K Street Cafe

Hard to Reach Younger Voters: Can Weighting ‘Fix’ the Problem? (Pollster)
Are a majority of true “likely voters” under the age of 35 out of reach of landline telephone samples?

White House Isn’t Done With Lobbyists (National Journal)
Will new disclosure laws have the desired effect?

How Can We Cope With Information Overload? (CNN Tech)
Does trying to keep up to speed with the sheer volume of online content leave you feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone.

New Facebook Redesign 2010: Pictures of the New Layout
(Huffington Post)
Facebook gets a facelift!

The Social Media Tug of War: SOTU Style (Erica America)
In the world of Twitter, conversation around the hash tag #SOTU soared, but  was anyone really listening to the President?

Happy 6th Birthday, Facebook (Mashable)
The largest social network to date turns six today.

I’m Maddie Grant, an association/nonprofit industry blogger on social media and online community building. I’m very happy to have been invited to be a regular poster on K Street Cafe.

This is my first post here, so I’m still getting the lay of the land as to what kinds of topics will interest K Street readers. I am an avid blog reader and definitely consider myself a “content curator”; Here’s the kind of stuff I read and write about on my blog.

So I thought I’d do two things. First, I want point you to a few PR/Public Affairs/Advocacy related blog posts I’ve found very interesting recently – and ask you to tell me if these float your boat or not. Check ‘em out.

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Pelosi, Boehner Demand Additional Web Safeguards After Thursday’s Cyber Attack (The Hill)
Additional steps to safeguard Member’s web sites are being called for after the cyber attacks that hit 49 lawmaker’s sites last week.

Scott Brown’s Online Fundraising Machine: Inside the Numbers (Engage)
A look at the numbers behind the Senator’s online fundraising, along with an examination of three occasions where external events caused a three-and four-fold increase in donations.

By Anne D. Darconte

For over a year now, grassroots practitioners in Washington, DC have been discussing the pros and cons of adopting an ethics code for conducting grassroots advocacy campaigns. While this is not a new issue by any means, it gained renewed attention after the infamous Abramoff lobbying scandal and the presidential election of Barack Obama who promised greater transparency in government. Last summer, more fuel was added to the fire when angry citizens voiced their displeasure at congressional town hall meetings with the health care reform debate. Then the disclosure that bogus letters had been sent to several members of Congress by an employee of a grassroots advocacy firm on behalf of its client resulted in a congressional hearing.

The latest panel to address this issue convened on this week at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. About 75 people turned out to hear the panel participants discuss the pros and cons of a grassroots code of ethics. While most agreed that adopting such a code would be worthwhile, the devil continues to be in the detail. (more…)

Video: Applying Obama Online Lessons to Local Campaigns (e.politics)
Watch Colin Delany discuss online politics and local campaigns at December’s Organizing 2.0 Conference.

Boehner Claims House Republicans Dominate Twitter, YouTube and Other Social Media in Congress (PolitiFact.com)
How true are the Minority leader’s claims?

Hackers Infiltrate House Web Sites (Politico)
Hackers infiltrated the Web sites of 49 House members, replacing their usual content with attacks on the President last night.

Obama Delivers his First State of the Union Address (CNN)
Highlights from the President’s first State of the Union address.

Top 10 Lobbying Triumphs: Some Firms Won Big Despite Difficult Year in 2009 (The Hill)
Healthcare, energy and financial regulation kept lobbyists working the halls, with Google, Boeing, PhRMA and AARP among some of the big winners in 2009.

Study: Reporters Turn to Social Media for Research (PR Week)
A recent survey reveals an “overwhelming” majority of reporters rely on social media as a primary research tool.

Congress is all a-Twitter (Congress.org)
The micro-blogging site has become a hit on Capitol Hill, but are Members using Twitter to its full potential?

White House Releases iPhone App (Hillicon Valley)
An app that will stream live videos from public events at the White House was recently released – just in time for everyone to watch the State of the Union address.