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Nicco Mele
Nicco Mele at his offices in Somerville, MA
Born (1977-09-25) September 25, 1977 (age 47)
Ghana
Alma materCollege of William and Mary
OccupationInternet Pioneer

Nicco Mele (b. 1977) is an internet campaign pioneer, digital media strategist and web 2.0 entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of the digital strategy firm EchoDitto, an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and former Internet Operations Director for the Howard Dean presidential campaign, 2004.

Early Life

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Born to parents in the United States Foreign Service, Nicco spent most of his young life abroad, including high school in Malaysia. During high school, Mele first started experimenting with the early iterations of the internet as a way to keep up with US baseball scores. [1] Mele received a BA in Government from the College of William and Mary in 1999.

Career

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Dean Campaign

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At 25 years old, Mele’s breakthrough came when he joined Howard Dean's 2003-04 race for the White House as webmaster. After being inspired at Dean’s famously crowded New York Meetup, Mele packed up and moved to Vermont where he was soon hired as webmaster and became an integral member of the internet strategy core team. Under Joe Trippi, Mele's technical knowledge made the campaign’s internet ideas a reality: building a new, dynamic/interactive website, A/B testing campaign emails, and creating the framework for the campaign's internet fundraising.[2]

Through the inventive efforts of Mele and others, the Dean campaign became known as “the internet campaign” creating a groundbreaking grassroots organization[3] and an online fundraising model that used small individual donations to rival traditional methods of larger donations from wealthy individuals and corporations.[4]

In 2005, Mele was named one of Esquire's "30 under 30" for his contributions to Internet campaigning and activism[5]

EchoDitto

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In 2004, after the Dean Campaign, Mele and several senior staffers from the Dean for America internet, field and communications teams founded EchoDitto.[6] The firm, which Nicco still leads, provides digital strategy, such as website development and online engagement, for progressive organizations.[7] Through EchoDitto, Nicco has consulted with leading political campaigns, Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit groups,[8] including: the Clinton Global Initiative, actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[9]

In December 2013, Mele announced that his company would accept Bitcoin, one of the few companies in the Washington area to do so.[10]

Harvard

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In the Fall of 2008 Mele was named a Resident Fellow for the Harvard Institute of Politics.[11] Based on his IOP success he became an Edward R. Murrow Visiting Professor of the Practice of Press and Public Policy in 2009. He is now an Adjunct Lecturer of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he teaches graduate-level courses on the internet and politics, including a class on media, politics & power in the digital age.[12][13] He is also on the advisory board for the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.[14]

End of Big

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In May of 2013, Mele published his first book, The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath,[15] which explores the radical connectivity that exists in the digital age, and the resulting corrosion of traditional institutions and diffusion of power to individuals. As Mele explains in an interview with Forbes magazine:[16]

Now two-thirds of Americans carry around smartphones with the power of a supercomputer, that’s a tremendous redistribution of power. No longer is the audience passive and waiting to get the news. Now we have all this incredible energy, and it pushes power to individuals in dramatic ways that we’re just beginning to realize. That has implications for any big institution.

The book has received positive critical reception, including reviews in both Booklist Magazine[17] and Fortune (magazine).[18] The book's launch party in Washington DC, hosted by Connie Milstein, Tammy Haddad, Doug Wilson, Joe Trippi and Jeff Trammell at the Jefferson Hotel, was widely attended.[19]

Speaking and Writing

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Mele is a frequent commentator on topics of media, internet, and politics. He has appeared on The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd,[20] NPR's On Point,[21] and Good Morning America[22] and his writings have been featured in USA Today,[23] Politico,[24] Wired.com,[25] and more.

Personal Life

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In 2007, Mele married Morra Aarons-Mele, a prominent entrepreneur, blogger and activist. [26] They have two children.

Philanthropy

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Mele co-founded Massachusetts Poetry Festival,[27] an organization which creates resources to aid and support the Massachusetts poetry community, to reconnect poetry to more mainstream culture, to create new audiences for poetry and to organize the poetry community throughout the state.[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Seven Questions for... Nicco Mele, Howard Dean's Web Guru". Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  2. ^ Teachout, Zephyr (2008). Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope. Paradigm Publishers. pp. 66–70. ISBN 978-1594514852.
  3. ^ Teachout, Zephyr (2008). Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope. Paradigm Publishers. p. 82. ISBN 978-1594514852.
  4. ^ "2003: What They Were Thinking". Wired. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  5. ^ "30 Under 30, Society: Nicco Mele". Esquire. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  6. ^ "Interview with Nicco Mele". Mother Jones.
  7. ^ "EchoDitto". Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  8. ^ "Nicco Mele". Harvard Kennedy School.
  9. ^ "D.C. businesses starting to accept Bitcoin". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  10. ^ "D.C. businesses starting to accept Bitcoin". Washington Post. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  11. ^ "Nicco Mele". Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Nicco Mele". Huffington Post.
  13. ^ "Nicco Mele, Author, Internet Pioneer and Political Strategist, to Discuss the Unintended Consequences of Radical connectivity".
  14. ^ "AdvisoryBoard". Neiman Foundation.
  15. ^ "The End of Big". Macmillan. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  16. ^ "Reset Your Expectations It's the End of Big". Forbes Magazine.
  17. ^ "End of Big Booklist Review".
  18. ^ "How social media brought big power to the smallest players". Fortune. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  19. ^ "End of Big Launch Party".
  20. ^ "Why Hilary Clinton Might Not Win". MSNBC. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  21. ^ "The End of Big". NPR's On Point. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  22. ^ "Social Media's Role in Capture of Boston Bombing Suspects". ABC News. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  23. ^ "Government Needs to Get with the Information Age". USA Today. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  24. ^ "Radical connectivity rewriting political rulebook". Politico. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  25. ^ "Why Kickstarter Can't Usurp the Hollywood Entertainment-Industrial Complex". Wired Magazine. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  26. ^ "Morra Aarons-Mele".
  27. ^ "Staff, Founders, and Interns of Mass Poetry".
  28. ^ "About Us".
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