Panel tomorrow to examine social media’s role in 2012 election
Four experts in politics and the digital media will discuss the role of social media in the 2012 presidential election campaign tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. at the Club.
The event, rescheduled from Oct. 30 because of Super Storm Sandy, will begin with continental breakfast and coffee. The program will follow at 9 a.m.
National Press Club members may register for free using discount code "NPCOnline" here.
The panel, which includes POLITICO's Emily Schultheis, who covers the intersection of technology and politics, will focus on how the 2012 presidential candidates used social media as part of their campaign strategies and whether that impacted the result.
Panelists also will discuss what future U.S. elections will look like as social media become even more predominant and why communications executives should pay attention to these trends when considering their own clients' goals and strategies.
The discussion follows the 2012 U.S. presidential election that was unlike any the nation has have ever experienced. Americans followed real-time debate commentary via Twitter, advocated for their candidates on Facebook and joined Internet memes with Tumblr.
Balancing tried-and-true strategies with bold experimentation, the campaigns of both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney invested heavily in social media as part of their fundraising, grassroots and media strategies.
The panel includes:
David Almacy, senior vice president, digital strategies at Edelman PR and an adjunct lecturer at George Washington University. A high profile expert on digital strategy and politics, Almacy was responsible for digital strategy in the Bush White House and campaign.
Colin Delany, founder and editor of Epolitics.com, a website that focuses on the tools and tactics of Internet politics and online political advocacy. The author of "How Candidates Can Use the Internet to Win in 2012" and a comprehensive guide to the 2008 Obama online campaign, Delany has worked as a consultant to help dozens of advocacy campaigns promote themselves in the digital world.
Alex Howard, the Government 2.0 Washington correspondent for O'Reilly Media, where he writes about the intersection of government, the Internet and society, including how technology is being used to help citizens, cities and national governments solve large-scale problems. He has contributed to National Journal, Forbes, the Huffington Post, Govfresh, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, CBS News' What's Trending, Govloop, Governing People, the Association for Computer Manufacturing and The Atlantic, among others.
Emily Schultheis is a national political reporter for POLITICO, covering all things 2012 but focusing in part on the intersection between the presidential campaign and digital strategy. Her work has also appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia City Paper and on UWIRE’s Youth Vote ’08 blog, among others.
Moderator will be Anthony Shop, managing director of the digital agency Social Driver and chairman of the National Press Club's Events Committee. He is a former press secretary for a U.S. congressional candidate.