K Street Cafe

GOP Leads Media Charge (The Hill)
Republican’s social media agendas are becoming prominent in state elections and daily constituent outreach efforts.

Members Grapple With Media Trends
(Roll Call – subscription required)
House members are still trying to figure out how to effectively use new media to streamline internal communication as well as amplify their message to the public.

In case you missed it, the Hill ran my column “Promoting a Cause Through YouTube,” about the State Department’s use of social media as a powerful diplomacy tool used to promote democracy around the world.

Much can be learned by studying State’s Democracy Video Challenge user generated content campaign.  Launched last year, the Video Challenge invites citizens worldwide to submit videos completing the phrase “Democracy is…”  The campaign had more than 900 video submissions and was successful in engaging the public through social media.

The Democracy Video Challenge provides many good lessons for advocacy organizations trying to recruit and mobilize supporters both here and around the world.

Can the law keep up with technology? (CNN Tech)
As technology lurches forward at an astounding speed, legal issues are emerging just as fast.  A legal system at least five years behind developing technology is at a loss for how to handle issues such as lawsuits derived from posts on social networking sites.

Census Turns to Kids for Help (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. Census Bureau is running an interesting campaign targeted towards children in immigrant neighborhoods as a way to reach adults who don’t speak English.

A question came up about the new media activities of 501c3 organizations hosting social media platforms for the public (Thank you to Debbie Miller for her assistance with this research):

Question: Can a 501c3 private foundation or public charity put its tax-exempt status at risk by hosting a social media platform?  Specifically, could the advocacy and electioneering activities of individuals and groups using that social media platform be treated as the direct action – or facilitation of direct action – by that foundation of activities inconsistent with its tax exempt 501(c)(3) status?

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Today YouTube announced the official launch of YouTube DIRECT, a tool that allows organizations to collect, moderate and then display videos from users directly on their organization’s web site or an associated YouTube channel. The stated intention of the tool is to allow news organizations to develop an array of user-generated stringers who can upload video reports and commentary to a news web site while maintaining the news site’s editorial control. (At the time of writing it was not 100% clear whether the tool was limited to official news services only – let’s hope not).

But let’s think outside of the box here. Why limit this to news organizations? Could you image what a forward thinking non-profit or advocacy group could do with this kind of technology? (more…)

Critics Say Social-Media Should Be Off Limits for DTC Drug Ads (Advertising Age)
Critics of using social media as a means of advertising for the pharmaceutical industry believe that the drug companies should not promote their products via e-mail, social networking sites, or text messages due to the seriousness of their message.

Is Starting A Corporate Blog True To Your Company Culture? (PR Communications)
Find out if your corporate culture is one that would benefit from blogging.

By Elizabeth Sicuso

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Price Floyd.  Floyd has the unique responsibility of combining internal communications for one of the country’s largest federal agencies, as well as public communications and outreach.  With a two-front war front that has less than a stellar record with voters, I can imagine this is not an easy task.  However, Floyd made it sound like a cakewalk.  (Floyd’s presentation was just prior to the tragedy that occurred at Ft. Hood in Texas, which, I can only imagine had a significant- and saddening – impact on his day.)

While Floyd had many fantastic points, there were a few in particular that I think can be helpful to everyone in working in the public affairs, public relations, or government relations arena.
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