Send2Press Newswire » Juan Manuel Santos

Santos Victory Demonstrates New Digital Strategy in Latin American E-Democracy

Juan Manuel Santos — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:26:12 +0000

BOGOTA, Colombia (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Nearly half a million Colombians logged on to SantosPresidente.com between June 1st and June 20th, the second round Presidential elections to follow the Santos campaign and the Candidate’s initiatives, turning the tide in this historic political victory. In under 72 hours, 1,076 individual Web pages, comprising the first-ever Virtual Headquarters used for Presidential Elections in Latin America, had been launched offering multiple ways to engage, support and follow the candidate.

“I am surprised at what developed here in Colombia for the last 50 days in the digital space. In ten years in online politics I have never seen such a quick and strong impact in a democratic process as I saw in Colombia,” said Ravi Singh, ElectionMall.com CEO.

When the digital initiatives began on May 3rd, Juan Manuel Santos was 12 points behind colorful candidate Antanas Mockus in the polls. The first-round results yielded 46% preference for Santos, totaling nearly 7 million votes and almost doubling the opposition. On Sunday 20th, a whopping 9 million Colombians elected Santos as their new President, the highest recorded voting in the country’s history, along with a 70% lead. For a people who didn’t quite grasp the power of digital media before the 2010 Presidential Elections, history was broken in two.

Among the innovations nurtured in the process are a first-ever iPhone App for a political candidate in the country; more than 4 million email opt-in email addresses were assembled; the first advanced team feeding live streams via Ustream with iPhones; an SMS short code with all national carriers for opt-in SMS strategies; Pop-Corn parties (with instructions!) to watch presidential debates online, a Wall of Shame to end dirty war across all social media and personalized merchandising downloaded from the site for each city and county nationwide.

SuperSantos, the game where candidate Juan Manuel Santos fights poverty, corruption, unemployment and drug trafficking was at full-blast. Citizens entering their voter IDs were seeing their exact voting location, along with digital maps and a suggested route, for the first time. This was the culmination of a 50-day Digital Revolution that catapulted Juan Manuel Santos in the polls from 12 points behind the colorful candidate Mockus, to the Colombian Presidency with over 9 million votes, the highest in the country’s history.

Through a series of initiatives that involved world-class vendors and brands including ElectionMall.com, Google, Microsoft, Ustream, Vimeo, Flickr, YouTube and local agencies and talent including Sistole, SigmaMovil and Servinformacion, the Web 2.0 Digital Victory Team of the Juan Manuel Santos presidential campaign have rocked Colombian elections and brought innovation to the digital democratic process in the entire Latin American region.

Following are relevant “before and after” stats for the Web 2.0 Digital Victory Team results:

* Facebook
May 3rd: 98,000 fans
June 20th: 278,172 fans with 1,000,000 interactions / week
Growth: 183%.

* Twitter
May 3rd: 2,241 followers
June 20th: 10,449 followers
Growth: 366%.

Other relevant metrics:
* 4,000,000 opt-in e-mails assembled.

Media Kit:
http://www.santospresidente.com/mediakit/ .

Social Media links:
http://www.facebook.com/JMSantos.Presidente .
http://www.twitter.com/UneteaSantos .
http://www.youtube.com/JMSANTOSPRESIDENTE .
http://www.delicious.com/santospresidente .
http://www.flickr.com/photos/santospresidente ,
http://www.vimeo.com/user3733080 .

SuperSantos game:
http://www.santospresidente.com/supersantos/ .

Juan Manuel Santos Grows Extremely Quickly in Social Networks

Juan Manuel Santos — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:31:01 +0000

BOGOTA, Colombia (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — In only two weeks, the Santos Presidential campaign has managed to slingshot the candidate across social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, hi5, Delicious and WordPress. Santos’ Facebook fans were at 70,409 before the Web 2.0 campaign began, and now number 148,750 within 15 days.

The candidate’s Twitter followers grew from 1,486 followers to 5,913 in the same time frame. Flickr currently boasts 10,879 visits and 318 uploaded photos, while YouTube has 67,874 visits, and Vimeo 4,364 plays, demonstrating the momentum of the Santos campaign.

The Internet Task Force is comprised of a young, multidisciplinary team, including video editors, Web designers, and experts in social benchmarking, SMS, online advertising, and database management.

These individuals represent the most talented Colombian citizens, and dedicate more than 20 hours a day to the Santos Presidential campaign.

The recent growth of the campaign has proved the Santos message, that all great accomplishments are achieved through teamwork. The campaign encourages supporters to keep using social media to help spread the message of the Santos Campaign across the country and thanks them for their dedication.

More information: http://www.santospresidente.com/ .

Santos YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/JMSANTOSPRESIDENTE .

Follow Santos on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JMSantos.Presidente .

Press release RSS feed (in English): http://send2pressnewswire.com/topics/juan-manuel-santos/feed/ .

To read this press release in Spanish (en espanol), visit:
http://www.send2press.com/mediadrome/2010-05-0517-004SP.txt .

Twitter Goes Down and Hall of Shame Goes Up in Colombia Presidential Elections 2010

Carly Zed Zander — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:18:26 +0000

BOGOTA, Colombia (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — The Web 2.0 Victory Team set up by presidential candidate Juan Manuel Santos, has recently been attacked through various online media. These attacks have ranged from fake profiles or groups on Twitter and Facebook, to misleading or abusive comments on blogs. In response, the Web 2.0 Victory Team, lead by Santiago Valencia, has created the “Wall of Shame.”

Valencia states, “With one out of four Colombians on Facebook and nearly half the population online, we had to figure out a way to fight these accusations.”

The team will use Web 2.0 behavior with Colombian citizens to help the campaign find and report abuse. A Web site has been set up to help individuals that have found abusive content to register and upload the material and make it available online.

Valencia notes, “We understand that many citizens are passionate about the upcoming elections, but death threats to citizens and other candidates, along with other offensive content, is not the proper way to reach out to patriotic Colombians.”

The campaign hopes that these efforts will help point out the misleading information. Traditionally, many campaigns do not want to drive traffic to negative advertising. However, the Santos campaign feels that highlighting these misleading facts will help in bringing justice to the electoral process.

The new page launched on Monday, May 10th, signaling another initiative brought from the Santos campaign. The campaign was also the first to launch a video announcement with the candidate addressing voters online and the first to use live streaming and mobile messaging to mobilize support from the ground up.

For more information visit www.santospresidente.com .

Spanish Translation

Twitter va hacia abajo y el Salón de la Vergüenza sube en Colombia Elecciones Presidenciales 2010

BOGOTA, Colombia (Send2Press Newswire) – La Web 2.0 del triunfo del partido creado por el candidato presidencial Juan Manuel Santos, ha sido recientemente atacado a través de diversos medios en línea. Estos ataques van desde los perfiles falsos o grupos en Twitter y Facebook, para inducir a error o comentarios abusivos en blogs. En respuesta, la Web 2.0 Equipo de Victoria, dirigido por Santiago Valencia, ha creado el “Muro de la Vergüenza”.

Estados Valencia, “Con uno de cada cuatro colombianos en Facebook y casi la mitad de la población en línea, tuvimos que encontrar una manera de luchar contra estas acusaciones.”

El equipo utilizará la Web 2.0 con el comportamiento de los ciudadanos colombianos para ayudar a la campaña de encontrar y reportar el abuso. Un sitio Web ha sido creado para ayudar a las personas que han encontrado contenido abusivo para registrarse y cargar el material y hacerlo disponible en línea.

Valencia señala: “Entendemos que muchos ciudadanos sienten pasión por las próximas elecciones, pero las amenazas de muerte a los ciudadanos y otros candidatos, junto con otros contenidos ofensivos, no es la forma correcta de llegar a los colombianos patriotas.”

La campaña espera que estos esfuerzos ayudarán a recordar la información engañosa. Tradicionalmente, las campañas de muchos no quieren para dirigir el tráfico a la publicidad negativa. Sin embargo, la campaña de Santos considera que destacar estos hechos engañosos ayudará a llevar la justicia al proceso electoral.

La nueva página lanzado el Lunes, 10 de mayo, lo que indica otra iniciativa traída de la campaña de Santos. La campaña también fue el primero en lanzar un anuncio de vídeo con el candidato en línea frente a los votantes y el primero en utilizar en tiempo real y mensajería móvil para movilizar el apoyo desde la base.

Santos Campaign Making History: Juan Manuel Santos is First Politician in South America to Launch Campaign Through the Internet

Carly Zed Zander — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:24:37 +0000

BOGOTA, Colombia (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Political campaigns in Latin-America have always been marked by traditionalism, manifestations, crowded plazas and message distribution through traditional media such as television, billboards, written press and radio. Never before has voter outreach been conducted through the Internet and other new media technologies.

Since Obama’s successful presidential campaign in 2008, a campaign noted for its use of Internet based tools in a massive and systematic way, the art of running a campaign has been revolutionized. Today, that revolution has arrived Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian presidential candidate for the U Political Party, is launching a new campaign and is inviting every Colombian to participate using a video on his Web site www.santospresidente.com, to join his army of volunteers before the presidential primary on May 30th, 2010.

Additionally, he is inviting every Colombian to join his campaign through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Hi5.

Santos, a native to Bogota and a Harvard University graduate, served as the Minister of National Defense before his run for President under President Uribe.

“We recognize that the power of Internet is underestimated, but we are changing our perspectives, to correct this,” Stated Santos. “We will put everything into it and nothing will stop us. We will use the latest technology to promote democracy and show the world what it means to be a Colombia, we will use the Internet to mobilize our followers.”

Juan Manuel Santos will become the first politician in Colombia and Latin America that will use these tech tools to launch his presidential campaign.

You can visit his campaign Web site at www.SantosPresidente.com and become a volunteer or join one of Santos’ social networks.