In August I wrote about the astroturf “youth organization” Generation Opportunity and how it was using people who liked “Being American” as a means of legitimacy. Well, it turns out one deceptive Facebook page just wasn’t enough. Generation Opportunity has announced their new Facebook project: The Constitution.

The page was created on October 26, 2010 and has the same modus operandi as “Being American”: posting loaded statements and questions that push conservative ideology and policy. “The Constitution” obviously feels violated by the Affordable Care Act, is a big fan of the 10th amendment, and is outraged by the government assassination of Ronald McDonald.

Over 500,000 people like “The Constitution,” which is giving Generation Opportunity a bigger number of people that they claim to speak for. I was curious to see if there was an actual Generation Opportunity Facebook page and find out how many supporters it had. Turns out that there is one, and they sure have a massive following:

They have 148 fans.

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A particularly entertaining example I received as a message from a “Sandra Diaz” a few minutes ago:

Good day how are You doing today?…..I hope everything is fine If so thanks be to God almighty. I’m ,My name is Sandra,i live in Glendale, AZ,I have a Son that live with Me I am Self Employed. I work as a leading retailer of computers, and right now I’m at present in West Africa to supply computers to a new Establishment company, I’d be back to the states in a Three of weeks time, I believe the time I’II be spending down here will help the both of us to know more about each other before heading back to the states and I’m willing to relocate for the right man that comes my way…. I’m single and Divorce. I came across your profile while searching on this site,and I bet I got so acquainted to your image cause of the beauty i could see on you. You’re simply irresistible and i must confess it’s a great pleasure writing to someone of your nature. You’re God gifted and attractive… You are so Handsome that i believe God spent extra time creating you and if i were to present your picture in heaven, all the angels would hide their faces in shame. I’m a non typical woMan with a good heart and a calm head, someone who appreciates the value of a good people like my father did, I’m not a surface dweller, I can see beyond the outside and I’m not afraid or unwilling to express myself or laugh out loud. Do you like walking or dancing, do you like hugs and kisses, taking long drives or just staying home listening to music or cuddling. The smallest of gestures I meet with joy and appreciation instead of expectation. This are things I dislike, I do not like being around with people who are negative, Rude, No patient and very lousy people. I’m pretty easy going but when I am passionate about something I will definitely speak my mind. I am very adventuresome and love the idea of trying any new fun activity or sport.I’m romantic and very contented with my life.. I just think it would be a lot more fun if there was someone to share it with. I’m a strong, independent woman with a great sense of humor and have managed to remain so lovely and caring to people. I try very hard to keep a positive outlook on life and hope you do too. I don’t mind traveling or relocating to other states to meet my match. i like candies, flowers,music and reading…water (whether it be a lake,stream or the ocean).sunshine and rainy days…falling leaves (Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year), holding hands,cuddling,walking in the evening and kissing under a street light. I am honest and expect the same in return. I don’t play games or care much for people who do so give me a way to get in touch. I’m looking for the last love of my life. I am looking for a true companion, the missing link in my life.I am looking for the bone that mine was brought out from…am looking for whom God has set aside for me be happy and have a positive attitude. I hope you will be honest, sensitive and affectionate (being romantic would be great!) Be prepared though, I may want to take you away for a surprise romantic weekend….If you have a strong shoulder for me to lean on and allow me to cry on at the movies, well, that would be a real bonus! But you should know that I will be there for you – a partner (in every sense of the word) who will be there to share the laughter and the tears. If you hold my heart, there is nothing I won’t do for you. I read a profile once that says it all perfectly – someone I am excited to spend my nights with and even more eager to spend my days with”…. a gentle man and a kind soul I’m looking for a man that will be my best friend plus more if it goes that way, someone who has a positive out look on life, caring,loving, not boring likes to go out and do things even if its just a walk.its the little things that matters. If you have read this far I’m amazed, There’s still a lot more about me that i would like you to know but i would only do that if you send me a message to my personal email because that’s the only way we can get privacy in our relationship. Here is my email address lonelyheart4u2030@yahoo.com” or drop me a message on my YIM “lonelyheart4u2030″.. Remain blessed and have a wonderful day out there…I’m hoping to hear back from you
Hugs and kisses
Sandra

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Below is a list of a number of youth civic organizations/sites that have active pages on Facebook. If you know of other organizations that should be listed please let us know in the comments.

Future Majority
http://www.facebook.com/FutureMajoritydotcom

KevinBondelli.com
http://www.facebook.com/youthvote

Young Democrats of America
http://www.facebook.com/youngdems

College Democrats of America
http://www.facebook.com/collegedems

Rock the Vote
http://www.facebook.com/rockthevote

Roosevelt Institute
http://www.facebook.com/Roosevelt.CampusNetwork

New Leaders Council
http://www.facebook.com/NewLeadersCouncil

Bus Project
http://www.facebook.com/busproject

Trick or Vote
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Trick-or-Vote/31765003218

United States Student Association
http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-States-Student-Association/180533252493

CHCI
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CHCI/67237623707

Gen44
http://www.facebook.com/Gen44

Energy Action Coalition
http://www.facebook.com/EnergyActionCoalition

League of Young Voters
http://www.facebook.com/pages/League-of-Young-Voters/6856101867

Voto Latino
http://www.facebook.com/votolatino

HeadCount
http://www.facebook.com/HeadCountOrg

Young Elected Officials Network
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Young-Elected-Officials-Network/122049416879

Campus Progress
http://www.facebook.com/campusprogress

99 Problems
http://www.facebook.com/99theLeague

Mobilize
http://www.facebook.com/mobilize.org

DNC Youth Council
http://www.facebook.com/DNCYouthCouncil

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The Republic National Committee has added a new tool to its arsenal in the high-stakes battle for the lifetime allegiance of Millennial voters. FarmVille, a popular Facebook application game with over 80 million monthly users, allows players to “grow delicious fruits and vegetables and raise adorable animals on your very own farm!”

The RNC is hoping to capitalize on the “neighbors” component of the game. Neighbors, who are friends and contacts who connect with each other through the game, allow players to level up faster and accumulate more plants, animals, and decorations for their farm. The idea is to turn their FarmVille neighbors into fans of the RNC Facebook page as a foot-in-the-door to more meaningful outreach and participation.

The official RNC Farmville account will be managed by staffers within the organization’s new media department. A video explaining the new program has been posted to YouTube.

Come on Democrats, you let the RNC beat you to FarmVille. You have to at least try for Mafia Wars.

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One of the biggest complaints I hear about organizing on Facebook is the difficulty in getting people to actually show up to events that are promoted on Facebook. By using the social psychology principles of social proof and consistency/commitment you should be able to dramatically increase your event turnout.

Social Proof

According to Dr. Robert Cialdini, the principle of social proof “states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct.”

This is the principle that bar and club owners use when they keep people waiting in line outside even though there is space available inside: you are creating the perception that the place is popular in order to make more people want to go there. If people like the place so much that there is a line to get in, it must be good.

In terms of Facebook events, you want to increase the amount of social evidence showing that people want to attend your event while limiting the social evidence that shows people not wanting to attend your event.

Hide “Not Attending” RSVPS: When you create a Facebook event, you have the option to hide people that have declined the event invitation. This feature exists largely because of the social proof principle. If someone is checking out your event page and see 42 people attending but 231 people declined, even without consciously thinking about it social proof disinclines them from attending (the exception being when the attendees are in the person’s own social network providing a more intense social proof).

Have a core group of people RSVP for an event before sending mass invites: Most people create their event and immediately invite everyone and their mother. Unfortunately this means that the people that view the invitation early on are going to see an event that looks unpopular. By first inviting the people that you already know are planning on coming to the event, the mass round of invitees will see what appears to be a more popular event.

Commitment/Consistency

“Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.”

Follow up on RSVPs: In the past I’ve talked about how an RSVP on Facebook is not a true RSVP because people don’t view it on its own as a real commitment. However, by following up with those people that have said they would attend with a phone call, email, or Facebook message you can turn their RSVP into an “exploitable public commitment.” Here is an example:

Hey Kevin, it’s [Name] from [Event Host Org]. I am calling/emailing because you said that you would be attending our event on [Date] and wanted to make sure you had all of the details. If you have any questions let me know. Look forward to seeing you on [Day].

This tells the person you are calling that their commitment to attend (RSVP) was noticed. In the case of a phone call, you can get them to recommit based on their prior commitment, which has a much stronger effect.

By using these tactics based on the principles of social proof and consistency, you will be much more effective at growing attendance for your events.

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It looks like the “Coffee Party Movement” is starting to get serious about online organizing. I just saw this Facebook ad to drive traffic to their Facebook Fan Page, which currently sits at just under 100,000 fans.

Their Facebook strategy appears to run on the central-hub model, with a national Coffee Party Page and child pages for major cities across the United States that can be found on the Favorite Pages section of the hub.

The Tea Party Patriots Fan Page has only 107,000 fans, and I expect that with this active recruiting the Coffee Party will overtake it in the next 48 hours.

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Earlier today President Obama answered questions submitted through CitizenTube via the White House Live Facebook application.

I had hoped to have the video from the question and answer session to embed here, and have been waiting for it since CitizenTube hours ago claimed that it would be available shortly, but unfortunately it is not yet posted. (I’ll add it once it is, whenever that may be).

I was pleased for the most part with the question selection, which included questions about Sudan (an area many Millennials are interested in), net neutrality, college affordability, and one from the Energy Action Coalition about clean energy and the environment.

As for the execution of the session, the video quality was a little choppy and would occasionally stop, requiring a refresh, but the chat/status posting discussion was a nice touch.

On the whole I think the session was a great move and fits in with my belief in taking your message to the places where people live and hang out (even virtually), and Facebook is certainly one of those places.

What are your thoughts about the President’s Q&A over Facebook? What would you like to see next time?

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Imagine a situation out of “To Catch a Predator,” but instead of trying to bust people soliciting underage sex they bust college students for underage drinking.

That’s exactly what the police department in La Crosse, Wisconsin is doing.

The La Crosse police department set up a fake Facebook account for an attractive female student and began sending friend requests to University of Wisconsin students who were under 21. If a student accepted the friend request, the police would scour through that person’s photos looking for evidence of them consuming alcohol. The police then contact the student, and since at that age the authority of a police officer seems unquestionable, many respond:

Mr. Luebker faced similar questioning, and both said they now regretted even responding to the officer’s request to meet. Both had friends who were also drinking in Facebook pictures, but who didn’t talk to the officer and were never ticketed.

When Mr. Luebker and two of his friends were contacted, they said, they were worried what would happen if they didn’t talk to the officer. “We were scared, like, Oh crap,” he said. “I wish I would have said, No, it’s a stupid idea. That’s what you’ve been taught, since ever. Do what the authority tells you to do.”

I think that our generation is about to face a privacy clash.

For many, a Facebook profile is their own personal space where they hang out with friends. Sneaking around someone’s profile is like sneaking around their room. Those that started using Facebook early on knew that everyone on the site had a college email address, leading to an habitual false sense of security . Since then Facebook’s popularity has exploded and has opened up to everyone, but old habits die hard.

It can take a long time to use all of the new privacy settings and organize people into lists of who can see what, and many people have never even attempted to configure them, but now may be a good time to take a crack at it.

Police officers, debt collectors, college administrators, potential employers, and others are now using Facebook to track you down or find dirt on you. We need to be more careful, so I leave you with a couple of things to remember:

• Don’t blanket-accept friend requests – You may have your privacy settings set so that only friends can view your profile, but that isn’t stopping people from sneaking in. Make sure you have an idea about who a person is that is requesting you. The most common espionage account is for an attractive young woman. At a minimum create a list with full limited profile and stick these people in it if for some reason you feel compelled to accept them.
• Don’t post things you don’t want people to see – Regardless of how strong your privacy settings are, once something is on the internet, it’s pretty much there forever. I also suggest being very selective in who can see pictures tagged of you.

Personally I think that what the police is doing in La Crosse is ridiculous and a waste of resources, but it’s going to keep happening and in more places.

What are your thoughts on these Facebook sting operations and/or Facebook privacy?

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If this isn’t the worst Facebook ad I have ever seen, it is right up there.

Rule #1: Never use Microsoft Paint, especially for trying to write text by hand.

Rule #2: Try not to use the phrase “Chubby Singles.”

Rule #3: See Rule #1.

And in case you were wondering, this ad is for BBPeopleMeet.com, though this ad is neither big nor beautiful.

UPDATE: Apparently they saw this, because the ad was just changed. Unfortunately they disregarded Rule #2, and I am pretty sure that text was still done in Paint.

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Future Majority has a shiny new Facebook page. Become a fan and spread the word.

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