Do we really own the internet?

[CasualApathy]

Hi everyone.

People often say that "we own the internet", and that we should focus on spreading the word in the real world.

But do we really "own" the internet?
Sure - We dominate the political blogs and websites, but why stop there?
Why not make an effort to get RP's message spread to the farthest corners of the inter-tubes?
Most people who go online, do not spend their time reading politics anyway. If we really want to claim ownership online, we should make sure that you basically cannot go to any online community without learning about RP

The internet is our best bet for spreading this revolution. The revolution started online, and we shouldn't count on MSM coverage to "pick up the slack" any tiime soon.

The internet is an amazing recruiting tool. Think of it in the same way as people posting signs along busy streets. If we start surfing websites and ask them to support RP (maybe put up a small banner), if we post on comment-threads and forums, if we visit chat-rooms and plug RP, then this revolution will just keep building momentum.

I have been monitoring www.techpresident.com closely since all of this started, and RP's progress seems to have slowed down a bit. He used to have a +20% increase in average just after the first debate, now we are down to +1-5%. I realise of course that 1% now may be as many people as 20% was in the past, but it shows that RP doesn't have exponential growth. We seem to be nearing a growth-limit, where basically everyone who uses the internet to keep informed on politics knows RP, and those who dont arent hearing about him.

I think if we redoubled our efforts online as well as offline, we would see those numbers go up again.

IMHO we seem to have forgotten a bit what has worked so well for us in the past. Just because we are number 1 amongst republicans online, it doesnt mean we should stop our efforts to spread the word online.

So, get out there and spread the word. Lets really spread the message of liberty to every corner. You can do it sitting down :D

[micahnelson]

Well, certainly. Unfortunately we have to figure out how to do this.

We were discussing in an earlier thread the need to reach the "Rest" of the web. What sites should we target and how?

Should we get some materials that can get fowarded like those constant "Robin Williams on America" or that one about the girl who smelled God?

[Mort]

I don't know if we for example spread the word about Ron Paul to "World of Warcraft". Which is a very large amount of people by the way, it might be resented and turn people off.

[jjockers]

Sure, sounds like a good idea. I was thinking of a small badge for Ron Paul saying something like "I Support Ron Paul for President". The blog I run is health and recipe oriented, but I'd be proud to put up some small patch/badge of support for Dr. Paul.

The "I blog gluten free" badge on my blog is a good example of a similar multi-blog badge in use.

Jon
http://cindalouskitchenblues.blogspot.com

[CasualApathy]

I don't know if we for example spread the word about Ron Paul to "World of Warcraft". Which is a very large amount of people by the way, it might be resented and turn people off.

I don't buy into this.
Sure, 5-10% may be a little annoyed, but i think the power of seeing Ron Paul everywhere will more then outweigh that.

I suggest that we do not have specific targets, but simply go roaming about, spreading the word.

[CasualApathy]

How about a RP march in "World of Warcraft" ?! Could be cool *S*

Remember, Ron Paul told us to hae FUN!

[Vvick727]

we should go to other obscure forums and introduce ron paul there

like band forums, parenting forums or w/e

[risiusj]

When I play F.E.A.R. online, I put Ron Paul in my name. I haven't spammed the room with Ron Paul talk, but some people do take notice of the name and give a shout out.

[ghemminger]

let's organize it in this thread 1 RP Supporter per FORUM
I'll take a morgage/real estate forum

[micahnelson]

That could be good, perhaps just a Ron Paul Guild? Problem is there are many servers. How many of you play WoW?

How AOL, Drudge, etc etc?

[jjockers]

As for posting in obscure forums, I've made several posts in notebookreview.com's forums regarding Dr. Paul. He's also in my signature there. The crowd there is large and young - good audience for potential RP supporters.

[bcmiller]

I have done some of this. I am currently helping out a growing group of RP supporters at FireSociety as you can see it's an uphill battle http://www.firesociety.com/blog/100/17026 but we are making progress.

I also recently joined and will post at gopbloggers.org

Basically when I run into a forum with political types I'll add my voice. I think these guys are good to convince because they are the ones most likely to sway relatives at the family picnic, since they are supposedly up on the issues.

Posting about it anywhere else is good too, getting ppl who are open minded is a lot easier. I think you need to be indoctrinated in someone elses line of crap to turn yourself off to the freedom message.

I think I may have turned some people around in this thread for instance. http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/16986/Grassfire.org-August-September-2007-Presidential-Straw-Poll/?page=6

[CasualApathy]

I'm posting all over the top danish websites and forums. I know of at least several hundred danish RP supporters, and its spreading all the time. It's amazing to see the impact of your work like that, im hopig to get a meetup started, and to organize a march through our capitol of copenhagen.

[Sematary]

We HAVE to think bigger than this. There is a better, albeit expensive, method to get to the world - Google adwords. I did some research and we could "buy" all the key terms/words we want. For instance: "presidential race" and "2008 presidential race" along with "presidential polls" are big search terms on google. We can PAY to get Ron Pauls advertisement in the sponsored links section on searches for these and other terms, but at anywhere from a nickel to about fifty cents per click, it won't be inexpensive. That means we need backers with money who are willing to support the effort. The upside is that we will reach millions of potential voters using this approach - far more than we could ever reach on the ground. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be out talking to people either - the more times they hear the name, see the issues, shake a hand, the more likely they are to vote for him. We need a concerted, multilevel marketing campaign that the campaign is either incapable or unable to do.

[Sematary]

Here is something that is inexpensive to pay for:
http://www.libertynewsforum.com
Look in the right hand colum. I paid for that blog ad.
We can all do the same. That cost me $28 per month.

[Vvick727]

i think a good audience to hit would be teens or parents

we could definitely scare the crap out of parents. make them extremely concerned for their kids' futures. for example, how the education department is continually dumbing down the generations, or how nearly all the candidates are warmongers, or even the upcoming financial disaster. something like that. get them to crave for freedom, prosperity, and peace

[Sematary]

i think a good audience to hit would be teens or parents

we could definitely scare the crap out of parents. make them extremely concerned for their kids' futures. for example, how the education department is continually dumbing down the generations, or how nearly all the candidates are warmongers, or even the upcoming financial disaster. something like that. get them to crave for freedom, prosperity, and peace

The best method is to get people to go to his website and listen to him. Nobody gets his message across better than he does.

[Vvick727]

very true. some of the vids that fans make are pretty great as well, and get the emotions out

[Sematary]

very true. some of the vids that fans make are pretty great as well, and get the emotions out

So here is the question, and something I've been trying to jump start for a couple of days now - can WE get the support from people with money, to pay for an organized internet campaign that will reach beyond the small group of social networking sites we own and out to the masses via vehicles such as Google and Yahoo. We are probably talking about spending tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, for a concerted effort. We would need the backing of Paul supporters who would be willing to pay for this effort.

[Vvick727]

hm... i'm sure are a couple dedicated supporters that got rich legitimately that would be able to pay for some fees

[Mort]

I think its a good idea.

For the heck of it I searched "presidential candidates" on google. McCain and Obama already bought that ad-word. This was just to see if this idea was already in use and it is.

[Sematary]

I think its a good idea.

For the heck of it I searched "presidential candidates" on google. McCain and Obama already bought that ad-word. This was just to see if this idea was already in use and it is.

I already noted that in another thread (different terms though). I think I used presidential race.
We NEED to do this. The political season will be coming upon us starting in September and we NEED to have a presence on Google.

[Mort]

I already noted that in another thread (different terms though). I think I used presidential race.
We NEED to do this. The political season will be coming upon us starting in September and we NEED to have a presence on Google.

Next question should be. Who on this forum has maxed out their contribution and is willing to spend much more?

[dude58677]

I wrote a post the other day about promoting Ron Paul in classified ads in all newspapers and magazines.

[Blowback]

I changed my Warcraft 3 FT name to RonPaul2008 (08 was already taken) and I already got a lot of comments on it.


... I can't believe I just admitted I still play that shit...

[Mort]

I changed my Warcraft 3 FT name to RonPaul2008 (08 was already taken) and I already got a lot of comments on it.


... I can't believe I just admitted I still play that shit...

what is the percentage of positive and negative for the comments? just curious

[Sematary]

Next question should be. Who on this forum has maxed out their contribution and is willing to spend much more?

Why don't we ask?
going to main forum now

[bcmiller]

We HAVE to think bigger than this. There is a better, albeit expensive, method to get to the world - Google adwords. I did some research and we could "buy" all the key terms/words we want. For instance: "presidential race" and "2008 presidential race" along with "presidential polls" are big search terms on google. We can PAY to get Ron Pauls advertisement in the sponsored links section on searches for these and other terms, but at anywhere from a nickel to about fifty cents per click, it won't be inexpensive. That means we need backers with money who are willing to support the effort. The upside is that we will reach millions of potential voters using this approach - far more than we could ever reach on the ground. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be out talking to people either - the more times they hear the name, see the issues, shake a hand, the more likely they are to vote for him. We need a concerted, multilevel marketing campaign that the campaign is either incapable or unable to do.

You are right but it doesn't have to be expensive or organized... here is why

You do bid on keywords and enter the max. Maybe "Presidential Elections" cost 5 cents a click, but the Romney campaign has a max of 10 cents. Well you could set your max per click to be $10 if you wanted to and you woudn't break the bank because you can set a max budget as well. Once your budget ran out someone else would win those keyword searches. That someone else could be me until my budget is blown... So you decide you can afford to spend $15 this month, budget that much and when it's gone it's gone.

In this way it take no central organization or coordinated funding. You can even vote on "needlepoint" or "cheese" whatever you think will get the word out.

great idea