Party People

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The DNC launched Party Builder, its online social organizing and fundraising tool, last Friday. It's the answer to MyGOP.com. Both programs offer similar features, but most notable is how the GOP uses a homepage as its base (think MySpace), while the DNC's new tool looks a whole lot like The Facebook. Why re-invent the wheel, when it already runs so smoothly? MySpace and Facebook are in the top 20 sites in the country.

A quick comparison of what can be done with both sites:
*The DNC has put all of its action tools under the Party Builder, except for the blog which can be accessed via the main home page too. Supporters create a profile, join groups, make "friends," create/join events, fundraise, sign petitins and send letters to the editor. Unlike the RNC's blog, users comments are a free-for-all under the post while the RNC's blog comments are listed by user.
*The RNC's Action Center and its MyGOP.com portal are seperate features on the site, but link to many of the same functions. At the Action Center, users can host a party, take a survey, contact their Rep., call talk radio, get GOP paraphenalia, join teams, recruit volunteers and register people to vote. At MyGOP, supporters can do all the above and show off their progress.

In the simplest of political theories, each party's tool is reflective of their respectivie philosophies. Talk about competitive market: RNC users compete to get points, dollars and yes, the elusive "official" GOP ipod. With what is most like an intentional emphasis on competition, MyGOP users how much money they've raised (up to $200), voters they've and volunteers they've recruited. The DNC's Party Builder is all about building and communicating within a community.

Most important is to check out how each party gathers information about the user. The RNC has different logins for different features, such as the blog, personal homepage and volunteer recruitment center. It's a model for different levels of engagement and getting lots of names without shoving committment into a user's face -- and typically getting a larger drop-off rate in return. The DNC takes a different approach. By singing up with Party Builder, the DNC gets basic information in the login and then collects information through the user's profile, signed petitions, signed letters to the editor and their network/group memberships. So why do we care? These users are the party's next loyal supporter and volunteer. And how much information the parties have on these folk will determine the strength of their online activism in '06 and '08, which is conveniently transferable to field staffs across the country.

*For more Web Ads, check out Web AD-dict. In the meantime, a few bytes: An anonymous Ohio Democrat has visualized "This State" of GOP politics. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is starting weekly video message to supporters. Roy Temple's Fired Up Missouri thinks Jim Talent has a few good friends. The Minnesota Republican party tells Mike Hatch "That's what friends are for", and describes Amy Klobuchar's "Hostile Work Environment." TN Democrats are out with www.bigbrysondoubletalk.com, while the AZ Republican party ask "What's the trouble with Harry?"