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Twitter & Asymmetric Political Warfare
February 17, 2010
Oh Twitter, how I love thee. Let me count the ways…
I first became interested in Twitter a bit over a year ago while reading Seth Godin’s book, Tribes (for my full blog review of the book click here). Before I even finished the book I had to log online and get my account set up (@razshafer). Since then it’s been a non-stop ride on the twitter train for over a year. Here I sit, 6248 tweets and 3834 followers later, more fascinated by it than ever!
While I’ve been active with social media since the advent of Web 2.0 I had never aspired to use that medium for political ends. After reading Tribes and a few blog articles about the political uses of Twitter I began to see how powerful Twitter could be when used for a specific purpose.
Twitter.com was created in March of 2006 and went live for the world to use on July 13th, 2006. Since that time it’s membership has swelled to well over and its ranked among the most popular social media sites online. For in-depth information about Twitter’s history, check out the Twitter page on Wikipedia.com. You can even see The Story of Twitter in Picture Form if you so desire.
Because Twitter has released no official estimate of its membership, we are left to guess or estimate likely membership. In my own search of an estimate I took a few factors into account: 1, Twitter.com has received between 23 and 24 million unique visitors per month over the last several months. 2, Only 45% of Twitter users use the website. While many users no doubt visit the site at least once per month, a rough estimation, given these two statistics, is about 50 million users. Considering that 21% of twitter users have never actually tweeted, our estimate of active accounts comes to: 41 million. Regardless of the exact number of active members, Twitter has a huge audience which is heavily engaged. It’s an incredibly powerful venue for broadcasting information, digesting news, debating viewpoints and building relationships.
I believe that in the “David vs. Goliath” battle we are engaged in we must approach the fight much like asymmetric warfare. There was a phenomenal article written by Malcom Gladwell in the New Yorker last May titled “How David Beats Goliath: When Underdogs Break the Rules.” The thesis of Gladwell’s article is that when Davids write their own rules, rather than fight by the conventions that their opponent tries to impose then they will win more often than not. He supports this with a study conducted by Political Scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft. In the study Arreguín-Toft studied every war within two hundred years in which there was significant imbalance (10 to 1 based on military power and population) between combatants. He found that when the weaker power (David) fought by the rules and conventions imposed by the stronger power (Goliath) that David lost 71.5% of the time. This is still quite impressive considering the 10 to 1 power imbalance but when he focused on wars where David wrote his own rules, like in the Biblical account, David won an incredible 63.6% of the time.
Right now we are faced with a David vs. Goliath fight. Conservatism is riding a populist wave but the principles which we advocate and the policy proposals we promote are far from being understood by the majority of our elected officials. While conservatives are indeed a majority, we still fail to demonstrate our size and power at the ballot box. In this fight we need to look to unconventional tools, such as new media, to promote the principles we champion.
I’m convinced that, in this new era of political communication, discovering and utilizing tools like Twitter is not an option. It is a necessity. The question of where we fight the battle is not up to us but if we leave tools un-utilized or under-utilized then we set our movement up for failure. For those of us at American Majority, failure is not an option.
In support of your efforts to become more active online, our Staff has created a Guide to Twitter and Activism: The Twittivism Guide. It is a 40 page document (free to view or download) which will guide you from being a non-user to a Twitter Power-User. American Majority trainings also offer in-depth new media training as part of our Activist and Candidate Political Training sessions.
If you remain unconvinced of the power of social media, check out this video. It was created by Erik Qualman (@equalman) and blows my mind every time I see it.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by AmericaMajority: AM’s Blog: #Twitter & Asymmetric Political Warfare https://goo.gl/fb/cSM2 #uncategorized #activisttraining…
Great article Raz. And yes, that video is an eye-opener. You are, by the way, becoming one of my favorite Twitter follows–lots of good info! twitter.com/razshafer
(Check your links to twitter, facebook, & linkedin!)
Thanks for the comment, Jim! I sincerely appreciate it! Thanks for the heads-up on the links. In the process of getting them fixed.
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I’m a twitter follower of American Majority. I’m also a liberal, and I follow it because I like to listen to both sides, as there are always valid points no matter what side of the aisle you are on. I like how you engage citizens and educate them, but I do still question the video on your main page of the president saying that the left has to fear you. Also, it is interesting that you claim time and again to be the majority when the Rasmussen Report states “As has been the case in every month over the past seven years of tracking, there are more Democrats than Republicans in the nation.”
https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/partisan_trends
I am curious how you come to the conclusion that you are a majority AND that you should be feared….what are you going to do?
Katie, you make the same mistake that most Liberals I have dealt with make. You assume everything is tied to political party. We are non-partisan, believing that principles should stand before party. Everything you read on this site supports our core beliefs: individual freedom, free marktes, and limited government. Using a recent Rasmussen poll of our own, you can see that we are not only in the majority, but Americans convincingly support less government across the board: https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/america_s_best_days?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning+Bell
Democrat is just a name, a vessel to be used by the most vocal of its participants. As of late, the most vocal has been the well organized Left. The Left is tied to larger government and growth of the state. They have built a very impressive ground game, to organize, influence, and increase the reach of a small minority in America. If those who sought less government were to organize and involve themselves in the same way, it would be an impressive force. That is why the Left fears the tea party movement. They fear that all of those people will leave the protest, go home and organize: thinking nationally and acting locally.
Thanks for that link, it clarified it for me. But when I see that video with the scary music in the background talking about how the left should fear you, one would assume that it is being turned into a right vs. left kind of thing. It sounds kind of extremist to me, using fear mongering tactics. I can see why people want less government and less taxes. Nobody wants to have to spend a lot of money, but when you go out and buy a car, you want a really good, safe, quality car, so you spend more money. When you buy a pair of jeans, you want them to last and to look good and be high quality, so you spend a little more. What we have now is a situation where our country became low-quality, and to remedy that it takes a little more spending. Liberals don’t want a huge deficit or high taxes, but we want a better country just like you guys. I know we have our fundamental differences, but I think the two sides are a lot more alike than most realize. I see some good things that American Majority is doing, but I also see some stark examples of demonizing the left and inciting fear. It just makes it harder to see the good valid points.
Katie, I think you are right. There is much middle ground to be covered. What we have witnessed during our time in the grassroots is that most of the people coming out are not Republicans, most are sick of Washington, not a party in particular. I sincerely value your desire to work together, it is both refreshing and inspiring. But, I do not think we are inciting fear. We are inciting passion in those who have suffered political apathy for too long. Last year saw an insurgence of first-time political activists – from both sides of the spectrum. We want these people to know that corruption and an ineffective system can be changed. Liberals/Progressives believe the state is the answer. While we agree with them on the issue of accountability and transparency, we are diametrically opposed to the solutions they propose. We do not set out to demonize, merely to highlight their efforts in growing the state, to provide a backdrop for why these first-time activists must do more than protest.
That’s good to hear. I agree more people should get involved, and I think getting informed should be first and foremost before getting all riled up. I know you are getting people to wake up, but I have to be honest and say that it still seems that fear is being used whether or not that is the intention. But you are right, we do have the power to make change, people need to pay attention and stay vigilant, it’s our duty. I do not see any corruption in our President, and I just hope that people don’t sincerely think he is consciously trying to bring the country down. He has introduced a new level of transparency and I think that we all should still keep asking questions, but not make extreme assumptions. I am keeping open to all sides of the debates and I appreciate the conversation very much!