K Street Cafe

Cross-posted from the Congressional Management Foundation blog

In 1998, the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) embarked on a ground-breaking research project: to study best practices in congressional websites with the goal of providing Congress with guidance on how to use this emerging technology to improve constituents’ communication with, and understanding of, the institution. Three years later the initiative was boosted by a two-year grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to create the Congress Online Project, in association with The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.

The project had an ambitious goal: develop a methodology for evaluating more than 600 congressional personal office, committee and leadership websites. CMF spent a year conducting focus groups with citizens, examining private sector research, and even polling reporters on their expectations when interacting with congressional websites. We then engaged in a thorough assessment process, assigning grades to every website on Capitol Hill. The strategy was: by highlighting the best practices, and playing to politicians’ natural competitiveness with a grading system, Congress would better utilize online communications tools, thereby better serving citizens. (more…)

Congress: Apple Founder Steve Jobs Changed Our Lives (The Hill)
An homage to one of modern technology’s greatest innovators: various members of congress share (via tweet) their sadness over the loss of Steve Jobs.

Will Your Brand Succeed in the New Facebook? (ClickZ)
Facebook’s recent makeover may mean you need to adapt your content. Find out how!

Many Americans are consumed with football in the fall.  But the budget and economic crisis has advocacy professionals obsessed with a slightly different group—the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—or the ‘Super Committee.’

The Super Committee is charged with recommending how to reduce the U.S. deficit by at least $1.5 trillion over the next ten years, and has until Thanksgiving to do so. Committee members say comments from the public are being taken seriously (here’s the web form to prove it), though some of them are also limiting participation: for instance, Senator Baucus (D-Mont.) is not taking messages from any one who doesn’t live in Montana — even though the mission is national in scope.

The limited time frame for decisions and the committee’s difficult task makes advocacy especially challenging. What’s an advocacy group to do?

Hopefully, most organizations have plans in place to handle a sudden grassroots need. But if your organization was not quite as prepared as others, don’t despair. Even in this Internet age, all politics is still local. (more…)

by Patrick Hynes

Cross-posted from The Daily Caller

Despite the successful and headline-grabbing launch of Google+, only 13 members of the U.S. Senate and 15 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have established profiles on the new social networking site, far fewer than the number from each chamber who are active on Facebook and Twitter.

Google+ launched in July to much fanfare and within three weeks had attracted 20 million users in the U.S. Some technology pundits have labeled it a “Facebook killer.”

Congress’s slow adoption of Google+ comes as a surprise because the new social networking platform contains at least one unique function the others do not: It allows users to segregate relationships into “Circles,” meaning members of Congress can isolate constituents from other followers. Heavy social networking “spam” from non-constituents is a significant frustration for members and their social media staffs.

“Just the other day, someone posted on our Facebook wall that she wished my boss was her senator,” a Hill press secretary told me.

A recent study by the Congressional Management Foundation reports that members of Congress and key staff have embraced social media as a tool to communicate with constituents. But privately, many also complain they receive too much pre-packaged “Astroturf” in the form of canned Tweets and Facebook wall postings. In many cases, these communications come from people far away from the members’ districts or from undetermined locations. Google+ Circles allow members of Congress to target their communications directly to people in the states or districts they represent, while ignoring communications directed at them from people outside their states or districts. (more…)

Cross posted from BisNow.

Sometimes a letter isn’t enough. Here are a few groups that have delivered a message to Congress by actually delivering something. 

When Medicare faced major cuts a year ago, the American Medical Association sent over 2,000 white lab coats to members of Congress. (A true fashion statement.) The association held a “Write Coat Rally” (above) at its annual meeting in Chicago, where members signed and wrote messages on the lab coats before they were hand-delivered to congressional offices. “White coats are personal to physicians and signify the work they do to care for patients,” AMA president Peter Carmel tells us. “They provided physicians a place to write a personal message to their elected officials on this important issue.” They also helped generate media coverage, including a photo and story in The Washington Post. Last Novermber, AMA held a “virtual white coat rally” to again convey the need for permanent Medicare reform. The campaign generated 12,000 phone calls to Congress. (more…)

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) today released the first study of congressional staff views of social media, and how it is being used by Congressional Offices. #SocialCongress:  Perceptions and Use of Social Media on Capitol Hill shows that most Members of Congress have thoroughly integrated social media into their communications operations, and are using new media tools to gauge public opinion, communicate with constituents, and reach new people. 

Click here to read the report.  

Among the key findings:

       *Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the senior managers and social media managers surveyed think Facebook is a somewhat or very important tool for understanding constituents’ views and opinions, 42% say Twitter is somewhat or very important, and 34% say YouTube is a somewhat or very important tool for understanding constituents’ views and opinions.

       *Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the senior managers and social media managers we surveyed think Facebook is somewhat or very important for communicating their Members’ views. YouTube is viewed by nearly three-quarters of staffers surveyed (72%) as somewhat or very important for communicating their Members’ views.  More than half (51%) of the staffers surveyed say Twitter is a somewhat or very important vehicle for their Members’ communications.

       *A strong majority of staffers (72%) believe that social media allows their Members to reach people they had previously not communicated with.  A majority of the staffers (55%) feel social media offers their offices more benefits than risks.

The report is part of CMF’s initiative, the Partnership for a More Perfect Union.  The Partnership seeks to enrich the relationship between citizens and Congress through education, building trust, and providing innovative yet pragmatic tools to facilitate purposeful two-way communication.

Social Congress and the 21st century legislator (GovFresh)
Congressional staffers say that social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are vital to both communicating the views of Congressmen and understanding what constituents want.

10 Tips for Building Fans via Facebook Advertising (ClickZ)
Turn real-world fans into Facebook fans with these easy suggestions.

Lawmakers tune in to social media (Federal Times)
Congressmen are increasingly using social media to explain their votes, highlight news stories, and ultimately connect with constituents and supporters in new ways.

 5 Online Tools For Activists, By Activists (Mashable)
With socializing as the primary draw, it’s become easier for organizers to attract more and more unlikely activists through social media.

6 Ways To Turn Facebook “Likes” Into Loyal Fans (HubSpot)
Increasing the “likes” that your Facebook page receives is an important first step in your social media strategy, but keeping your fans engaged on your page is crucial.

Lawmakers say House must move more quickly on new technology (The Hill)
Although the sighting of an iPad is now a common occurrence on Capitol Hill, some believe that Congress must be even more receptive to adopting new technology.

There’s a Congressional App for That
(Library of Congress)
Check out a list of apps for getting in touch or keeping up with Congress.

6 Easy Ways To Reward Your Twitter Followers (Mashable)
Turn your twitter followers into brand ambassadors by offering simple and easy rewards.