Now Facebook has a new trend to keep up with as more of Facebook’s user base is shifting to mobile. But be assured, Facebook has a response to this too. Facebook launched a new mobile site today, as well as iOS and Android app redesigns, which make images three times larger on your screen! With the rise of social networks, such as Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram, social media is becoming more visual. And it’s your time to take advantage of this.

Now is the time to use more compelling images to motivate and engage your supporters and members on social networks. With Facebook’s new mobile experience (which will hopefully load faster as more phones utilize 4G), people will be extending their browsing time on their cell phone and your message will catch their eye with captivating images and videos as it now takes up their full screen.

Check out before and after pictures of Facebook’s new mobile design here.

But that’s not all we have going on here – our tasty friend Sammy has something to say as well: No matter how tasty, a bribe is still a bribe. Atlantic writer Nancy Scola wrote an article on our talking sandwich video questioning presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Representative Paul Ryan’s motives for handing out free sandwiches during the Wisconsin GOP primary.

What will we come out with next? You’ll just have to wait and see.

There are some days at Revolution Messaging when defending democracy involves cutting edge technology, organizing members via mobile, getting websites developed and producing top-notch media.

Then there are other days when we make a talking sandwich video.

During the Wisconsin GOP primary election, Governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan were seen at Cousins Subs in Waukesha illegally soliciting voters with a tasty free sandwich.

Romney was not just being unpresidential by doling out sandwiches, but he was participating in small time fraud – the sort of petty crime that even Richard Nixon would turn his nose up at.

This may not have swayed the outcome in Wisconsin, but won’t someone think of the sandwiches?

First off, we would like to welcome two new members to our team: former official White House videographer Arun Chaudhary who brings his unique and celebrated brand of political movie making to our roster of clients and Kate Kennedy as a veteran of the successful “We Are Ohio” labor battle last year.

We are also proud to announce Revolution Messaging was recognized as an industry leader in mobile technology, social media engagement, microsite development and online advertising. Our team won 8 American Association of Political Consultants and Campaigns & Elections Magazine’s awards.

Don’t forget to check out our new website, “RevolutionMessaging.com”, we launched at the beginning of 2012. We’ve added a case study of how to creatively use mobile at your conferences, as well as links to some new projects we’ve recently rolled out.

These projects include both PocketSpammers.com and ScotusLive.com. Intrigued, aren’t you?

PocketSpammers.com is our campaign to end political text messaging spam. Please go and sign our petition to the FCC if you haven’t already.

In response to the Supreme Court’s refusal to allow cameras into the healthcare debate, our team imagined  what we think the judges are doing behind those closed doors… visit  ScotusLive.com to see what the Justices don’t want you to see!

Lastly, we have a few congratulations to give out throughout the office:

• We welcomed the newest and youngest member of the Revolution Messaging family on    March 8^th – Courtney Sieloff and her husband Luke Peterson gave birth to a beautiful baby boy – Teddy Emil Peterloff.
• Vegan Love! Gabe Hammersmith is marrying his fiancé Brenda on April 12^th, 2012.
• Sam Lozier will have a Better Home and Garden soon, as he is marrying his fiancé Erin on May 26^th, 2012.

Be sure to keep an eye out for anything new coming out of Revolution Messaging’s headquarters!

In a period of economic recession, many shoppers are looking for bargains. A new text fraud by Walmart impostors are apparently looking to bank off of such consumers, offering fake $1,000 Walmart gift cards. The text, informing recipients of their supposed gift card, is embedded with a link to a website prompting the entry of personal information.

Such a message is called smishing, similar to phishing, only geared to texts, or SMS,” The Business Journal states.

These tactics attempt to trick consumers into thinking they are submitting their information to a reputable source. Scam Book claims the Walmart Text Spam Group is “false advertising.”

The Walmart scam text has spread rapidly, nationwide. WebProNews writes, “The BBB is fielding complaints all across the U.S. concerning the texts.”

Even one of our own employees received a text message from the Walmart spammers this morning:

Walmart has released a statement, explaining that the texts are not from them. Nonetheless, we all need to be weary of text fraud. The Better Business Bureau says, “smartphones are very convenient but consumers should be careful about using them – When you use a device for everything from banking to personal photo albums, the last thing you want is someone gaining access to the phone.”

Worst of all, unsolicited text message spam is charging citizens in times of economic adversity, the opposite of a promise of $1,000. It will be important to sustain pressure on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to properly regulate the growing problem. Revolution Messaging is working towards this goal – check out PocketSpammers.com for more information.

Endless studies have shown how mobile usage is growing worldwide and how smartphone ownership and use of mobile Internet is increasing everyday. The results from Gallup reiterate these statistics and show some interesting facts about how our world is adapting and responding to mobile and social media trends.

“The ability to connect anywhere and anytime is nowadays a must,” the Gallup survey says. “These [mobile and social media] trends are changing lifestyles and consumers around the globe are shifting and adapting the way they communicate.”

One of the key findings of the survey is the number of smartphones owned almost doubled from 2010 to 2011, increasing from 19% to 35%. Apple is the number one preferred brand for these smartphones, according to 38% of the survey respondents. Even though feature phone ownership decreased slightly in 2011, the favored brand is still Nokia with 31% preferring it to any other feature phone brand.

And who are these smartphone owners? The survey found that in 2011, 37% of owners were men and 32% were women. This continues to be the trend going into 2012 as well. Owners tend to be young as well with 41% of owners falling in the age group of 25 to 34 years old and 39% of owners being under 25 years old.

Throughout the world, people spend an average of 18 hours online per week, which equals to 2.6 hours a day. Out of most online activities, the survey also found that about 25% of consumers perform them on their mobile devices. And with all this time online, 1 in 4 minutes is spent on social media sites.

Interested in more information? Read the full results here.

Vote 4 Me!!: The political consultants who want to send you unsolicited text messages, and the man who is fighting to stop them. By Sasha Issenberg

Slate tells the story of the fight to end political text spam from the beginning when Revolution Messaging founder Scott Goodstein investigated a spam claim from 2009 to today and the current petition filed with the FCC.

Political junk mail you pay for: It’s not exactly free speech when the recipients have to pay for unwanted political text messages, a relatively new phenomenon that regulators should squash now.

LaTimes.com wrote an editorial comparing unsolicited text messages, which costs voters money each time they are sent an unwanted text, to other forms of negative campaign ads, which voters aren’t charged for. The editorial understands the need for immediate action to end this “relatively new phenomenon that regulators should squash before it spreads.”

School for scandal

CBC.ca National News in Canada interviewed Revolution Messaging Founder Scott Goodstein and Founder of StopPoliticalCalls.org Shaun Dakin on the dangers of using technology for voter suppression activities.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is being targeted by the latest practice of voter suppression in the form of political text message spam. Progressive organization Revolution Messaging has been working to raise the awareness of this dangerous new tactic by calling on the Federal Communications Commission to put a stop to it.  Complaints are rolling in about these unsolicited text messages throughout Michigan, whose primary is this upcoming Tuesday. The text messages said “Romney’s Poor Comments” from an email address of a group that does not exist: michigan@westcoastrepublicans.com. The text message included a phone number that sent people to a recorded message attacking Romney. In addition to not being able to identify who these nefarious messages are actually from or be properly opted in to receiving these updates -  they actually cost the voter money because text messages are not free to the end-user in the U.S.

People took to Facebook and Twitter to complain about these spam messages, including Jackie Hall from Michigan who posted to a local Michigan television station’s Facebook page:

ABC12: Your Trusted Source! WJRT-TV

Really hoping you’ll cover these unwanted texts from 9897870163 (michigan@westcoastrepublicans.com). I received one at 10:30 last night, and am very upset by this kind of practice. It should be illegal.

Revolution Messaging has been working to expose this under-the-radar tactic used in Congressional Races in 2010 and then again in Virginia’s Legislative Campaigns in 2011.  The firm launched PocketSpammers.com, in early February, to raise awareness of this growing issue and to push the FCC to take a stance against this practice by closing any loopholes in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

“We’ve already seen runaway spending on campaigns this year,” said Scott Goodstein, founder of the firm. “We need for the FCC to assure people that unwanted & illegal text message spam will not be tolerated – period.”

Some corporations claim they have found a loophole in the (TCPA) that allows them to send unsolicited political text message spam to users’ cell phones with no opt-in or opt-out component. Under this act, the FCC has adopted regulations, which prohibit sending spam text messages.

It’s time for the FCC to end this illegal practice that hits voters right in the wallet. These text messages are sending an anonymous attack ad while costing voters money with an unwanted text message. This spam is timed perfectly for the opposition, sending an attack right before a primary election. The same tactic was seen in Colorado and the website WestCoastRepublicans.com was found to be registered by Domains by Proxy, an Arizona-based company helping people register for websites while protecting their identity.

People need to continue calling on the FCC to clarify that the ban on text messaging spam applies to ALL companies, including those who run Internet-to-phone text messaging programs.

Revolution Messaging is asking for help to push this message to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell, by signing the petition on PocketSpammers.com. This petition helps reinforce the one officially filed with the FCC on January 19th asking them to clearly define the text message regulations included in the TCPA.

This could be a costly 2012 election for voters if the FCC doesn’t stand up now and put an end to these unsolicited messages that are turning into a new form of voter suppression.

In 2002, Courtney founded JobsthatareLEFT, a nationally recognized job bank and networking organization that serves 17,000+ progressive activists. She is also one of the founders of WIPT (Women in Political Technology). She’s very active in WIN, and is a frequent speaker, trainer, and fundraiser for progressive organizations. Courtney is a food geek (never a foodie) who spends her free time seeking out new recipes and the best reservations.
]]> http://revolutionmessaging.com/2012/02/16/courtney-sieloff/feed/ 0 http://revolutionmessaging.com/2012/02/16/alison-scharman/ http://revolutionmessaging.com/2012/02/16/alison-scharman/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:43:38 +0000 admin http://revolutionmessaging.com/?p=765 Continue reading →]]> After studying politics and communication, Alison enjoys learning about the role of new media and technology in social movements and democracy. Alison has experience planning social-justice related events and marketing them through social media. She holds three places near and dear to her heart: the Washington D.C. area where she grew up learning about politics; Madison, WI where she enjoyed watching social media amplify a movement; and Pune, India where she blogged about her experiences working at a school for underprivileged children. She loves learning about different cultures, rooting for the Wisconsin Badgers, traveling, and finding new places to eat Thai food.