Sorry to be too slideshow-happy, but the White House email program is something that completely fascinates me. That is why I was pumped when Katelyn Sabochik, the Deputy Director of Online Programs and Email at The White House, drafted a blog post about the results from the inaugural survey of subscribers to the White House email lists.

I am mostly interested in the legality behind the White House email program and how it was driven internally and that isn’t really discussed here. However, I do have some thoughts on these results, which I posted after the jump.

The White House’s survey consists of two main parts. The first part asked subscribers about the type and volume of email they receive and the type and volume of email they want to receive. The second part of the survey focused on media usage and demographics.

What kinds of content?

I am very skeptical of the first part of the survey, which shows that people really want policy explanations and updates on the administrations agenda. Not that people don’t want that, but I’m skeptical of any survey that asks people what kind of media they want to consume. I think that this is analogous to asking people what kind of food they want to consume. People check the boxes labeled “kale” and “brown rice” and then go out and buy a Double-Down. I wish the White House team had contrasted the kinds of media people said they want with what their internal analytics say is most popular. Based on my experience, we would probably see the videos, photos and gossipy White House stuff getting a much bigger share of people’s attention. At least that’s what I click on. That and Joe Biden stuff, I can’t get enough Biden.

You can tell the White House is trying to address the discrepancy between the media people say they want and what they actually consume (plus the messages the White House wants them to consume) if you look at some of the new “programs” (for lack of a better term) they are publishing. The example that jumps to mind is the awesome White House White Board series. I think it strikes a good balance between being informative, simple and fun. We tried to do something similar on the campaign but it never really came together — that kind of creativity and production is deceptively hard. It is much closer to putting together an actual TV show than the usual “follow around the candidate and cut together a video” content.

I think we are going to start to see more “infotainment” coming out of governments and campaigns in the future. I am sure some people will decry the dumbing down of America, but I think this is great. It feels like the first honest attempt by a Government agency to help people understand complicated issues we have seen in a very, very long time.

Who is on the list?

This part of the presentation fascinated me much more than the first part. According to their survey, White House email list subscribers tend to be older and tend not to use social media. Oddly enough, this reaffirms my faith in both email and in social media. If they both reach different audiences, then it is equally important to distribute via both channels.

I have spoken to a lot of student groups recently, and this was something that really struck me. A lot of kids who are interested in new media are experts in Twitter and Facebook, but know nothing about direct email marketing. I was the same way before I started the campaign. Email results in more conversions and also, apparently, reaches a different audience, than other social media tools. If you are a new media professional, you should be conversant in it. Not just for donations, but to make sure that as many people as possible are being exposed to your messaging.