Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Organizing on Facebook

Rachel Maddow talked last night about the Virginia women who organized the dramatic silent protest against the state’s proposed bill requiring ultrasounds prior to abortions. They raised a big crowd and pulled it off on Facebook.

Check out the video of the silent protest. It’s chilling.

The Right uses Facebook to rally the troops, too. American Grizzlies United, a pro-Sarah Palin group, (tries to) supplement its push to recruit GOP national convention delegates on its Facebook page.

Palinistas seem to have a tight Venn diagram of overlapping fan circles which helps the network effect, but each of the circles are relatively small. The synergy sounds loud right in the eye of the storm but its influence never reaches much of the electorate that has long made up its mind about Palin. That’s not to say the groups don’t have a large presence online; it’s just that blogs may be the medium of choice. The Conservatives4Palin website, founded by a blogger who later worked as a communications aide for Palin, enjoys a flood of traffic and an active, lively, passionate and committed community of commenters.