As 2009 draws to a close, we here at TechRepublican would like to wish you happy #NYE festivities.

Top Moments in Tech/Politics of the Decade

Irrevocably, politics changed in the past 10 years because of technology in general and the Internet in particular. So here, in no particular order, are the decade's top moments in tech and politics.

What do *you* think is a top moment in the tech political world in the past decade? Send it to us! 

You Don't Have a Friend in Me

When it comes to Facebook, what’s more important: Having a large network of “friends” whom you don’t know? Or a smaller well-connected group of individuals with whom you have real relationships?

Local Museums Use Web 2.0 to Spark Arty Conversations

Visiting art museums, once a mostly passive and individual experience, has become much more interactive lately, thanks to the advent of social media. At places like the Phillips Collection and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Twitter, Facebook, iTunes and YouTube are making it possible for museum-goers to engage in conversation with one another and learn more about artists and their work. Check below for the more interesting feeds to follow and informative podcasts to download so you can get a little closer to the great works of art D.C.’s museums have to offer.

It Was a Facebook Christmas: Site Hits #1 in the US For the First Time

Christmas is a holiday that brings people together, so perhaps it should be no surprise that Facebook has become a part of millions of peoples' Christmas experiences. For the first time in its history, Facebook was the number one most visited website in the United States on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, according to traffic analyst firm Hitwise today.

Top 5 Social Media Articles From 2009

The year is coming to a close and there’s been lots of great social media content developed.

Here are our top five articles (in order of popularity) from this year…

See you in 2010. 

The Heritage Foundation, with the support of the David All Group,
is ramping up its efforts to connect with conservatives through social
networking sites and encouraging its members to share needed information
with their peers online.

Last week, the Heritage Foundation launched NoEnergyTax.com - a fully integrated and interactive site powered by Act.iv.ist to "shed light on energy taxes."

Robert Bluey, Heritage's Director of Online Strategy, had this to say about the initiative -

The real and ugly truths about cap-and-trade are not being exposed by the media. Therefore, we've created this powerful site to directly empower our nearly 70,000 Facebook Fan Page supporters with the tools they need to expose myths about this policy through their network...The power of social media is being realized through a strategic deployment of technology and a common goal.

Act.iv.ist is a sophisticated new web tool that helps organizations push their message out to the communities in which people are already active, including Facebook and Twitter.

To see for myself, I signed up as a member simply by clicking the Facebook Connect option at the top right hand corner of the site. From there, I could earn points by reading, commenting, signing up for email updates, inviting friends, and sharing information with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. I don't even have to go to NoEnergyTax.com - I can access the site through the Facebook fan page.

There are limitless things you can do as a supporter to win points and spread information through your personal social networks.
In fact, the more information I consume and share, the more points I can earn.

Other sticky site features include:

• A dynamic points counter at the top of the page
• A Leaderboard to track and reward supporters for taking action elsewhere
• Seamless integration with the Facebook Connect Platform that lowers the barrier of entry for first-time site visitors

Not only are these new modern media initiatives working to help spread its conservative message, they're working to grow the Heritage Foundation's support base.

Just yesterday, Heritage accrued over 8,000 Facebook fans in one day - that's multiple times more than most organizations' total friend counts.

How do they do it? 

By taking charge and taking notice in a threefold process:

1.  Setting Achievable Goals

The Heritage Foundation's goal was to reach 75,000 fans. As of this afternoon, they sat at 84,448. But why stop there? The new goal is to reach 100,000 fans by 2010. They're well on their way to achieving that goal.

Why you're goals may not be that high, you can start by setting smaller, more achievable goals. Once you reach them, your members are encouraged by the momentum, and are more likely to help you reach your next goal by inviting their own friends to become supporters of your organization or campaign.

2.  Recognizing Benchmarks

When the Heritage Foundation reached its 75,000 fans goal, it updated its fan page picture to recognize that achievement.

3.  Thanking Supporters 

One of the most important things the Heritage Foundation is doing so far is recognizing individual supporters through its Featured Fan campaign.

What are you doing to reach your goals & recognized your featured fans?

Disclosure: David All, president of the David All Group, founded TechRepublican.com

The Bloggers Briefing

Yesterday, Robert Bluey and the Heritage Foundation launched its new website centered around the weekly Bloggers Briefing: http://thebloggersbriefing.com/

The site's launch is exciting news and a direct correlation to the success of Robert's weekly meeting. Now, the conservative blogosphere has a central place to grab conservative content and follow the weekly message or campaign each week.

Here's what Robert Bluey had to say about the site's launch:

Back in May 2006 when I started hosting The Bloggers Briefing with Tim Chapman, I never expected that I'd still be doing it every week more than three years later. What started as an off-the-record meeting is now a place where guests regularly come to break news. So naturally I'm very excited to announce the launch of TheBloggersBriefing.com, a website that will aggregate all of the great content -- from videos and photos to your blog posts and tweets (hashtag #TBB).

Obama to Kids: Want to be President? Be Careful on Facebook

Prior to his live Internet broadcast to students across the country earlier today, President Obama answered questions at a Virginia high school.

Asked by one student how he could become President someday, Obama issued a warning about Facebook. “I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. That’s number one,” he said, according to Bloomberg.

5 Rules for Better Web Writing

Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of putting together a website or social media campaign is the copy. Many people assume that the same words that work for print campaigns or materials can just be copied and pasted for the web, but that’s just not true. The web is an entirely different medium, and copy needs to be treated with the same respect that design and user interface elements get.

Text is a very important part of user experience on the web, so it needs and deserves the same sort of design consideration. You must make your text usable in the same manner that you do the rest of your website or social media campaign materials. In short: text is user interface. Here are five rules for writing better for the web.

Are Conservative Bloggers More Bark than Bite? How to Fix it.

Is the conservative blogosphere more bark than bite?

Over the years, I've observed several instances where prominent conservative bloggers have unilaterally urged a certain action -- only to see it fall flat. This has included failed efforts to oust an incumbent RINO Congressman -- as well as attempts to expunge embarrassing elements from the conservative movement.

I hosted a panel discussion yesterday at the Leadership Institute on "Why the Internet Matters" for a group of young conservatives. Robert Bluey (Heritage Foundation), Cyrus Krohn (RNC) and Matt Lira (John McCain 2008) offered insight into how the Internet is shaping conservative politics in 2008 and beyond.

The general consensus? The Internet is empowering real people to get involved in the electoral process at a level never before witnessed in American politics. Soon, the Internet will dominate political elections as more and more voters prefer to communicate with their peers online.

I think the right is beginning to recognize that political trend, which is why a select group of conservatives are pushing organizations, candidates and elected officials to be more effective online. This is why Robert Bluey began holding weekly Conservative Blogger Briefings to facillitate conversations between major figures and prominent bloggers at the Heritage Foundation.  And I think the conservative movement is making progress in our effort to surpass the left on the Internet.

I asked Robert Bluey to talk about how the Conservative Movement is using the Internet to affect policy change. He cited Heritage's involvement in the immigration debate in 2007 as a key example of how two-way online communication enhanced the conservative agenda.In 2007, Bluey believes he created a model that the movement is re-creating. This was a moment in which a conservative organization promoted social networks & used YouTube to simplify complex messages.

By encouraging grassroots supporters to join the discussion and add content, organizations did away with the tried and true Top Down way of communication and began to focus on Bottom-Up involvement.

Now for the first time, countless organizations are using new media tools to empower supporters to be effective at the local level and in turn, we are affecting policy change even if our progress is recorded in micromovements.

To Cyrus Krohn, baby steps for the movement now lead to major strides down the road.

Cyrus Krohn mentioned that he realized the non-partisan value of the medium to the electoral process in the mid-1990’s. It was a realization that in the 1990’s and perhaps even today, many political parties did not want to hear.Flash forward to 2008, and the RNC’s phone is ringing off the hook. More and more campaigns are wondering how they can use the Internet to win elections. So, conservatives see the need, but Cyrus notes a generational gap.

Many conservative generations understand the importance of new media skills, but still don’t know how to use them.

This is why the Leadership Institute is expanding its Internet training programs and expanding its reach across the country. To be successful, I think all organizations need to work together. Each organization serves a role in the movement and a better stream of communication between each party is only going to help hone our efforts.

Matt Lira took our discussion a step further to state that 2008 is the most important year for the Internet.And 2009 will be the most important year for the Internet. And 2010. And so on.The goal is to constantly re-evaluate where we stand online as the communication dynamic changes.

I enjoyed Matt’s discussion of his time with Eric Cantor and now at John McCain. He talked about how he went from a high resource environment at the RNC to a lower resource environment on the Hill.

I had to sharpen my blade and learn to be more efficient with the resources available. When every penny counts, you strive to be more effective in everything that you do.

To Matt, Web 2.0 reenables Americans to be involved in the decision making process.

So what’s next?

Cyrus foresees the movement from Horizontal Social Networks, like Facebook, to Vertical Networks in which voters can connect with other people and rally around niche interests. This is only going to make our job more difficult as we become less able to penetrate those silos of networks.

Thoughts?

I’m interested to know how you think the conservative movement can work together to address these issues to be more effective online.

I just received confirmation from Robert Bluey of the Heritage Foundation that Emmy Award-winning actor and comedian Ben Stein will speak at the Heritage Foundation’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing on Tuesday, April 15, at noon.

The event coincides with the release of “EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed.”

Note: This event is CLOSED to the public and open to the Right kind of bloggers only. Anyone who wants to attend should RSVP to Bluey.

On a personal note, I'm a huge fan of Ben Stein because he was such a good sport when I was working for Congressman Jack Kingston, Ben agreed to participate in our intern YouTube video series, "Journeys with Jack."

Here's the clip:

It'll be good to see you again, Ben.

Campaigns & Elections Magazine has a new look-and-feel for 2008. From a note from William Beaman (editor-in-chief) and Jordan Lieberman (publisher):

Campaigns & Elections has unveiled a redesigned and revamped version of the flagship publication and will now be known as Campaigns & Elections’ Politics magazine.

The redesigned magazine will retain the features that have led to its unprecedented growth in recent years, but will also add new original content, larger trim size and upgraded cover stock.

To help encourage new subscriptions (or renewals), they've reduced the subscription rate to $25 so make sure you get your subscription today.

The re-design looks and feels great. Congrats.

But at least one story in their latest issue is sure to cause sales to decline. You see, included in their latest issue is a profile piece on Robert Bluey, Erick Erickson, Patrick Ruffini, and me.

Read on after the jump for a chuckle.

After the YouTube-CNN Debate, I spent some time in the "Spin Room" talking with folks about their thoughts on the Republican debate. (I did the same thing at the Democratic YouTube debate earlier this year.)

Below, find short vlogs from Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, Patrick Ruffini, Robert Bluey, Mary Katharine Ham, James Kotecki, Jose Antonio Vargas, Meghan McCain, Charlie Smith, and, wait for it... Chuck Norris.

Ready.
Set.
Go.

(After the jump)

Robert Bluey has a column on the front-page of today's Townhall.com called "Leveling the online playing field," which notes the launch of Slatecard:

Slatecard was founded on the notion that conservatives identify with issues. The site gives the community the ability to assign "issue badges" to a particular candidate, making it easy to see which candidates share the same values, hence the name Slatecard. All and business partner Sendhil Panchadsaram have come up with 26 "issue badges" that users can associate with a candidate. Rudy Giuliani, for instance, has badges for "Defeat Radical Islam," "Social Centrists" and "Tax Simplification."

"Slatecard is what ActBlue would look like today if it was created in 2007 in a Web 2.0 world," All said. The site allows users to connect with candidates on a variety of social networking websites, making it a one-stop destination. It also employs a ticker function to see what's happening in real time.

For this piece, Robert asked me a series of questions via email which I've pasted below (with answers) for your review: (read more after the jump)

Our friend Robert Bluey set down his mouse and keyboard for an interview on CNN recently worth watching: