An Essay Identifying Five Ways Politicians Can Positively Embrace YouTube

This is not about you or me. It's about us.

That's a very valuable lesson that all of the 2008 Presidential contenders would be wise to embrace as they fill their YouTube channel at the latest/greatest destination for our YouTube community, You Choose 2008.

According to YouTube's press release:

YouTube You Choose '08 is a centralized hub of candidate-created Channels that feature campaign videos, speeches, informal chats, behind-the-scenes footage and more. In addition, YouTube You Choose 2008 provides a platform for people to engage in dialogue with candidates and each other through the use of community features such as video responses, text comments and ratings.

Read the latter sentence again. It is much more important than the first.

Five Quick Ways To Better Navigate YouTube

Candidates would be wise to understand that YouTube is not simply a place to dump opposition research and bury the other guy/gal. We're a vibrant community of supporters who want to engage the issues and climb above petty politics and negative attacks.

Here are five quick ways you can positively use YouTube to your advantage:

1. Watch Jeff Jarvis of PrezVid twice before putting a single video up:

Click To Play

2. Just because you create a new video or post it at your website, that does not mean you should post it on your YouTube channel. Different strokes, for different folks and quality over quantity. This is a simple way for me to tell you to know your surroundings. It's OK to have highly produced videos on YouTube, but think a tad outside of the box. Do something risky and unexpected. Be remarkable, not normal. Make me want to think, respond, and email the clip to my friends. I will. To help you better understand our community, spend a few hours - not minutes - looking at the videos by the most subscribed YouTube channels of all time. If you're going to try and find your way through the jungle, it's better to take a map and a compass.

3. Create a few videos to get the conversation going and encourage video responses. We know how to use our cameras too and we want to talk with you. Give me the microphone for a minute please. If I disagree with you, or you don't like my answer, don't censor me or else I'll tell all my friends that you're afraid that my words will hurt you. Also, if you like what I have to say, make it a favorite so that the rest of your subscribers will see it. Pavlov used to ring a bell, you can simply favorite my work.

4. Pay attention to the comments and join the discussion. If you're stepping in to the modern world - leave your censorship cape at home. We can spot the censored comment threads. Trust me, even if the language seems foul, remember that this is the Internet, not a classroom. And by the way, trust that your supporters will answer your critics so that you don't have to. But people will offer thoughtful feedback and you should respond. Think about what they are telling you and post a meaningful response. Your answers tell me that you're listening and that you might answer my question or comment if I leave one. That's the real conversation and dialogue that you're seeking.

5. Talk with us, not at us. A decade ago, Seth Godin told us about "Permission Marketing," since you skipped class that day, please read this short article in FastCompany on the topic. It will improve the way you join our discussion. Here's a teaser (and remember, this was 10 years ago):

Interruption marketing is giving way to a new model that I call permission marketing. The challenge for companies is to persuade consumers to raise their hands - to volunteer their attention. You tell consumers a little something about your company and its products, they tell you a little something about themselves, you tell them a little more, they tell you a little more - and over time, you create a mutually beneficial learning relationship. Permission marketing is marketing without interruptions.

You still have to get people's attention in the first place, of course, and that still costs lots of money. But that's the beginning of the story, not the end. You have to turn attention into permission, permission into learning, and learning into trust. Then you can get consumers to change their behavior.

Thank you YouTube for launching the "Politician" channel. It's good for democracy and will force candidates to truly embrace the medium and therefore, us.

We can only hope that they'll take our advice and be respectful of the community which they have the privilege of engaging.

Like this essay? Digg it and add my RSS feed to your daily clips.