K Street Cafe

A few days ago, a colleague asked for help with a predicament common in Gov 2.0 circles: how to educate her colleagues, managers, and clients to rely more on a project wiki and less on e-mail? (Broadly defined, a “wiki” can be as simple as a folder or set of folders on a shared hard drive or as complex as a SharePoint “component” designed to look and feel like Wikipedia.) For example, how do you get someone to check the wiki for a document rather than e-mailing someone else for it? Then, once user A has the document and needs feedback on it, how do you get her to distribute a link to the wiki rather than distributing the document itself?

The first thing you might do is survey your team. Why do some people live and die by the wiki, while others shun it? What’s helpful, what can be improved, what alternatives would users recommend? These findings can facilitate several next steps.

1. “It doesn’t work.” To the extent possible, you should tweak the wiki to fix any technical glitches and simplify any cumbersome processes. Such frustrations are very real, and anything you can do to minimize them will make you a hero. (Whoever invents the version of iShare, eShare, or SharePoint that allows you to download documents from a smartphone, no doubt will make a killing.)

2. “It’s extra work.” When was the last time you communicated the wiki’s purpose and benefits to the team? Holding a meeting presents two opportunities: it allows users to vent directly to management, and it allows management to say, We hear you; here’s what we’re doing about it; here’s how you can help; and, most important, here’s why we’re using the wiki in the first place. Plus, in the future, when the temptation arises for a user to e-mail someone a question, feelings of guilt may prompt the user to visit the wiki first to see if she can learn the answer herself.

3. “I don’t want to.” If necessary, a project’s senior leaders may want to issue a directive to use e-mail only after checking the wiki. Of course, these leaders should be following their own advice, and be wiki-ing themselves. “Because the boss said so” is a powerful motivator; “if the boss can do so, so can I” is even better.

4. “I don’t know how to use it.” Every complex initiative should have an FAQ document. Sample questions for a wiki: Where do I go to find X? If I’m inactive for X minutes, does the wiki log me off? What functions don’t work (well) using Firefox rather than Internet Explorer?

5. “Nobody uses it.” In the end, nothing succeeds like peer pressure. The more people you convince, the greater your chance of success.

Finally, don’t discount the possibility that a wiki isn’t right for your project. Plenty of tools exist to accomplish even the most discrete tasks. As consultants, it behooves us to remember that what a client wants is not necessarily best, and that the end is more important than the means.

Three Best Ways to Use Location-Based Social Media (The Wall Street Journal)
Tips for making the most out of Facebook Places & other location-based social media.

What Does Gmail’s Priority Inbox Mean for Political Emails?
(Tech President)
Automated prioritization of emails may change the way organizations campaign, fundraise and communicate online.

First published on Partnership for a More Perfect Union.

This August, just prior to a Tea Party march in Washington, DC, a blogger who claimed to be affiliated with the Tea Party published the DC home addresses of some Members of Congress.  The posting was part of a “Visitors Guide” to Washington.  Last summer it was people bringing firearms to congressional town hall meetings.  This summer it’s an open invitation to conduct a demonstration at elected officials’ homes.  “Feel free to protest,” the blogger added.

The last few years have seen an explosion in interest in advocacy, and that is generally a good thing.  A Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) survey of citizens found that 44% of adult Americans had contacted Congress within the last five years.  While this increased interest in exercising constitutional rights has value, one must keep in mind there is such a thing as “bad advocacy.”

CMF firmly believes that good advocacy results in good public policy.  Citizen advocates who can passionately and thoughtfully articulate how a pending policy will affect them as individuals or a group has a constructive effect on legislative outcomes.  One House Democrat said it to me this way: “The most effective way to influence a lawmaker is for a constituent to talk to a legislator about how the policy will affect the person or a particular group.”

For years, some groups and individuals have relished the act of interfering with the process of government or otherwise offending elected officials.  Shutting down the Senate phone system and protesting at the congressman’s home were viewed by the groups who used these tactics as victories in advocacy.  But what did they really accomplish?  Shouting at a Representative’s kids does little to curry favor or influence the legislator to support the group’s issue.  In fact, it is more likely to result in the legislator’s long-lived disdain for the group which organized the protest.

CMF strongly supports the right of citizens to “petition their government for a redress of grievances.”  That is why we created the Partnership for a More Perfect Union, which seeks to enrich relationships between Congress and citizens.  The right to “petition” Congress has very few limits (a Colorado court recently ruled that it is a constitutional right for a citizen to leave a pile of doggie doo with a letter to a Member of Congress).  But that doesn’t mean extreme measures are effective or wise.

Civility in advocacy is more effective than annoyance.  Public officials respect those who respect them and the process they represent.  We encourage groups who seek to influence legislative outcomes to employ reasonable and proven methods; encourage advocates to politely and persistently persuade legislators; and refrain from tactics that appear malicious or violent.

President John F. Kennedy said, “So let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.”  That advice is not just about politeness, it’s more likely to yield results.

Politicians Use Smart Phones to Reel in Voters (Fox News)
Campaigns go mobile as more politicians turn to apps for voter appeal.

Google Instant Makes SEO Irrelevant
(The Steve Rubel Stream)
Google Instant promises to change the way users find information on the web.

Charitable Social Platform Enlists Red Cross, Old Navy, Starbucks (ClickZ)
Endorse for  a Cause launches social media platform allowing users to track when promotion on Twitter and Facebook leads to purchase.

Congressional Black Caucus Members Among Top Congressional Social Media Users (Politic 365)
As technology becomes increasingly important for engaging lawmakers, Congressional Black Caucus members prove themselves to be social media savvy.

Written by Kate Kaye, ClickZ Politics & Advocacy

Political campaigns are stuck on Facebook, and one Washington, D.C.-based digital consultancy aims to help them put engagement on the social site to use in more ways than simply collecting “likes.” Republican agency Engage has developed a set of tools for combining Facebook, social games, and Foursquare-style action-based incentives to driven online and offline activism.

Corporate brands from restaurants to retailers have taken to Foursquare, Gowalla, and other location-based services to capitalize on the check-in fad, awarding consumers with special symbols displaying their visitation prowess, and often with discounts or freebies. Engage’s Multiply product isn’t exactly a check-in service, but it takes a cue from those mobile-centric loyalty programs to build community and inspire activism for door-to-door canvassing, fundraising events, get-out-the-vote efforts, and other key activities driving political campaigns. The tools allow campaigns to attach a system for awarding prize points and badges to their sites, and connect with Facebook’s social graph to encourage sharing among supporters’ social networks.

The notion of awarding incentives to super-supporters is nothing new. The Democratic and Republican parties, as well as individual campaigns often honor their big fundraisers – if not just with cool names and bragging rights, than with parties or other prizes.
The tool helps campaigns track individual volunteer actions, virtual and in-person – from sharing a link on Facebook or donating cash to door-knocking. “The actions that score points and the number of points are flexible from organization to organization,” said Mindy Finn, a partner at Engage. Staffers can make note of who performs a real-world task and upload that information to the system, which in turn awards points. “For example, if there was a phone bank at headquarters, [you could] award 50 points to anyone who attended,” said Finn.

While points and badges are rewards for volunteers, data is the primary reward for campaigns. As the Multiply page on Engage’s site states, “User scores let you target your supporters by likelihood to take action – tied to their phone number, email, and Facebook ID.” The firm is pushing its Data Manager upgrade, which allows campaigns to “collect form data on your site and score every single action or form submission.” Part of the Engage pitch also involves volunteers registering with Multiply.

To read the entire article on ClickZ, click here.

Report: Facebook and the New Age of Privacy
(Fast Company)
A look into the evolution of Facebook privacy, from the F8 Conference in April to the present.

FourSquare and Seven Months From Now: Would Lincoln Be on LinkedIn? (The Huffington Post)
More politicians look toward the web for campaigning tools as midterm elections approach.

Originally published on Epolitics.com

Update: See also Kate Kaye’s earlier coverage at ClickZ.

Politico’s Morning Tech column has highlighted a clever use of mobile advertising in last week’s Florida primaries:

As the Sunshine State headed to the polls yesterday, down-ballot candidates bought Google online ads on mobile geo-targeted to specific districts, hoping to capture people who are doing last-minute research while waiting in line at the polls. Democratic State Senator and Attorney General hopeful Dan Gelber, who easily won his primary, used mobile Google ads for a 24-hour blitz on primary day. Lisa Small, likely soon to be declared winner of her circuit court judge race, also used the strategy, Google told us.

(more…)

Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy (Wall Street Journal)
Dispelling some common misconceptions about privacy online.

Israelis, Palestinians Expand Mideast Debate to Wikipedia (Tech President)
How Israel and Palestine are expanding their advocacy efforts through social media.

Open for Questions: The End of the Combat Mission in Iraq (YouTube)
Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes addresses questions regarding Iraq from the online community via YouTube.