Groucho Marx noted,
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, misdiagnosing it, and then
applying the wrong remedies.” But if you’re really looking for trouble, try
posting something on Facebook about your political preferences! A study from
the Pew Research Center discovered the remedy for 20% of social networkers who
received political puffery too frequently or political opinions antithetical to
their own was – wait for it – unfriending or blocking! Surprised? It’s no
secret that people feel passionately about politics, and these days about
political over-sharing too.
Stop and consider
why we vote for a particular candidate. Do we rationally compare his or her
position on issues to our own and then vote for the candidate who comes closest
to our own rational views? Is it just the state of the economy or war someplace
or women’s rights? No, it’s not that. Or certainly not just that, no matter
what FOX News or MSNBC reports. If you are perfectly honest with yourself, you
likely have certain opinions about the candidates you wouldn’t articulate to
some pollster or to some focus group moderator. With social networking, as it
turns out, inhibitions are a bit lower. Not being face-to-face with your
“friend” makes it a bit easier to share. Or campaign for.
Want to know exactly how voters feel? To
successfully measure any category you need to determine the consumer’s concept
of the Ideal. For the electorate it’s measuring the Ideal President and Vice
President and then each candidate’s qualities against that Ideal. Effects of
debates, commercials, speeches, sound-bites, smears, and even social networking
campaigns, can be measured, revealing significant changes in the perception of
a candidate. At the end of the campaign trail, the candidate that is seen to
best meet or exceed the qualities of the ideal always wins. Always.
The four engagement and loyalty drivers that
define the Ideal President and Vice President are (alphabetically):
Action: Does the candidate have a comprehensive, realistic, well-considered plan
for solving the problems facing the country?
Compassion: Does the candidate care about all the
people?
Perception: Does the candidate have a deep understanding of the problems facing the
county?
Resolve: Does the candidate have the strength and
leadership to guide the country?
Or, in the vernacular of the consumer, “Job
skills,” “Empathy,” “Smarts,” and “Guts.”
And, while the drivers apply equally to
self-described Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, voters claiming
loyalty to a particular party rank the drivers differently in terms of what’s
important to them and have different expectations for what they anticipate from
their Ideal candidate, hence different party affiliations, convictions, and
philosophies. Or, as Grouch Marx also noted, “all people are born alike –
except Democrats and Republicans.”
Social networks have an entirely different
set of engagement and loyalty drivers than Presidential Elections – but those
aren’t totally rational either. The first most-important of which (with the second-highest
expectation level) is “Self Image.” The driver with the highest expectation
level is – wait for it – “Personal Content Control.” The other engagement
drivers include “Ease of Connection” and “Brand Value.” And yes, Facebook just
hit a billion monthly users worldwide, but those drivers and expectation levels
are used to evaluate every social network wherever you vote. So, before you
tweet or make your next post to a friend about your candidate, the story below
may help put things into perspective:
Two friends with radically different
political views are on their way to the polls on Election Day. One turns to the
other and says "You know, we've argued about this for months, and we're
obviously going to vote for different candidates. Our votes will cancel each
other out anyway, so why don't we just call it a draw and go home instead?"
The other friend agrees, they shake hands, and part ways.
A third person who overheard the conversation
approached the deal-maker and says with admiration, "That's a real sportsmanlike
offer you just made! "Not really," she says, "Just this
afternoon I've already done this three times."
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