It's All Geek To Me - January 22nd 2004

To the Future

For those of you in my age bracket (I just turned 54 last week), and those who watch AMC or Bravo for the older movies, you'll remember that one word spoken so reverentially to Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate: “Plastics.” That was where the future was, he was told at the college graduation party thrown for him by his folks. “Plastics.” If that party were held today, I suspect the word would be different. “Benjamin, I've got two words for you... 'the internet.”

Now I know that will come as no surprise to you from a KISS Newsletter. But today, I'd like to give you a couple of astounding new reasons to say this. Money's at the heart of those reasons, certainly, but at unheard of levels, and in one area heretofore untraveled. Commerce and Politics... commerce to the tune of $8.5 billion during the month of November alone, and politics to the tune of millions where nothing existed previously.

The Internet has become THE place of politics this season. Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont and Democratic candidate for his party's presidential nomination, raised almost $15 million dollars during the third quarter of 2003, and half of it, nearly $7.5 million, came over the internet in average donations of $77 each. His campaign used simple, easy and inexpensive tools the internet has to offer, and the cost to obtain each dollar in donations was minimal at most... no expensive mass mailings with their printing and postage costs, no cold chicken dinners.

Internet communications were accomplished through some very basic means: Blogs (web logs) and Meetup. The latter is a website that, as it announces on its home page, “organizes local interest groups.” If you visit it, you'll see under the Top Topics, Politics and Activism: “Dean in 2004” with 181,500 members, “Clark in 2004” with 62,200 members and “Kerry in 2004” with 24,300 members. These are pretty hefty numbers, and likely meaningful numbers, of people actively involved in campaign efforts and many of whom obviously have put their money where their mouth is.

We develop and market e-commerce websites, and we espouse the power of the internet to our clients every day. We employ the same methods and use the same tools, and our clients have met with success as a consequence. Money fuels commerce, and money has always fueled politics. It was only a matter of time before the two became integrated via the internet. Politics will never be the same... every candidate from here on will have an internet strategy, and the money will follow.

The magic word today is “internet.” We've known this at KISS for quite some time, and now politics knows it, too. It should be no surprise to you that KISS would be interested in the most internet-savvy campaign efforts of the 2004 political season.

What is it you want to take away from this today? Well, basically this:

• The internet works for commerce, clearly.
• Inexpensive internet tools already exist for that commerce, and the ROI is extraordinarily high, just as it is for the political candidate.
• The internet is an integral part of that political landscape, now and forever, just as it is for commerce.
• If you aren't invested heavily in that concept, you're falling further behind every day, whether you are running a business or running for office.

It is said often that all politics is local. This is, perhaps, less true today with these new internet strategies. Certainly, all commerce is no longer local. A website we launched for a client last month, Pondside Gifts & Boutique (a lovely gift shop here on Cape Cod) includes a shopping cart for online sales. Its first six online sales were from six different states, none of which was Massachusetts.

The internet, Benjamin. That's where it is.

Tech Tip

by Michael McGrath You're frustrated. That darn mouse is not moving as you want it to move... stuck in that one place, no matter how you shake the mouse, bang it, say bad words to it, you just want to throw it out the window. What do you do? Clean it. That's right, clean it. Turn it over. You'll see a little ball, surrounded by a plate that has some thumb grooves. Turn that plate, remove it, and the ball will fall into your hands. Wipe it off. Take a Q-tip and clean the rotator wheels and bars inside the mouse. You see, the ball will pick up dust and dirt from your mouse pad, and deposit it inside. It clings to those wheels and bars, and interferes with the free and smooth movement of the mouse, and makes the screen icon stick. Of course, you could upgrade your mousing to optical, climb the “geek” ladder, so to speak. Or climb it even further with a wireless optical mouse. You've plenty to choose from, including IBM, Microsoft and Logitech, to mention a few brand names. Light is used to measure movement, and there is no opening that dust can sneak through to clog things up. But, if you keep your mouse clean, it will serve you well. Don't get mad... get clean.