between politicians and young voters.

As founder Adrian Talbott puts it, "Young people suffer from a lack of access, not from a lack of information."

Read This

Check out this article from San Diego Union Tribune. It talks about how candidates are using social networking and video sites to attract young voters.

Ben Unger of the Public Interest Research Group makes an important point, warning that candidates can't rely too heavily on the Web to woo young voters.

“If there is a pitfall, it would be that candidates think that YouTube is the only way to reach out to young people,” said Unger, field director for the PIRG's New Voter Project. “These candidates can and should be doing more – talking to young people about the issues they care about, coming to campus, spending their advertising money in youth markets.”

What Are You Doing This Summer?

Rock the Vote is seeking highly driven and committed individuals who are detail-oriented, proficient in Internet research and database management, have strong interpersonal communications skills, and able to work in a fast-paced campaign environment. A strong commitment to democracy and youth civic engagement is required. Good organization, a little flexibility and a sense of humor are all recommended!

Full and part-time internships are available, as are monthly stipends (think: $). Interns must commit to a fixed schedule and have a track record of reliability.

To check out the internships available, go here.