K Street Cafe

By Erica L. Fitzsimmons

A few more thoughts on the new Facebook changes, privacy concerns and what Four Square and Gowalla should be concerned about.

The recent Facebook platform changes may have advantages for advocacy professionals as I discussed in my earlier post, “Facebook Takeover,” but due to widespread privacy concerns, several Facebook members are thinking about quitting the wildly popular social networking site.  And by several, I mean approximately 60% of them — according to a survey conducted by IT security firm, Sophos.
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By Erica L. Fitzsimmons

Overheard on the DC metro this morning – “The best way to get in touch with me is definitely through Facebook.”

Really? I thought, as the train doors opened.  Facebook as the easiest way to contact someone?

While I’m still somewhat of an old-fashioned e-mail girl myself in terms of the best way to contact me, that may all be about to change. On a Wednesday afternoon in April, while you were probably busy at work, Facebook made what may be it’s first real advance in taking over Internet as you know it.

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Last week at the Politics Online Conference, I sat on a panel where the question of e-mail versus social media was posed.  Is social media replacing e-mail?  Are members who join through social media more or less valuable than members collected via e-mail?
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By Amanda Phraner

About a month ago, a co-worker convinced me to join Foursquare, which I read somewhere is the new Twitter. If you haven’t checked out Foursquare yet, it provides capabilities for its users to “check-in” and tell friends where they are located.  Each check-in can earn you various points, badges and even special offers from local businesses.

Foursquare seems like a great opportunity for businesses to connect with frequent customers and market their services.  My question is: Can it also be of value to the grassroots advocacy world? Are there ways for organizations to use Foursquare to engage members and motivate activists?

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By Elizabeth Sicuso

Over the winter, Price Floyd, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, spoke to a group of communicators about the necessity of social media from the Department of Defense’s stand point.  Floyd’s points, mainly that your audience is larger than you could imagine and that you can’t avoid social media, finally took hold last week with the release of the DoD’s Official Policy on New/Social Media. The newly released memo states, “The policy, which is effective immediately, states that the default for the DoD non-classified network (the NIPRNET) is for open access so that all of DoD can use new media.”

This is a great step forward not only for social media, but also government communications and transparency, and it raises the question that I asked previously – If the DoD can balance security, information sharing and transparency, then why can’t every company?

While the recent hacking of prominent Twitter accounts (see United Airlines recent snafu here) may result in many companies pulling back on social media in caution, in my opinion, the DoD announcement should show them to not be afraid, but instead cautious, of social media.  If the DoD can balance all the priorities of information sharing, principally, national security, then the private sector has no excuse.

By Anne D. Darconte

For over a year now, grassroots practitioners in Washington, DC have been discussing the pros and cons of adopting an ethics code for conducting grassroots advocacy campaigns. While this is not a new issue by any means, it gained renewed attention after the infamous Abramoff lobbying scandal and the presidential election of Barack Obama who promised greater transparency in government. Last summer, more fuel was added to the fire when angry citizens voiced their displeasure at congressional town hall meetings with the health care reform debate. Then the disclosure that bogus letters had been sent to several members of Congress by an employee of a grassroots advocacy firm on behalf of its client resulted in a congressional hearing.

The latest panel to address this issue convened on this week at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. About 75 people turned out to hear the panel participants discuss the pros and cons of a grassroots code of ethics. While most agreed that adopting such a code would be worthwhile, the devil continues to be in the detail. (more…)

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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By Shellie J. Edge

That’s the very question I asked myself when I started a new job where many of my clients are actively involved in various social media networks. Although I’ve been in the public relations industry for more than 10 years, I still consider myself young and hip… or at least I’d like to think so. I have a Facebook page, subscribe to the hottest RSS feeds and even know a little about Twitter.  I was even inspired by what President Obama’s team was able to do with social media during his campaign last fall.

So what’s all the buzz about? Why should we care about social networking? And why should we encourage our clients to take advantage of the potential of social networking? I think we should care for several reasons. (more…)

By Richard M. Fawal

I supported Barack Obama during the campaign, and I wholeheartedly support his commitment as President to continue organizing Americans. Presidents often try to rally public support for their positions, but this is the first time any President has tried to actually organize public support into direct actions that will have measurable impact. That’s laudable.

The task is by no means an easy one. Governing is very different from campaigning, and building support for policy is not the same as building support for a politician. If the Administration is going to be successful in its organizing efforts, those charged with the task need to remember that effective organizing is first and foremost about community. (more…)

By Carie Lewis

Here at HSUS, our email file is largely skewed to older women. We’ve been in the social media space for 2+ years now, trying to broaden our audience. But we haven’t done much integration of our email file and website to our social media presence because of the fear that the demographic of the two don’t match.

So, when it was time for our annual Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest, and there was the question of whether or not to invest money in an accompanying Facebook application, there were some skeptics.

Being the social media person at the organization, I was all for it. I knew that as long as the application took advantage of Facebook’s viral features, it would take off. In my mind, this meant:

1 – all functions had to stay within the Facebook platform (instead of taking you to the external site)

2 – the Facebook app had to be a mirror of the external site and not a separate entity

3 – there had to be some function to post a “box” to your profile to show off your pet

4 – there had to be some function to post a “story” to your newsfeed, both when you installed the app and when you entered your pet

Of course, that’s overly-simplified. It took a long time to get it to where it is now. But the time and money were both worth it, as it essentially paid for itself. (more…)