Archive: Category: TechPresident

Yesterday's post about a new study by Marc Ross, Christine Steineman and Chris Lisi ranking more than a hundred Washington organizations based on how many social media tools they are using is spawning an interesting conversation. Critics like Matt Browner-Hamlin, the SEIU's deputy director of new media, and Michael Cornfield, a political scientist and longtime analyst of online politics, have chimed in to dismiss the study's import, arguing that simply counting the presence of social media tools being deployed by an organization means little, or nothing. It's how you use those tools to engage the public that matters, they argue. Adding flesh to that argument, Ken Deutsch of Morningside Analytics did a quick look to see if groups that ranked high...

Today is Blog Action Day, and it looks like a huge number--nearly 10,000--have signed up to post on climate action issues. Most notable in that list, beyond all the usual enviro sites: Prime Minister Gordon Brown's blog, and the official Google blog. Notably missing from that list (at least as of midday): The White House blog and the Environmental Protection Agency's blog. UPDATE: The White House blog joins in with a post this evening from Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, at 6:36pm. Better late than never. But the EPA is still AWOL. Our pal Todd Ziegler of the Bivings Group offers his detailed critique of the new GOP.com site. It's good, bad and ugly. How to follow...

Marc Ross, Christine Stineman, and Chris Lisi of 2ndSix, Tribe Effect and Chris Lisi Communications have just published a very interesting report looking at how 102 big Washington-based trade associations and advocacy groups are--or aren't--making use of an array of 14 core social media tools and platforms. The results shouldn't surprise anyone; it's still pretty obvious that a year after Barack Obama's electoral victory, most inside-the-Beltway still have a very cautious and traditional attitude towards social media. But the individual breakdown by organization and the thoroughness of the research (which covers a ten week span ending October 2, 2009) ought to serve as a wake-up call for many groups. Because the results are pathetic: "75 of the organizations reviewed [are...

James "I videoblogged Ron Paul from my college dorm" Kotecki showers praise on NJ gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's online campaign. While GOP online ad maven Eric Frenchman explains why NJ independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett is AWOL online. TechRepublican.com gives the new GOP.com website a mixed review. Marc Ambinder and Obama new media maven Joe Rospars are both less forgiving of the GOP site launch. Says Rospars, "You know your web program is in trouble when your site can't even handle the traffic bump from people making fun of your web program." Over on CitizenTube, "Gotcha politics hits Wisconsin." What is it with these midwestern Mayors? Heads up: Our friends at the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet are holding an event on October...

The last time I saw political bloggers across the spectrum agreeing about anything, it was in opposition to some overly restrictive notions emanating from the Federal Elections Commission about regulating political speech online. And we know how that story ended, with the FEC doing an about-face (and for good reason). Now the same alignment seems to be forming in response to proposed regulations from the Federal Trade Commission, which wants to police bloggers--but not traditional media outlets--who post testimonials, endorsements or reviews of products. For example, a blogger who wrote a review of a book would somehow be required to post whether or not he had received a free copy from the book's publisher--a requirement that has never been expected...

The civic software movement took another leap forward this past week with the announcement by SeeClickFix that the site now covers more than 25,000 towns and cities across the U.S., along with 8,000 discrete neighborhoods. SeeClickFix describes itself as "a tool to help communities help themselves." Users can report local issues that need addressing, and see what other users are reporting, while local officials can track and prioritize issues of concern to their residents and use the site to receive email and RSS alerts on issues reported by their constituents. While SeeClickFix is still early in its development, you can easily see all kinds of promising uses. For example, HeatWatchNYC has just started using it to drive attention to landlords that...

It was probably inevitable that the launch of the GOP's new website would involve a few bumps, but as Andy Barr reports for the Politico, the site's first day was pretty messy. Among the problems were the posting of administrator passwords, a list of GOP accomplishments that ended in 2004 and a “future leaders” section that was devoid of material. In addition, the site was inaccessible for much of the day. RNC new media director Todd Herman blamed heavy traffic, adding "Betas are about learning, and I promise that we are learning today,” he said. “We never meant for the site to ever be complete. It will never be complete.” Meanwhile, bloggers on the other side of the aisle were having a field...

Time for an update on the program for the PdF Europe Barcelona conference, which is coming into focus. We have a great group of speakers already confirmed (listed here) and expect to be adding several more, over the next few days and weeks. If you're on our email list you will be getting updates, but keep your eye here too. The purpose of this post to sketch out how the two days of the conference will flow, to give you a sense of topics and timing. Here's where our thinking stands. Day One of the conference (Friday, November 20) will mainly focus on how technology is changing politics in the sense of campaigns, elections, political media, and governance, but with...

State Department Social Media Staffer Suffers Sting-Ray Sting While Surfing: We're only bringing you this news so Nancy will have something to josh Jared Cohen about while they're in Mexico this week. More seriously, here's more details on that cool State Department initiative putting up to $5 million behind innovative social networking projects in the Middle East, via NextGov's Gautham Naugesh. CNN Reports: Social Networking Sites Slanted by Class. You heard it here first. Of the 41 Senators co-sponsoring legislation requiring electronic filing of their campaign finance records, only 7 do so voluntary, Sunlight's Real Time investigations team** points out. The transparency stand-outs are Russ Feingold, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Bernie Sanders, Rick Lugar, Pat Leahy, and John Cornyn. Send them some love. The...

Here's a cautionary tale in how not to manage your message in a networked media age, or rather, further evidence of John Gilmore's brilliant maxim, "The internet interprets censorship has damage and routes around it." Late Monday night in England, the Guardian posted a strange article reporting that it was being prevented from reporting on a question pending in Parliament. The only thing the Guardian could say was that the case involved Carter-Ruck, a prominent PR firm that specializes in working with global corporations. But that didn't stop the blogosphere, which immediately took affront at the assault on free speech. Within 24 hours the whole story was out in the open, to the chagrin of Carter-Ruck and the oil commodities...