K Street Cafe

FCC.gov Wireframes for Your Review (Tech President)
The Federal Communications website is being overhauled and the FCC is calling for user opinions on the site’s direction.

Twitter Used to Gather Questions for White House Briefing (ReadWriteWeb)
The White House press secretary recently engaged the public by taking questions on Twitter and then responding on YouTube.

First published on Partnership for a More Perfect Union.

You know something has had an impact on you when you’re still thinking about it weeks after the fact. And what happened recently on YouTube got me thinking.

Members of Congress and their staffs have gotten used to a world where a constituent writes a postal letter or e-mail or calls the office and the office responds in written form to the citizen’s concerns. One of the challenges that social media creates for congressional offices is that they can no longer just wait for constituent communication to come to them. They now need to monitor external sources to capture it all.

As Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers said in our “Inside the Hill” web series, “the world has changed.”

What punctuated this for me was the flurry of activity around a Senate vote regarding the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. Regardless of what side of this sensitive social issue you come down on, something happened that should be instructive to Members of Congress, advocacy organizations, and citizens alike.

The Service members Legal Defense Network (SLDN) is an organization dedicated to ending DADT. They recently enlisted Lady Gaga, of…well…Lady Gaga fame, to create and post a YouTube video asking her considerable fan base to call their Senators to request an end to the ban on openly gay service members. This video is interesting from a number of perspectives, not the least of which is that, when she calls her Senators live in the video, she never actually gets through to either one because the volume of calls to the Senate’s phone system resulted in a busy signal from one and an at-capacity mailbox from the other. What happens next is even more interesting.

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YouTube Launches Campaign Toolkit For Politicians (TechCrunch)
Yesterday marked the launch of Google’s 2010 Campaign Toolkit, aimed at providing political candidates with resources that will enable them to successfully use YouTube and other Google products to engage constituents.

The Filter Bubble and the News You Need To Know (techPresident)
Is increased sophistication with which information is filtered for us to consume reducing our ability to engage with differing points of view?

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.

In case you missed it, the Hill ran my column “Promoting a Cause Through YouTube,” about the State Department’s use of social media as a powerful diplomacy tool used to promote democracy around the world.

Much can be learned by studying State’s Democracy Video Challenge user generated content campaign.  Launched last year, the Video Challenge invites citizens worldwide to submit videos completing the phrase “Democracy is…”  The campaign had more than 900 video submissions and was successful in engaging the public through social media.

The Democracy Video Challenge provides many good lessons for advocacy organizations trying to recruit and mobilize supporters both here and around the world.

Today YouTube announced the official launch of YouTube DIRECT, a tool that allows organizations to collect, moderate and then display videos from users directly on their organization’s web site or an associated YouTube channel. The stated intention of the tool is to allow news organizations to develop an array of user-generated stringers who can upload video reports and commentary to a news web site while maintaining the news site’s editorial control. (At the time of writing it was not 100% clear whether the tool was limited to official news services only – let’s hope not).

But let’s think outside of the box here. Why limit this to news organizations? Could you image what a forward thinking non-profit or advocacy group could do with this kind of technology? (more…)

President Barack Obama’s commitment to transparency and open government has resulted in a surprising response from conservatives — many of whom are trying to outdo the White House with their own efforts to engage the citizenry.

The top two leaders of House Republicans, Reps. John Boehner (Ohio) and Eric Cantor (Va.), have appealed directly to Americans as the first policy battle of Obama’s administration takes shape.

The week before Obama took office, Cantor held a hearing on Capitol Hill that featured four video questions from citizens about the economic stimulus. The hearing had a similar feel to the YouTube debates during the presidential primaries. Boehner, meanwhile, invited users to ask questions on Digg. Nearly 1,500 were submitted, and Boehner answered the top questions on CNN. (more…)

Obama to Address the Nation Each Week on YouTube (Read Write Web)
Rumors are circulating that President-Elect Obama will be broadcasting weekly on YouTube in an effort to continue to reach the masses of new media users who elected him.

Former Feds Mentioned as Possible Federal CTO (Next Gov)
With all the names being thrown around for Obama’s cabinet, Allan Holmes wonders who will be named to the position of Chief Technology Officer.

Survey: Kraft’s Sincere Messaging Helps Its Reputation (PR Newser)
A new study found a slight correlation between the perceived level of sincerity in a company’s messaging and the probability that the company has a better reputation among consumers.

Twitter’s Role in Digital Democracy (Internet Revolution)
Twitter is providing an open dialogue for the presidential candidates to not only spread their message, but to also communicate in a two-way conversation with their supporters.

How Much is YouTube Worth to Obama and McCain? (Tech President)
Micah L. Sifry examines how future political candidates may not be able to ignore the power of YouTube following Senator Obama’s success with the video site.

Facebook for suits (The Economist)
In recent weeks, business-focused social networking Web sites have seen an increase in activity due primarily from the uneasiness regarding the financial markets.

YouTube Accord Eludes House (Roll Call)
The Senate’s recent approval of third party Web sites, such as YouTube, has left the House wanting a similar resolution.

Will Social Media Change the Political Process? Has It Already? (Social Media Explorer)
With over a third of Americans having watched a political video on the Internet, could the predictions that this years election will be the “Social Media Election” be true?