Some of you out there might have heard about an effort by progressive bloggers to "Google Bomb" the election.
The practice has been around for quite a while - mostly for humorous or satirical purposes (just google the words "miserable failure" and you'll see what we mean). But - with an effort by the progressive blogosphere to Google Bomb 70 Republican candidates - it's lately gained traction as a genuine tool for advocates and activists alike.
The idea - partly inspired by the Drum Major Institutes's innovative use of Google Ad Words to "grade" congress and educate voters - is simple: If enough blogs link negative stories using the names of Republican candidates, their collective linking power will drive those articles up the Google search results. Undecided voters - the most likely to be randomly googling candidate names in the next two weeks - will click on those links, see the negative stories, and decide to vote democratic.
Andrea Batista Schlesinger of DMI asks the appropriate question - how can this tactic be used to change public policy?
The short answer is this: alter public opinion. For instance, right now, very few news stories ever report on human rights issues, and the American public is highly uneducated about human rights issues. What if we could Google Bomb a number of common terms that - even though they are not framed as such in the US media - are human rights issues at core? For instance, health care is a human right - recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - yet rarely is it reported that way. What if major public policy groups, in cooperation with the blogosphere, could use Google Bombs as a way to begin to alter that?
That's a big example, but what about somethign smaller? How about a Google Bomb on a specific campaign? The blogosphere has already accomplished this. In 2005, a campaign called "There Is No Crisis" played a large role in the social security debate. During the height of the campaign - which was largely supported by the blogosphere - Google searches for Social Security frequently yielded an anti-privatization website called "There is No Crisis."
There are lots of potential uses - and case studies - out there for those who are looking to google bomb public policy. The trick is to identify a specific campaign and then build concensus between the think tanks and the blogs. It's that partnership that will ensure the critical mass of links required for any such campaign to be successful.
For more about Google Bombs and Search Engine Optimization strategies, check out this white paper by the New Politics Institute.
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