If you haven’t heard, it’s election day, and if you’re like many, you probably received one of those funny videos from a friend about how the contest ended up tied, because YOU forgot to vote.
Liberal netroots group Moveon.org spearheaded the campaign, which made novel use of Flash technology to personalize the video. In the video, the newscaster runs a graphic with your name on the screen, about how you forgot to vote.
So how’d they figure out a way to have a video seen by over 7 million people, with 7 million different names popping up?
It was simpler than it appears, says Eli Parsar, Moveon’s founder. “It’s sleight of hand.”
The video was produced with blank spots for the inserted names. When the video is e-mailed to friends, the name is transmitted to a separate server, which pastes the name over the blank space on another layer.
“The number one way to get people to vote is contact from friends,” says Parser. “So this seemed a really good way to get the message across.”
Parser expects for 10 million people to have shared the video once the campaign is over, the biggest response ever to a Moveon video.
By Jefferson GrahamPhoto: David Lienemann/Getty Images
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