K Street Cafe

I was inspired by Amanda Phraner post, Foursquare for Advocacy. I have been using Foursquare for nearly a year now and love it (in fact I am the Mayor of Toscana West on I St, NW, DC between 13th and 14th… great place for lunch in the bar).

The idea of using Foursquare for advocacy makes a lot of sense, taking the flash mob notion to another level. Because Foursquare lets you post the address where you are and a brief comment, it is a great way to tell the world about demonstrations, events, and other activist activities you want people to join.

This has great potential, and it doesn’t matter that there are only 1 million Foursquare users, which is rather a lot, anyway. Not only is Foursquare mobile, allowing you to check in from anywhere, but it can post your check-in message and address to Twitter and Facebook. This immediately reaches out to all of your followers and friends and taps into the viral potential we all know and love.

But it can be even more effective if you include hashtags to your message for Twitter. Adding #p2 will expose your Foursquare post to hundreds of thousands of progressive activists and adding the #tcot/#teaparty/#sgp tags will expose your post to comparable numbers of conservatives.

If you are at a health care reform event, add the #HCR hashtag to reach people engaged on that issue. Or #CO2/#climate/#green/#COP15 to reach clean energy and climate activists. At a labor rally? Add #labor or #EFCA to reach beyond your list to the broader labor community.

So, don’t feel constrained by the relatively small audience on Foursquare. Because it links to two of the largest and most vibrant social networks for activism, you are limited only by your own creativity.

So start your Foursquare networks and come visit me at Toscana West.

I’m Maddie Grant, an association/nonprofit industry blogger on social media and online community building. I’m very happy to have been invited to be a regular poster on K Street Cafe.

This is my first post here, so I’m still getting the lay of the land as to what kinds of topics will interest K Street readers. I am an avid blog reader and definitely consider myself a “content curator”; Here’s the kind of stuff I read and write about on my blog.

So I thought I’d do two things. First, I want point you to a few PR/Public Affairs/Advocacy related blog posts I’ve found very interesting recently – and ask you to tell me if these float your boat or not. Check ‘em out.

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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.

When it comes to Facebook, what’s more important: Having a large network of “friends” whom you don’t know? Or a smaller well-connected group of individuals with whom you have real relationships?

I consider myself a friendly person, but that’s no longer the case when it comes to Facebook. After careful thought and deliberation, I’ve decided to stop accepting friend requests from people I don’t know.

With more than 350 million users, Facebook is home to an incredible network of people. Complete strangers ask to be my friend every day. Some are so self-absorbed they’ve even prodded me to become “fans” of their pages. Others bombard me with event invites I have no interest or possible way of attending. Don’t get me started on annoying applications like Pillow Fight and Blingee Book. Enough is enough. (more…)

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.

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.

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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Yesterday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Communication Center hosted a panel discussion on calculating your ROI for social media campaigns. I was fortunate to join three terrific panelists presenting at the event including Adam Conner from Facebook, Laura Howe from the American Red Cross, and Paul Argenti, a Professor from Dartmouth. (more…)

What can advocacy and political professionals learn from a travelling Indian food truck? When you are talking about the Fojol Bros “travelling culinary carnival,” it seems quite a lot!

First off, they know how to reach DC audiences, they are masters of getting attention on a limited budget, they are working to build a community of support using social media, and they are proactively engaging their detractors. Sound familiar to any of you advocacy folks! Obviously, part of their appeal is also that they offer delicious Indian food at street vendor prices – but hey, you get where we are going with all this.

For those not familiar with Fojol Bros, they have made a name for themselves traveling around DC in a tricked up 1965 Chevy Step Van blaring festive carnival music. If you go up to order at the window don’t be surprised to see them wearing their signature fake moustaches, one-piece jump suits and Indian wedding turbans. (more…)

If your boss ever expresses skepticism about using social media, sit them down and show them this video:

Here’s the list of sources where they get their numbers.