Today's Marching Orders from the California Campaign for $5.5 Billion for Stem Cell Research

 

A clip from an email pitch by the campaign for Proposition 14

Backers of the $5.5 billion ballot measure to save the California stem cell agency from its financial demise
are working hard to keep their troops on track to build support for Proposition 14.

Today the campaign sent out a pitch (see above) as part of its social media drive to win approval of Proposition 14 in the Nov. 3 election. And it couldn't be more timely. Twenty-million voters are already beginning to receive their mail-in ballots.

The directions are explicit and amount to a daily list of tasks for patient advocates and others who have signed up for information from the campaign. The sign-up request is on the home page of the campaign website and impossible to miss. 

"Join now. Be part of the movement," declares the website. 

Social media is a bit of a loose term, but it includes such things as Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Research shows that about two-thirds of U.S. adults get news from social media sites. "One-in-five get news there often," says the Pew Research Center. 

"Facebook is still far and away the site Americans most commonly use for news, with little change since 2017. About four-in-ten Americans (43%) get news on Facebook. The next most commonly used site for news is YouTube, with 21% getting news there, followed by Twitter at 12%. Smaller portions of Americans (8% or fewer) get news from other social networks like Instagram, LinkedIn or Snapchat," says Pew.

News consumption is only part of the picture for a campaign. What may be more important is the personal connection that supporters can bring via social media. It is a question of trust and who do you listen to. Someone that you are connected to via social media and know even slightly may appear more trustworthy than the professional purveyors of information. 

So far the mainstream media is covering Proposition 14 lightly, a trend that is likely to continue. The presidential campaign consumes most of the traditional news space. State issues are receiving only minor attention, and Proposition 14 even less. That could be good for its chances of passage, but it is hard to tell in this very unusual political year. Under any circumstance, it remains imperative for the campaign to turn out its supporters in large numbers, which is a key goal for the social media effort.