K Street Cafe

Cross-posted on e.politics

At a New Organizing Institute presentation this week, former Obama new media director Joe Rospars (last seen in the pages of e.politics talking about the importance of good content to the campaign’s work) made a really significant point — his department was NOT a part of the campaign’s tech team. Instead, it was coequal with communications, field/grassroots, finance, etc., and was in fact just as much a client of the technology folks as, say, the press team was.

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Mountain Dew Fans Unite to Create New Drink (Word of Mouth Marketing)
A new soda, created entirely through online collaboration, is set to start a digital-only campaign.

Obama, Congress Enlist ‘Direct to Constituent’ Communications (Media Shift)
The newly elected government is following through with transparency and openness through direct to constituent communications with YouTube and other social networking programs.

Facebook Now Nearly Twice The Size Of MySpace Worldwide (Tech Crunch)
Facebook and MySpace continue to battle it out for the the title of top social networking Web site in the US - their staggering online presences make them a good target for organizations of all sizes.

The Best Government Tech of the Bush Years (Wired)
As the country waits to see how the Obama Administration will open up the executive branch on the Web, here is a list of the tech achievements of the Bush Administration.

President Barack Obama’s commitment to transparency and open government has resulted in a surprising response from conservatives — many of whom are trying to outdo the White House with their own efforts to engage the citizenry.

The top two leaders of House Republicans, Reps. John Boehner (Ohio) and Eric Cantor (Va.), have appealed directly to Americans as the first policy battle of Obama’s administration takes shape.

The week before Obama took office, Cantor held a hearing on Capitol Hill that featured four video questions from citizens about the economic stimulus. The hearing had a similar feel to the YouTube debates during the presidential primaries. Boehner, meanwhile, invited users to ask questions on Digg. Nearly 1,500 were submitted, and Boehner answered the top questions on CNN. (more…)

USA.gov Embraces RSS: Launches Breaking News Services (ReadWriteWeb)
Starting off on the right foot to fulfill President Obama’s promise of transparency, USA.gov now has the option to view and subscribe to multiple RSS feeds.

Twitter Use In the UK Explodes (Tech Crunch)
The United Kingdom has seen a year-long surge in its traffic to Twitter, as well as increases in the long-term use of the micro-blogging site by residents. If your organization interacts with people in the UK, Twitter and Facebook (which by far, continues to be the number one social networking site) are the place to be.

Last week, K Street Cafe asked the question, “How should advocacy organizations adapt to stay relevant in the changing paradigm of constituent engagement with Congress and the Administration that largely removes the need for any sort of intermediary presence?” More to the point – will transparent government remove the need for advocacy organizations?

Brad Fitch weighed in last week, writing that the expertise of advocacy organizations is such that they will always be valuable, and I agree with him. Apparently, so does the Obama Administration.

According to a recent article by Peter Wallsten in the L.A. Times, Obama’s answer to the question would also be a resounding no. Otherwise, he would have no need to transform his campaign organization into an advocacy organization:

As Barack Obama builds his administration and prepares to take office next week, his political team is quietly planning for a nationwide hiring binge that would marshal an army of full-time organizers to press the new president’s agenda and lay the foundation for his reelection…People familiar with the plan say Obama’s team would use the network in part to pressure lawmakers — particularly wavering Democrats — to help him pass complex legislation on the economy, healthcare and energy.

Transparency does not remove the need for advocacy organizations.

Most citizens could never dream of sifting through the reams of information on the issues they care about, let alone digesting what it all means.  Most live busy lives and do not have the kind of time required to study every policy, every piece of legislation and every proposed regulation.

Advocacy organizations do have time. They are funded by individuals (or companies) with a mission to look after the best interest of their members. Their professional staff keeps up on the progress of legislation through Congress, informing their members of critical information and advocating on their behalf.

Transparency is crucial to democracy and I support efforts to make information available to the public. But more information means there is more to digest. The average citizen will continue to rely on the organizations to help keep them informed.

40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them (Mashable)
Jennifer Van Grove compiles a list of the best brands to follow, and how they are using Twitter to their advantage.

A New Whitehouse.gov, And First Blog Post (PR Newser)
The newly designed and updated Website for the White House also has a blog – check out this story about their first blog posting.

Having just inaugurated a new President, many people are asking, how will new media tools and online organzing transfer to goverance? Internet Advocacy Rountable is presenting a special event with Netroots Nation and Think Progress to discuss this topic.

Moderator: Cheryl Contee

Wednesday, January 21, 2:00pm – 3:30pm ET (more…)

Twitter Tips for Beginners (New York Times)
David Pogue provides a down and dirty overview of the newly popular social media Website, Twitter.

The Future of Web Apps: 7 Things Companies Must Do to Succeed (Mashable)
As Web 2.0 starts to dwindle, what is your company going to do to keep up? Monica O’Brien suggestions that companies catch up, or get left in the dirt by companies that understand the Web.

Twitter user becomes star in US Airways crash – Janis Krums sets Internet abuzz with iPhone photo (NY Daily News)
Twitter user, jkrums, became an instant citizen journalist star after quickly tweeting about the US Airways crash landing into the Hudson River.

93 of the top 100 Brands Don’t Control Their Twitter Name (Venture Beat)
In the early days of the Internet rush, people bought up well-known known domain names in an effort to profit when the big organizations came running. The same is bound to happen now with Twitter usernames, given that less than 10% of top organizations have established an account with the increasingly popular micro-blogging site.

New Media Venture Turns Bloggers Into Print Journalists (Wired)
Who said the Internet and social media would kill newspapers? Chris Synder examines a new startup organization that is publishing blog postings in paper form.