Are comments moderated on HillaryClinton.com?

Apparently the answer is "YES."

I heard a speech from her last night asking people to come to her web site and share our thoughts. I did just that on this post, in a very clean and respectful way. My message was asking her to gracefully concede, acknowledging that she fought a good race but nonetheless has lost, albeit by a very small margin. I even twittered it, so others could share their feedback. (This was 12 hours ago.)

My comment is not available in the over 1100 comments, and if you read thru them, there IS NOT A SINGLE NEGATIVE COMMENT. How can this be?

HillaryClinton.com is new media at its worst. Giving people a chance to register and comment, and then doing massive and one-sided filtering of comments to convey a massively inaccurate record of the facts.

Hillary was a candidate for the last century. Yes, a lot of people are more comfortable back there, but the times, they are a changin'. For the better, in my opinion, despite all the messiness of the change.

Moderating comments (e.g. for profanity) is standard practice on some websites, like the Huffington Post. But they show you the number of total comments and the the number in the moderation queue. They even proved an easy-to-find FAQ on their comment policy.

Clinton & Obama: A lesson of losing control of your brand

Many of my colleagues (Mitch Joel, Shel Holtz, Valeria Maltoni) and I frequently speak to members of PRSA, IABC, and advertising agencies explaining as best we can how consumers now own the brand. Good will increasingly cannot be bought and the political season is giving us striking examples of the mechanics of how "web 2.0" - "new media" - "social media" (choose your buzz) have changed the landscape of both business communication and brand marketing.

Frank Rich has this in today's New York Times editorial page:

The Hallmark show, enacted on an anachronistic studio set that looked like a deliberate throwback to the good old days of 1992, was equally desperate. If the point was to generate donations or excitement, the effect was the reverse. A campaign operative, speaking on MSNBC, claimed that 250,000 viewers had seen an online incarnation of the event in addition to "who knows how many" Hallmark channel viewers. Who knows, indeed? What we do know is that by then the Yes We Can Obama video fronted by the hip-hop vocalist will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas had been averaging roughly a million YouTube views a day. (Cost to the Obama campaign: zero.)

Ed. Note: Video inserted at the end of this post to save you a click-thru.

I have two points to make. First is to note the extreme shift in balance of power as to who controls your brand. Hillary is trying, some would say desperately, to control her brand and essentially trick people into voting for her. She (along with Bill presumably) are convinced they are the best for the country. The country, increasingly, is demonstrative otherwise. She can spend money and stage "staged" events with planted questioners, but we have learned as consumers of media as well as of products, when someone is "faking it up." (My favorite way to describe the traditional art of advertising's dark side.)

Second, one of the best measurements of how well your brand is being received, is the way that people play with it. Are they promoting you or are they disparaging you? It is not that hard to tell these days.

The great opportunity for business is that we can learn from the political season. We can observe how losing control can be tragic, comedic, and/or a fast trip from relative obscurity to leader of the pack.

Footnote Observations

1. It is still early on the date of publication of Frank Rich's editorial (cited above) and there are over 500 comments already posted. People have opinions and they want to share them.
2. My mom, a lifelong Republican, said she would consider voting for Obama before McCain because, "Obama has class." In this age of communication transparency, things like class definitely can shine through all the traditional mud-slinging.

Save the Internet and Your Privacy

Many of us have been merrily surfing away on the internet without realizing that the “powers that be” are seriously attempting to change it from an open environment to one that is controlled by the telcos while proposed new laws would require ISPs to maintain records of their customers web surfing activity! 

This is a heinous burden on business and a gross violation of our privacy. I believe it is time to remember that we have a participatory democracy here in the U.S. and we are responsible for how we get treated.

Legislation Would Require ISPs to Store Users' Activities
bq. A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans' online activities be stored, CNET News.com has learned. The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Internet service providers should retain records of user activities for a "reasonable amount of time," a move that represented a dramatic shift in the Bush administration's views on privacy.

What if you got bumped to the back of the bus on the way to the internet?
There is legislation pending to give telcos increased control over access to the internet. You can watch this short video we made on the topic. You can also visit Save the Internet to learn more.

May 24th there will be a national day of protest against this pending legislation. I know it is easy to assume that bad things won't happen, but they do. The internet has given each citizen a voice like never before. Let's use it to promote open communication and private lives.

save the internet, privacy, internet

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