K Street Cafe

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.

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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.

The High Cost of Free Speech (Public Affairs Perspective)
What should organizations consider before supporting a political candidate?

What Do Voters Really Want? (California City News)
Research shows that the issues voters care about most may not be those that Congress is hearing about.

The state of Maryland, the attorney general of Pennsylvania and a group of researchers are taking on political campaigns using social media platforms.

Maryland’s State Board of Elections is submitting a proposal on June 3 requiring candidates to include standard language on their Facebook pages and their associations with these campaigns. In addition, the proposal would require candidates to create a system of authenticated official Twitter accounts. If this proposal passes, regulation could begin as early as this year.
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International Correspondents: The Internet election? (CNN)
Some believe this is Britain’s first social media election, while others disagree.

Washington Post Launches New PostPolitics.com Site
(Advocacy 2.0)
Last Wednesday The Washington Post announced the launch of a new political homepage, PostPolitics.com, which features articles, columns and blogs produced by Post staffers.

In case you missed the Politics Online Conference last week, Microsoft announced the launch of Townhall, a new online community platform. The Townhall platform allows political campaigns to quickly launch a sophisticated ongoing community discussion with supporters and volunteers. The platform not only allows a campaign to manage the community, but also gather instant and ongoing feedback from voters through polls, surveys and other kinds of data feedback mechanisms.

Of course, Microsoft is not new to the world of political campaigns. Its Windows operating system and Office products have been the staple technologies of political campaigns for decades. Campaigns of all stripes would also be well advised to explore how Microsoft Tag and Windows Live Messenger can be used to communicate and collaborate with voters.

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The online grassroots community has wisely begun a discussion of ethics lately. A February forum at George Washington University was a solid kick-off to the dialogue. An ethical examination would be a healthy exercise when one considers the strategies, tactics and motives surrounding the upcoming Supreme Court nomination battle to fill the seat of retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

The recent opening on the Supreme Court, and the anticipated grassroots battle over the nominee, raise an ethical question for grassroots organizers. Groups on both the left and right see a Supreme Court nomination battle as an opportunity to rally troops, raise funds and bolster their causes. However, many political observers have suggested that President Obama will probably nominate a non-controversial candidate, seeking to avoid a bloody and partisan nomination fight so close to the 2010 mid-term elections.

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I recently gave a lecture at American University’s Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute on how to use social media and other online strategies for advocacy. You can watch it here.

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.