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.
Microsoft promises that Townhall will be the first of many new campaign specific software tools. The Townhall software can be downloaded for free. Organizations that wish to run Townhall would pay to host the platform on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing network.
While Microsoft is initially targeting Townhall for political campaigns, I was struck by how the software could be used by associations, interest groups and NGOs to engage in dialogue with members or supporters. At first glance, Townhall seems ideal as an out-of-box solution for organizations wanting to quickly build a robust online community.
(Disclosure – My firm, Adfero Group, works with Microsoft on two projects unrelated to Townhall.)
