College Republicans Terminate Online Social Network "As Scheduled"

You've got to love young conservatives. Stick them in front of a computer and hilarity ensues. Whether it's gangsta raps about Ayn Rand, or this latest missive from the College Republican National Committee (emphasis mine):

From: Zach Howell, College Republicans
Date: Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Subject: Closing STORM

One year and over 200,000 members later, I'm pleased to announce that STORM, the College Republican's social activism network has successfully served its purpose and has now been closed as scheduled.

STORM proved to be a successful utility to organize our membership, coordinate the Fall 2008 field program, and keep in communication with our 200,000 members.

You can rest assured that we'll continue to keep you in the loop on upcoming projects, as well as supply you with the tools you need to be an effective activist online and on campus.

In conjunction with the completion of STORM we surveyed nearly 2,000 College Republicans to better understand what drives YOU to connect online. Here's what you told us:

85% of survey respondents told us they're connected online at least four hours a day, with almost half saying they're “always” connected. For most, this includes using the Internet on a mobile device.

Almost 95% of College Republicans have accounts on Facebook, and a vast majority are active on multiple social networks. In addition, about three quarters of respondents spend at least one hour a day on social networking sites.

When asked what features you would like to see on a future College Republican network, the most popular responses included a job posting board, event sharing, integration with Facebook, and talking points on hot-button issues.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Zach Howell
National Chairman
College Republicans

Riiiiiiight. Their proprietary social network was so "successful" that they decided to dismantle it. Because after the 2008 election, there would never be any need to quickly and efficiently organize "200,000" College Republicans. I know conservatives are fond of declaring the End of History, I didn't realize there was also an End of Organizing as well.

Or maybe things didn't go "as scheduled." Maybe this is in response to the fact that the system cost upwards of $300,000 and never actually worked, eliciting ridicule from the rank and file College Republicans. Maybe it's because so few people used the system that they got punked trying to run a contest during the RNC. Or maybe it's because if the system actually worked and was sustainable, they wouldn't be able to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in welfare to conservative web development firms.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. There's nothing to be alarmed about here folks, everything is proceeding according to plan. This is our regularly scheduled programming.

Conservatives have a lot of work to do if they want to climb out of their demographic hole. Something tells me that Millennials aren't going to want to be involved in an organization that lies to its membership.