You have three seconds.

Ask Jack Lail, Katie Granju, Tom Humphrey, Erin Chapin or Michael Silence because I was with them a few years ago at the Freedom Forum at a seminar on digital media in Nashville. 

I wonder if that still stands with the countless stolen memes on Facebook and the life span of a tweet?

The issue is that online you have three seconds to get someone’s attention. Is it going to stick? You see, if it’s negative or “sexy” you might have a little longer which is a problem as you can imagine. So how do you navigate bringing people to your message?

Of course I’m talking politics, but I did send a message yesterday to a candidate and I simply said and I paraphrase “You are doing Twitter wrong.”

I wasn’t trying to be a douchecanoe but I just felt like it needed to be said. I mentioned last week that my bullshitometer is a bit broken right now, but I like this guy.

If you build and engage your audience be it on Twitter, Facebook or a website such as a blog, then they are going to come back. If you are a candidate and you are just spewing out facts of where you are and that dessert was good, it’s going to get tuned out. If you go to an event and talk about people, make some self-deprecating fun of yourself and then talk to folks online, then people are going to pay more attention. There is nothing wrong saying “This County Fair is fantastic” but you really probably should add why it’s fantastic. Is it monkey riding horses, because hell, if you put that in a tweet I’m going to open the picture.  If you make folks want to get to know you, isn’t that what it is all about?

Well, aren’t elections popularity contests when you get down to it? Why yes they are. And of course these items are for self-promotion, heck I do it, but if you are continually just vomiting information, people are going to tune you out.

You have three seconds.

An elected official who uses Twitter and Facebook well is Sen. Andy Berke. He talks about his adoration of Bruce Springsteen, he tweets pictures of many things which interests him and that humanizes him. His name on Twitter is simply Andy Berke, he posts updates from meetings that he is in that don’t focus exclusively on him but the event he is attending, which is good. He doesn’t fight with anyone that disagrees with him. Berke doesn’t talk down to people, he engages them. He gives you tidbits about himself. The key is, you feel like you know him.

And on Facebook, if you are just throwing links about how Mitt Romney is a goat herder or that Barack Obama is such and such, then you are wasting an opportunity to engage. Even if it is just someone on your staff, take the initiative to virtually talk to them online. It’s a new world of interaction.

The key is always if you think you are the smartest person in the room, you probably aren’t and you aren’t listening. The same rules go for the innertubes.

And a democrat in this election year needs all the friends they can get, virtually or literally.