Since I'm a Blogger for Red County, I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm a "Red Guy". If you dig a bit deeper, you'll find that I'm also a "Sales Guy". When I give my "elevator pitch", relative to my Sales role, I typically say that my background is primarily with "technology-based business-to-business systems solutions". With that in mind, I'm sure that the Democrat's superior use of technology in the recent Presidential election, especially the superior use of social media, is a sore point with me. This week, I've seen a couple of very encouraging signs of determination, within the Republican Party, to take an upper-hand in this regard. In both cases, there was a "Little Birdie" involved ... the social media site known as Twitter.

Earlier this week, as a Twitter User, I discovered that another User, named Michael Patrick Leahy, was setting up a page ranking the Top Conservatives On Twitter (TCOT). In checking it out, I found that I could Follow the Tweets (please excuse the Twitter NewSpeak) of many fellow-conservatives across the nation. And, I was heartened to see that this group included U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives, as well as several RNC Chair Candidates, various GOP officials, etc.

Around the same time I heard Conservative Talk Radio Host, Hugh Hewitt (who I also Follow on Twitter) conducting a Twitter-related interview on his show. Hugh had contacted a social media guru named Julio Ojeda-Zapata. If you're not as familiar with the subject matter I'm addressing as you'd like to be, I recommend that you follow this link to listen to this discussion. Some of the questions Hugh asked Julio are ones that I would've wanted to ask myself and I found the answers to be enlightening. A key point was that many companies are using Twitter and other social media as a way to connect with and get to know their Customers.

Needless to say, I found these encouraging signs to be a balm for the sore point I mentioned earlier. But, so far, I think there's a critical opportunity that's being overlooked. It's along the same lines as what companies are doing with social media "as a way to connect with and get to know their Customers." Although I'm very pleased to see the GOP investing in becoming more savvy in New Media Marketing and thus, becoming more competitive politically, a more noteworthy goal is to become the superior party in serving the public. Ours is supposed to be a Representative Government. Social media are ideal for Representatives to "connect with and get to know" their constituency. To me, using one to accomplish the other sounds like a great way for the Republican Party to become better at accomplishing the jobs they're competing for, while simultaneously becoming more competitive.

In case you don't fully get what I'm recommending here, let me offer an example. Congressman Pete Hoekstra, of Holland, MI, is one of my Follows on Twitter. Let's say that he uses one of the Twitter functionality applications, like TweetDeck, to set up an Internet community so he can openly socialize with his constituency. During his next campaign, when he can speak more specifically to the views of the people he represents, while his competitor only parrots the Democrat party-line, won't Pete be more competitive because it's obvious that he's better prepared to serve?

I know this may seem a bit obscure, especially if you're not naturally tech-savvy. But it's the world we live in. So, my fellow Red Guys (and Gals), I'm hoping you too will listen to what I heard from this "Little Birdie". Do what you can to invest yourselves in this and encourage our party leaders to do the same. I see it as pivotal to assuring that our party can move back into the role of leading our nation in the right direction.