AttackWatch Gains Over 100,000 Sign-Ups In Less Than 24 Hours

[jefferson_dem]

Obama Campaign: AttackWatch Gains Over 100,000 Sign-Ups In Less Than 24 Hours
by Colby Hall | 6:29 pm, September 14th, 2011



This week the Obama campaign launched a new front in the heightened information wars that come with presidential campaigns, with a starkly designed and somewhat controversial new website called Attack Watch. The site enables user-generated submissions of what Obama supporters deem to be unfair or untruthful media attacks on President Obama, his political campaign and his administration’s policy. Almost immediately after launching, right-of-center Internet outlets derided the effort, and a Washington Post article called it a “laughing stock.”

But the starkly and intimidatingly designed site has so far been a big hit. A source within the Obama campaign has told Mediaite, that in just the first day, the user-generated research tool has been nothing short of an enormous success. “In less than 24 hours we’ve had over 100,000 people sign up at the website, which indicates significant interest from supporters.” When asked about the design of the website, the source said “its a website with significant resources and its a good resource tool for supporters.”

While the volume of conservative critiques speaks to the intensity of the opposition’s feelings towards the Obama administration, at the very least this digital effort did it’s job bit perhaps instilling a little fear in the GOP campaign efforts. It’s not difficult to imagine social media staffers at the RNC scratching their heads and saying “why didn’t we think of that?”

The essence of AttackWatch is the Obama campaign outsourcing of opposition media research to its army of loyal supporters. Among the critiques leveled at this interactive effort is the notion that this is some vestige of “Big Brother” keeping an eye on citizens opposed to the White House politics. This would be a fairer analysis if it were made before the advent of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. In the brave new world that is oppo research and political smear campaigns, leveraging the passion of one’s political base is not something that we should fear, but rather a smart and savvy political move.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/obama-campaign-attackwatch-gains-over-100000-sign-ups-in-less-than-24-hours/

If you're interested in joining, go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/join-attack-wire-today. Also, follow AttackWatch on twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/AttackWatch

[MarianJack]

1. This is important.

Thank you for posting! :patriot:

PEACE!

[sudopod]

2. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid this is not going to go over well. :/ nt

[jefferson_dem]

3. The only ones complaining are those who made the site necessary... and fear the truth.

[sudopod]

4. You see, that's exactly the sort of thing that I'm getting at.

There are ways to do this that don't push the "creepy" button. Hell, that's largely what's been done HERE for the last decade.

[sudopod]

6. Show this to someone who isn't in the know about how the internet and opposition research

works. They probably won't have a positive impression.

THIS was much classier: http://www.fightthesmears.com/

[jefferson_dem]

7. Meh.

Some low-information voters might feel it's a bit over the top but that's a small sacrifice for the mission of setting the record straight.

It worked in 2008 - http://www.fightthesmears.com/ - and it's even more important today.

[sudopod]

8. fightthesmears wasn't broken. Why "fix" it? nt

[boppers]

9. For the same reason that cars keep changing their "model".

People like new and shiny things, even if what's under the hood hasn't really changed.

[FrenchieCat]

10. The attackers are creepy, so perhaps that's how this site needs to look....

When dealing with trash....

[sudopod]

11. What's the ultimate point of the site?

It is to educate the uneducated. The old site did just that without bringing down ridicule. Punishing internet rejects should get zero campaign dollars if it doesn't convince people to vote for the President.

[FrenchieCat]

12. It's for people that want the Democrats to win, to get their information

to go and fight the smears, hyperbole, exaggerations, speculations, lies, fabrications, nonsense, folk lore, deliberate character assassinations, omitted information, myths, falsehoods, propaganda, false impressions, Intellectual dishonesty, emailed bullshit, provocative claims, rumors, magnification, overstatements, statements from unnamed sources, overreactions, catastrophization, deceptions, spin, cognitive distortion, generalizations, vague sources, Media hackery, emotionally overvalued analysis,
dramatization, theatricality, oversimplification, making mountains out of molehills, sky is falling predictions of doom, swiftboating garbage and insane, ridiculous or absurd claims.

For those who aren't going to be defending any of those, they probably won't be using the site at all. :shrug:

[SixthSense]

16. to become the laughingstock of the Internet

just check the twitter feed #AttackWatch

https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23attackwatch

This is reminiscent of the "how to lose 10,000 twitter followers in one day" episode. Isn't there any competent social media person in this organization?

[jefferson_dem]

17. Let the teabagging trolls have their fun.

In the end, their petty snarks - their squirming, and squealing - will only serve to publicize the site and illustrates how vigilant "we" all need to be to combat their vulgar smears. Here - http://mediamatters.org/blog/201109150004

Funny that you bring up the silly "twitter" non-story. The feed had regained all those "lost" followers in less than a day.

Whatever, welcome to DU! :hi:

[flamingdem]

5. kewl nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. K & R

[Number23]

14. "Right of center outlets derided the effort"

And so did a good chunk of DU. But I'm absotively posolutely sure that's a coincidence :eyes:

[cui bono]

18. Right of center POTUS created the reason for criticism.

And a a few posters on DU keep defending these right of center actions with dismissive and insulting attitudes to those with valid criticisms. But I'm absotively posolutely sure that's a coincidence :eyes:

[Number23]

21. I'm trying to figure out if you're trying to make a point

Or if you're blathering on purpose.

How in the sweet Hell is creating a web site to counter disinformation a "right of center action?"

[ellie]

15. Thanks!

I joined and contributed.

[boxman15]

19. Like I've said before, this site is great in theory, but they executed it poorly.

It's a downright creepy site and there is no reason for it. You can create a site like this, call the GOP out for their bullshit, but not be creepy about it. The site comes off as Orwellian. They need to relaunch it ASAP before it becomes a campaign issue.

[SlimJimmy]

24. Yes. We don't need a site that reminds us of the novel, 1984.

[mistertrickster]

20. They can get 50 alerts a day right here. nt

[ItNerd4life]

22. Rush Limbaugh was one of them. Conservatives are signing up

to make fun of the site. The site is a very bad idea, it smells of big government watchdog.

[rug]

23. We shold be getting lists a lot faster.