Tweet to defeat the money monster

I am marching under the MAYDAY.US banner.

In seventeen days, MAYDAY will launch stage two of its plan "to build a government of, by and for the people."

MAYDAY has indicated there will be "grassroots work" for supporters to do when stage two is launched, but I don't know what grassroots work MAYDAY will propose. In particular, I don't know what MAYDAY will say, if anything, about supporters sending unsolicited tweets or unsolicited emails ("spam") as part of their grassroots work.

On my own, I have been endeavoring to get a tweeting campaign going to announce the launch of stage two of MAYDAY's plan. See Tweeting the launch of stage two. 

I have followed that up with a second tweeting suggestion. See Another tweeting suggestion.

There are numerous organizations besides MAYDAY.US, such as MoveToAmend, Represent.Us, WolfPac, Stamp Stampede and NHRebellion, that have a common objective of defeating the money monster in politics and regaining the Republic for all the citizens.

Can we use organized tweeting campaigns to help do this? What are your ideas? Please tell me


Update 2/26
I sent this email to my contact at Represent.Us:
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 4:51 PM
Subject: Trying to get read on unsolicited tweeting
To: ______ <___@unitedrepublic.org>

Dear _____,

I did a significant amount of unsolicited tweeting growing out of the Represent.Us small business initiative. See Team up with Represent.Us re: small business. 

This unsolicited tweeting generated 305 page views of For BCA small business members, 343 page views of More on Congress failing small business, and 431 page views of More for Alabama small business.

I am trying to get a read on the willingness of grassroots supporters of campaign finance reform to do unsolicited tweeting such as I have been doing, and whether their organizations think such tweeting is worthwhile. 

I have started with MAYDAY.US and its Twitter followers and have gotten some information.

Today I tweeted, to tweeters who recently used hashtag #getmoneyout, this message and link:

Tweet to defeat the money monster in politics .http://maydaysupporters.blogspot.com/2015/02/tweet-to-defeat-money-monster.html

If Represent.Us would care to proffer its view about my attempts to get organized, unsolicited tweeting going by grassroots supporters of campaign finance reform, I would be thankful to learn what Represent.Us thinks about this tactic.

To expand my information, please be advised that I may proceed to tweet the above message and link to Twitter followers of Represent.Us.

Thanks for your attention to this email.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

And this to Move To Amend:

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 8:33 AM
Subject: Organizing unsolicited tweeting campaigns
To: _________@movetoamend.org

Dear ___________,

I have been mainly waving the MAYDAY.US banner.

I have tried to reach out to Move To Amend supporters as well. See To Move To Amend supporters.

The reason for this email is my interest in organizing (or contributing to organizing) unsolicited tweetng campaigns by supporters of campaign finance reform across the board.

If you would, please read this blog entry of mine: Tweet to defeat the money monster.

Then, I would be interested in hearing any reactions you have to what I am trying to do, and whether Move To Amend is already promoting this kind of grassroots tweeting or would have an interest in promoting the same.

Thank you for your attention to this email, and I look forward to any response you make.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

And this to to the state leader of Wolf-Pac Alabama:

Dear _________,

In 2014 I endeavored to run for Congress in the Alabama 6th Congressional district, basically on the single issue of campaign finance reform.

I am currently waving the MAYDAY.US banner with great animation.

For the past year, I have doing my best to publicize the campaign finance reform issue in the Birmingham area and elsewhere in Alabama. This has been a tough slog, and I have found virtually no active interest.

I am interested in learning how your grassroots activities are progressing in Alabama.

I am doing massive, unsolicited tweeting, and am interested in finding other persons who are willing to do the same. For the current state of my work, please look at this blog entry of mine: Tweet to defeat the money monster.

If you think it would be productive for us to communicate further related to our respective activities, please let me know.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

Another tweeting suggestion

I am in the Alabama 6th Congressional district, which is represented by Gary Palmer, a freshman Republican who succeeded Spencer Bachus. The Wall Street Journal has had an article about Clinton family charities which collected donations from companies Hillary Clinton promoted as secretary of state.

I am tweeting the below message and link to Twitter followers of Gary Palmer:

A "money, money, money" matter for the consideration of Congressman Palmer. http://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2015/02/money-money-money.html

Jim Rubens says he thinks this news story is helping Republicans "connect the dots."

I think it would be great if other MAYDAY supporters started sending similar tweets to followers of their Representatives.

Update 2/24
The above link (http://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2015/02/money-money-money.html)  has received 176 page views. This seems to be a good "yield." If you want to tweet to followers of your Representative, I would be willing to tweet to such followers along with you. Please contact me if you would like to do this.

Caveat 2/24
I am not on the MAYDAY staff, and the tweeting I am doing is my personal tweeting and should not be attributed to MAYDAY or the MAYDAY staff. MAYDAY has indicated there is going to be "grassroots work" for supporters to do when stage two is launched, but I don't know any details of grassroots work that MAYDAY will propose. In particular, I don't know what MAYDAY will say, if anything, about supporters sending unsolicited tweets or unsolicited emails ("spam") as part of their grassroots work. As to the tweeting campaign to announce the launch of stage two of MAYDAY's plan that I suggested at Tweeting the launch of stage two, and the tweeting I have suggested here, MAYDAY has not approved or disapproved of either, and MAYDAY supporters should govern themselves on the matter as they individually see fit under the circumstances.

Update 2/25
These are my tweeting ideas. Do you have any tweeting ideas? Please tell me.

Tweeting launch of stage two

I am tweeting locally the following tweet message and link:

25 days to launch of stage two of MAYDAY's plan to build a government of, by and for the people. https://mayday.us/

If MAYDAY.US is registering a lot of page views from my Birmingham, AL geographical area, perhaps that could be reported in order to provide information about whether the foregoing tweet message is achieving a good effect.

Update 2/18
For more than six months, I have been spamming on Twitter (taking as the definition of "spamming" the sending of unsolicited tweets). I have tried to get interpretation and guidance from Twitter about their terms of service, but Twitter never replied to my questions. See Spamming on Twitter. I have no problem with sending unsolicited tweets and believe they should be used in trying to advance MAYDAY's plan. I have inquired of the MAYDAY leadership about their views, but have not had a response yet. I think MAYDAY supporters should determine what they think and pass on their views to MAYDAY.

Update 2/20
There have been 334 page views of this page. Inquiry has been made of MAYDAY whether it could provide an organizing structure for a national tweeting campaign to announce the launch of stage two of MAYDAY's plan. A few MAYDAY followers have indicated interest in doing tweeting.

Update 2/21
There have now been 553 page views of this page. It does not appear that the national MAYDAY Team is interested in a tweeting campaign about the launch of phase two. I will be more than happy to work with other MAYDAY supporters who are interested in doing organized tweeting about the launch. Please let me know of anyone who wants to do this.

Update 2/23
There have now been 882 page views of this page.

Caveat 2/24
I am not on the MAYDAY staff, and the tweeting I am doing is my personal tweeting and should not be attributed to MAYDAY or the MAYDAY staff. MAYDAY has indicated there is going to be "grassroots work" for supporters to do when stage two is launched, but I don't know any details of grassroots work that MAYDAY will want supporters to do. In particular, I don't know what MAYDAY will say, if anything, about supporters sending unsolicited tweets or unsolicited emails ("spam") as part of their grassroots work. As to the national tweeting campaign I have suggested here, MAYDAY has not approved or disapproved of the same, and MAYDAY supporters should govern themselves on the matter as they individually see fit under the circumstances.

Spamming on Twitter

A MAYDAY follower has raised the question of what kind of unsolicited tweet sending violates Twitter's terms of service. I would like to know more about this too. Below are emails I sent to Twitter last year to try to get clarification, but did not get a response. If anyone knows anything with certainty about this, please pass along the information to me.

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:04 AM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I have a question about clicking on "reply" buttons of tweets. 

Are tweets that have been sent to me treated differently from tweets that have been sent to someone else? 

I would think they should be treated differently. I can understand a policy and limitation against excessive clicking on "reply" for tweets that have not been sent to me. On the other hand, if a tweet has been sent to me, I think there should never be a problem if I reply to the tweet.

Please give me guidance. I am going to be clicking on "reply" for tweets that have been sent to me, and the replies to these tweets that have been sent to me are going to be the same or similar.

Please don't suspend me. Please give me guidance.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 7:49 AM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I sent a lot of directed tweets over the weekend and I continue to desire guidance about what I can and  cannot do. Please, please give me more guidance to keep from another account suspension.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 4:21 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

Please be advised I have resumed sending "directed tweets."  Please, please give me guidance about this, and please don't suspend my account again without giving me the opportunity to follow the Twitter rules, with guidance from Twitter.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 5:08 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

In #al06, I have used the reply button on three additional tweets.

Please, please give me guidance as soon as you can. Twitter is extremely important to me in my campaign, and a further suspension will be very detrimental to me.

Please, please, I don't want to commit violations which will result in a further supsension.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 4:55 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

On the #al06 hashtag, I have clicked the "reply" button on two tweets that were not sent to me and sent tweets.

Please give me more clarification about what is considered egregious. 

Please keep in mind that #al06 is for the AL 6th Congressional district, in which I am conducting my political campaign.

Please, please give me guidance.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 5:41 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I am following up on my question I emailed to you yesterday, because I want to make sure I understand my account suspension, and avoid further violations which result in permanent suspension.

I am using my Twitter account for carrying out my political campaign in the Alabama 6th Congressional district and making related political communications at the national level.

I appreciate widespread concerns about abuse of social media, including abuse of email, Twitter and Facebook. 

Also, I appreciate that many users of social media have very adverse reactions to unsolicited communications which they receive.

At the same time, many persons are willing to accept that unsolicited communications, particularly political communications, have an important role in the society.  That some social media users may strenuously complain about receiving unsolicited communications should probably not be a justification for prohibiting any unsolicited communications from being sent using social media.

Unsolicited political communications come in various forms. 

TV, radio and U.S. mail are types of unsolicited communications that are made to viewers, listeners and mail recipients. 

Unsolicited political communications are given exemptions from "do not call" and "unsubscribe" rules and limitations that are applicable to unsolicited telephone calls and unsolicited emails.

I have no funding in my political campaign, and TV, radio and U.S>  mail advertising are not available to me for making unsolicited communications to voters and others. 

In my campaign I am using unsolicited emails and unsolicited tweeting to communicate to voters and others.

Such is the reason for my below question about whether sending a directed tweet to a person by clicking on the "tweet to" box on the person's account is a prohibited "mention" under Twitter's rules.

Generally, it is important for me to understand how much unsolicited tweeting I can do.

So please let me know:  Is a directed tweet a prohibited "mention" under Twitter's rules?  How much unsolicited tweeting can I do without violating Twitter's rules?

I would appreciate as much specific guidance as Twitter can give me here.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I have a question. 

If I send a directed tweet to a person by clicking on the "tweet to" box on the person's account, is that considered a "mention?"

Thank you.

On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Twitter Support <support@twitter.com> wrote:

Hello, This account was suspended for sending multiple unsolicited @replies or mentions. Twitter monitors the use of these features to make sure they're not abused. Using either feature to post messages to other users in an unsolicited or egregious manner is considered an abuse of its use, which results in account suspension. You can find more information about @replies and mentions here: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14023-what-are-replies-and-mentions I have now unsuspended your account. Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal. Be sure to review the Twitter Rules, as repeat violations may result in permanent suspension: http://twitter.com/rules Thanks, Twitter Support http://support.twitter.com @Support System Reference: ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref

T minus 25 days, and counting

It is 25 days until MAYDAY launches stage two of its plan to build a government of, by and for the people. MAYDAY.US.

Robert Reich and MAYDAY

Yesterday I received an email from Robert Reich, which I have copied and pasted below.

In the email the former Secretary of Labor announces a vaguish "groundbreaking new project [involving] powerful and important proposals to improve the lives of the bottom 90 percent."

The email says,

On issue after issue, the public is on our side. Raising the minimum wage. Cracking down on Wall Street. Ending corporate welfare.

And yet, every one of these issues is completely and utterly gridlocked in Washington.Why? That's a big question, and I know people who have written entire books on it. But one part of the problem is clear: We're losing the message war.

You see, when Republicans pick a message, they hammer on it over and over and over. Obamacare. Benghazi. Solyndra. It doesn't matter what the facts are—conservative thinktanks, the right-wing media, and Republican politicians pick one story and stick to it until it sinks in.

Progressives don't have anything like that kind of media support or message consistency. And that's what we're setting out to change.

* * * * 

But instead of waiting for CNN or the network news stations to give our ideas [the aforesaid "powerful and important proposals"] the attention they deserve, we're teaming up with the online experts at MoveOn to bypass the mainstream media and get our message in front of millions of Americans directly.
We know this can work. Because just last week, we created a video sounding the alarm about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a corporate-friendly trade deal that's been almost totally ignored by the corporate media.
In just a few days, the video was seen by THREE MILLION PEOPLE.
Do you know how much it costs to get millions of people to see a 60-second television ad? Our TPP video cost a fraction of that.
If we want to start making progress again on the big issues that matter, we need to change what we're doing. And I believe that together, with this plan, we can do it. Will you chip in $3 help us get this project off the ground?

How should MAYDAY react to this new project?

Is it a potential distraction of money and effort away from the MAYDAY plan?

I have previously raised the matter of competing efforts and agendas and asked for comment from the leaderships. See Question for MAYDAY.US and NoLabels.org.

I solicit similar comment here relative to Robert Reich's new project.

It is worth mentioning that Robert Reich has been, I believe, an ardent proponent of campaign finance reform. including with Common Cause, and that gives extra interest in what he has to say, as well as what the MAYDAY leadership can say.



From: Robert Reich <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 8:08 PM
Subject: Painfully clear
To: Robert Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Dear MoveOn member,
Hello. This is former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. I'm writing to ask for your help with a groundbreaking new project I'm starting with MoveOn.
I'm going to explain it to you in depth, but just to cut to the chase, I'm also going to ask for money. So before I launch into this whole explanation, here's the link to donate, just so you have it handy.

OK, here's the deal: After the last election, it became painfully clear that we progressives have a problem.

On issue after issue, the public is on our side. Raising the minimum wage. Cracking down on Wall Street. Ending corporate welfare.

And yet, every one of these issues is completely and utterly gridlocked in Washington.

Why? That's a big question, and I know people who have written entire books on it. But one part of the problem is clear: We're losing the message war.

You see, when Republicans pick a message, they hammer on it over and over and over. Obamacare. Benghazi. Solyndra. It doesn't matter what the facts are—conservative thinktanks, the right-wing media, and Republican politicians pick one story and stick to it until it sinks in.

Progressives don't have anything like that kind of media support or message consistency. And that's what we're setting out to change.

Getting excited yet? If so, here again is that link to donate.

The way it's going to work is that we're putting together the most powerful and important proposals to improve the lives of the bottom 90 percent. Proposals that will impact tens of millions of Americans—and are supported by conservative voters and progressives alike.

But instead of waiting for CNN or the network news stations to give our ideas the attention they deserve, we're teaming up with the online experts at MoveOn to bypass the mainstream media and get our message in front of millions of Americans directly.

We know this can work. Because just last week, we created a video sounding the alarm about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a corporate-friendly trade deal that's been almost totally ignored by the corporate media.

In just a few days, the video was seen by THREE MILLION PEOPLE.

Do you know how much it costs to get millions of people to see a 60-second television ad? Our TPP video cost a fraction of that.

If we want to start making progress again on the big issues that matter, we need to change what we're doing. And I believe that together, with this plan, we can do it. Will you chip in $3 help us get this project off the ground?

Yes, I'll chip in today.

Thanks for all you do.

–Robert Reich

Robert Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The Work of Nations." His latest, "Beyond Outrage," is now out in paperback. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His new film, "Inequality for All," is now available on Netflix, iTunes, DVD, and On Demand. 

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More grassroots reporting

As the MAYDAY grassroots await further pronouncement from the MAYDAY leadership about MAYDAY's 2015 action plan, this grassroot continues his plodding. This entry reports on his past week, for what it's worth to other MAYDAY grassroots trying to do their things.

The main thing I did was tweet, locally in my Birmingham area and also to MAYDAY followers, a link to Will you support my campaign?.

Update Feb. 9th:
I started work on trying to get a symposium at Auburn University. See For Auburn University.

Update Feb. 10th
I am following up on the solicitations I made last fall of Birmingham-Southern College, Samford University, UAB, University of Montevallo, and University of Alabama to have a symposium. I am sending tweets to members of their communities, saying (as an example) "The Samford University community should care about the corruption of campaign finance.", together with the link http://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2015/02/for-auburn-university.html.

Update Feb. 12th
I have had page views of this page and other pages as follows:

This page - 550 page views
Will you support my campaign? - 652 page views
Getting the message out - 788 page views

More for Alabama small business - 395 page views.
Auburn, AL steps out! - 648 page views
For Auburn University - 64 page views

Update Feb. 13th

Those who are trying to get a bigger picture might read Robert Reich and MAYDAY. 

I solicit comment from other MAYDAY supporters about my grassroots stuff and also information about the stuff they are doing.

Getting the message out

This follows on my preceding entry re:  MAYDAY's 2015 action plan.

The MAYDAYPAC has funds to spend for getting its message out to voters and to members of Congress in 2015. The MAYDAY leadership will be in control of how that is done.

I am trying to get the MAYDAY message out on my own and without spending money.

This is to give an update about that, for whatever help it provides to others doing or desiring to do the same.

As indicated in the preceding entry, I am currently trying to get MAYDAY's message out to small business in Alabama.

I have done this by sending out hundreds of tweets to followers of the Birmingham Business Alliance and the Business Council of Alabama (which are the Birmingham and State of Alabama chambers of commerce).  The tweets have links to the below blog entries, and the tweets have produced the page views indicated below.

Small business and money in politics - 90 page views;

More on Congress failing small business - 339 page views;

For BCA small business members - 289 page views.
More for Alabama small business - 395 page views.

While those page views establish some transmission of the message, I have virtually no read on recipients' reactions, such as that the message was of no interest to them, or that they were interested in the message.

Further, it should be noted that none of the Birmingham Business Alliance, the Business Council of Alabama, or the Birmingham Business Journal have given any response to the numerous communications I have sent to them, going back more than six months. I have no idea whether they are giving any consideration to MAYDAY's message, or whether they prefer for the message simply to go away.

On top of that, I noticed that the BCA Director of Governmental Affairs and Advocacy has blocked me from her twitter account.

In short, perseverance has been needed in my trying to get the MAYDAY message out to small business in Alabama.

Other MAYDAY supporters trying or desiring to get the MAYDAY message out in their areas of the country may learn from my experience.

Continued at More grassroots reporting.