As you enter into your Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, here's a little weekend edition of the second cup to tide you over until Monday.
In today's edition, learn how to foster citizen participation online, how to lower the barrier for supporters to register for your cause, and how political revenge can be so tweet.
Happy clicking.
Facebook's Version of the ReTweet is Here
We’ve long speculated as to when Facebook might get its own version of Twitter’s retweet, and it appears that the time is now. This evening, the site rolled out a “via” feature that lets you repost another user’s shared items, with a “via” link attached for attribution.
Social Action Networks Defined
One of the more significant trends in online politics and public affairs over the last few years has been the rise of Social Action Networks.
A Social Action Network is an online community that allows members to connect and organize around shared political passions. If visiting a social network like Facebook is like walking into a bar, visiting a Social Action Network is like walking into a campaign headquarters.
Compared with Barack Obama's campaign romance with social networking technologies like Twitter, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain was quite the luddite. His sending of telegrams likely didn't help the senator gain any tech-savvy street cred.
Since the campaign ended, the technological tables appear to have turned. According to a new study being released Thursday, Republican Congressmen are much more active on Twitter than their Democratic counterparts. And the member of Congress with the largest number of followers on Twitter? None other than Arizona Sen. John McCain. No one in comes close to McCain's million-strong following.
Political revenge can be so tweet.
Report: How to Foster Citizen Participation through Small Donors and Volunteers
A joint project of the Campaign Finance Institute, American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution unveiled a new report that seeks to change the ongoing national dialogue about money in politics. The political world has been arguing about campaign finance policy for decades. A once-rich conversation has become a stale, two-sided battleground. The time has come to leap over this gulf and, as much as possible, move the disputes from the courts.
The 2008 elections showcased the power of the Internet to generate enthusiasm, mobilize volunteers and increase small-donor contributions. The digital revolution has altered the calculus of participation. Instead of further restricting the wealthy few, therefore, this new report presents detailed recommendations to help activate the many.
Is Your Registration Process Scaring Away Users
When you run a community site, your registration and minimum profile requirements are like the front porch to your home. As technology bloggers we trick-or-treat to at least a dozen sites per day and when you make your porch scary, we'd just as soon skip your house. If I make it past 10 minutes of forms and service terms only to find you've got toothbrushes and raisins for me, I'm going to be pissed off. If you're looking at redesigning your site, below are 6 points to consider.
Coakley vs. Brown Online: Tracking the MA Senate Special Election
Next Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts to fill the remaining three years of Ted Kennedy's term in the U.S. Senate is drawing a lot of attention, not only as the latest test of the national political winds, but also because if Republican Scott Brown defeats Democrat Martha Coakley, the Democrats will be down to 59 votes in the Senate (counting the two independents) and the health care bill may die on the vine. Both national parties are pouring money and troops into the state and the polls suggest it could be a close race. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to see what the online metrics might tell us about next Tuesday's vote. And on the face of it, Brown is surging.
