Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Group Seeks Web-Savvy, More Open Government (Washington Post)
OMB Watch is asking for more than just a digital presidency – they are looking for President-Elect Obama to reverse the Bush administration’s severe limitations on public information.
GM Asks Employees to Beg Congress for Money (Wired)
Executives at GM North America have created their own grassroots campaign by tapping into the people who would be the most affected by an auto industry bailout: their employees
New Profiles Turn Windows Live Into a Social Networking Service (Read Write Web)
Microsoft recently launched an update to Microsoft Live, creating its own version of a social networking Web site.
In the week since Senator Obama became President-Elect Obama, much attention has been given to unprecedented role the Internet played in his campaign’s success and how his Administration will use the massive online army it built on the campaign trail to govern from the White House.
Emerging from this speculation seem to be a few main (viable) options for the President Elect to use the assets he built as a candidate (including an email list that Luigi Montanez estimates to include roughly 10-12 million individuals) to help him advance his agenda as the Chief Executive.
K Street Cafe contributor Alan Rosenblatt has written on the possibility of continuing myBarackObama.com’s sense of community alive to turn campaign supporters into policy advocates. There remain a number of legal and logistical questions about how this might unfold – should the online community be housed on WhiteHouse.gov? Even if the legal hurdles are overcome, is the federal government’s IT infrastructure even able to support the necessary functionality? (My friend David Almacy has outlined a number of potential technology obstacles, including regulations that prevent federal web sites from placing cookies on people’s computers). There is also uncertainty about whether rules would allow President Obama to use official government money to encourage people to contact their Members of Congress on key issues? (I remember helping to create one of the first Web sites for a Congressional office in the 1990s and being told we had to remove language that encouraged citizens to contact their own lawmakers in support of piece of legislation that my boss introduced). (more…)
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Losing Face (The Economist)
The Economist examines the recent case of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic employees who were fired because of their rants and raves on social networking Web sites.
Obama Lays Out Rules for Ethics (The Hill)
President-elect Obama’s chief of transition, John Podesta, recently outlined the new guidelines for lobbyists involved in federal government work.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Starbucks Also Wins Election (Gawker)
Ryan Tate takes a look at how organizations should follow the publicity tactics used by Starbucks during the election.
HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter (Masable)
These Twitter tips can help both individuals and organizations to build a following of engaged users.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Social Media Politics: How Fast Things Change (123 Social Media)
Barry Hurd takes the position that businesses and organizations will finally take a cue from the use of social media in the Presidential election as a reason to get involved in it.
Measuring ROI in the Blogosphere: Harnessing an Unregulated Space (PR News)
PR News offers some interesting statistics and tactics to help guide organizations in using the blogosphere productively.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
The Oval Office Facebook Group (Science Progress)
Mark Drapeau makes the argument for using new forms of technology to keep communication effective and transparent during the upcoming presidential transition.
Never Before Has So Much Been Asked of CEO Bloggers (BlogWrite for CEOs)
In response to a recent New York Times article, the business world is on the offense in these tough employment times as more and more people turn to social media.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Government 2.0? (Fast Company)
Ellen McGirt asked members of her social media sphere to comment on how the incoming administration will use social media techniques to continue to truly engage the citizenry.
10 Election Tweets Worth Remembering (CNET News)
With all the prior articles claiming this would be the “social media election”, CNET compiled a list of their top ten favorite Tweets from Election Day 2008.
Obama Won the Election – Not Social Media (ZD Net)
Is social media responsible for Barak Obama’s presidential win? Jennifer Leggio suggests that we not jump to conclusions and take a look at the facts.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Your Election Day Web Toolkit (Read Write Web)
Read Write Web has created a an “Election Day Web Toolkit” with all the links and know-how to bring your election experience to the Web.
K Street Suffers Election Anxiety (Politico)
Jeanne Cummings, Politico’s “Pit Boss”, explains how much of K Street – particularly those with ties to the Republican party – is nervous about the results of today’s election.
Posted by: K Street Cafe Editor
Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004 (Wired)
Paul Boutin examines how social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have over taken blogging as the most popular form of expression.
Crisis Communication for the Social Web (The Buzz Bin)
The Buzz Bin takes a look at the need for a plan to listen and communicate effectively when a crisis hits your organization online.
In the closing stretch of the presidential campaign, both John McCain and Barack Obama have invoked the name of The Heritage Foundation to justify their policy proposals and attack their opponent. Unfortunately, neither campaign accurately reflected the views of Heritage. I’ve spent much of my time over the past week trying to set the record straight and protect our name.
Heritage is a nonprofit organization with strict limitations on political activity. As a nonpartisan research institution, we produce analysis on public policy issues, including the candidates’ tax proposals, but do not — and legally cannot — support or oppose a candidate for political office.
I thought it would be useful to share our approach this week responding to both McCain and Obama, particularly because we used the Internet and social media to tell our story. Our goal in each case was to set the record straight and clear up any confusion about the use of our name in their campaign materials. (more…)
