K Street Cafe

While I enjoy many of the topics people tweet about—Redskin updates, fashion reviews, restaurant suggestions, and a recent dinner conversation between M.C. Hammer and Robbie Van Winkle (A.K.A. Vanilla Ice)—my favorite tweets come from policy makers. However, while some have learned the art of brevity by using 140 characters or less, others take three tweets to get their point across—the technological equivalent of a filibuster.

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Integrating Social Media Into the Mix (The Buzz Bin)
Social media cannot be a separate component of a communications strategy. Here are the “must-dos” for integrating social media into your organization’s plans.

What Is a Badge and Why Do You Need One? (BlogWrite for CEOs)
Debbie Weil offers advice to organizations about providing badges and widgets to Web site users to aid in an overall marketing strategy.

Part Two of a six-part series, cross-posted on e.politics

Structure isn’t sexy — but to talk about the critical online tools of 2008 without discussing the framework that governed their use would be missing the most important part of the story. ANYONE could employ (most of) the technology the Obamans used, but very few online communicators have ever done so either as effectively or on such a scale. One important lesson from Obama: the tools don’t matter as much as how you use them.

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Part One of a six-part series, cross-posted on e.politics

Without the internet, Barack Obama would still be the junior senator from Illinois. Instead, his two-year campaign for the White House relied on electronic communications to an unprecedented extent for its core functions: organizing volunteers and staff, finding new supporters and putting them to work, turning out voters on election day and (of course) raising staggering amounts of money — all contributing to a crucial edge in the primary and general elections.

Both Obama and Republican rival John McCain relied on the net to bolster their campaigns. But Obama’s online success dwarfed his opponent’s, and proved key to his winning the presidency.

“Propelled by Internet, Barack Obama Wins Presidency,” Sarah Lai Stirland, Wired.com, 11/4/2008

Obama’s online team created and evolved both human and technological systems within the campaign’s structure to build a scalable, distributed organization that covered the entire country and penetrated areas in which Democrats had not competed in years. They used (mostly) pre-existing techniques in the process, focused on getting measurable results in the real world. They were richly rewarded: their work midwifed an astounding level of citizen interest and involvement for a modern political campaign. The numbers alone are impressive:

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And The Oscar for Most Social Media Buzz Goes To … (Mashable)
As Twitter becomes more apart of people’s everyday lives, more companies are following trends in real time using the micro-blogging service. For example, here are the top trends in Tweets from Oscar night.

MicroPlaza: A Personalized Twitter Memetracker (ReadWriteWeb)
A new program allows users to track the links they post online and to easily organize who they follow based on interests – two features that could be useful to organizations using Twitter to expand their network.

How to Reach Baby Boomers with Social Media (ReadWriteWeb)
This recent survey finds that Baby Boomers may be just as accessible through social media outlets as younger generations are.

Why Big Brands Struggle With Social Media (Mashable)
Tom Smith takes a look at six hurdles large organizations face when using social media and the best ways to avoid them.

GE puts a twist on a Facebook trend (The Blog Council)
A “25 Random Things About Me” Facebook note caught the attention of bloggers at General Electric, who then shared 25 random things about GE.

The North Face and Polartec Leverage Social Net for ‘Eco Champion’ Campaign (ClickZ)
A joint campaign by The North Face and Polartec is relying on social media and viral campaigns to help spread their message.

Debunking Six Social Media Myths (Business Week)
Before your organization begins using social media tools, take a look at this article by B.L. Ochman on the realities of engaging online.

Federal CTO Agenda: The Industry’s Advice To Obama (Information Week)
Leaders and executives throughout the tech industry are sharing their opinions on the what should be top priority for Obama’s pick for Chief Technology Officer.

Survey Of Insular Social Media Elite Says: Twitter Is Better Than Facebook For Businesses (Tech Crunch)
A recent study reports that both personal and business users would be willing to pay to use Facebook.

Social Media Saves Lives: Salmonella Outbreak Pushes HHS, FDA, CDC to Get Social (ReadWriteWeb)
The recent peanut butter recalls served as an impetus for more government agencies to leverage the power of social media to communicate with constituents.

Top Web 2.0 Security Threats (Security Enterprise 2.0 Forum)
A new report examines the security risks associated with organizations using social media and Web 2.0 technology.

Cross-posted on e.politics

Check out this fascinating print ad placed by the National Association of Home Builders in today’s Roll Call, which starts out with quite a strong quote:

“If this thing passes, I will buy immediately.” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 5

Followed by more quotes attributed to the LA Times, St. Louis Post Dispatch and U.S. News and World Report. But check out the veeeeery fine print in the scanned version below, sent in by a little bird and revealingly photoshopped:

Now, let’s take a look at it again, this time WITHOUT the fine print blown-up.

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