Where Lobbying and Social Media Meet

New Term: Astrotweeting

2011-08-29T11:08:00.000-04:00

Here's a good one from the PoliticalDictionary.com -- the definition of "AstroTweeting":

Astrotweeting

The creation of fake Twitter profiles to show support for a political candidate.

Bill White described the practice in an Texas Monthly interview about his 2010 race against Texas Gov. Rick Perry:

“There were also some silly things that happened that are still hard to believe. One consulting firm of his created artificial people to tweet. [The campaign] wanted to question my support in the African American community, but they couldn’t recruit an African American person to do it, so on Twitter they used a stock photo of a black person. One of the people who supported my campaign clicked on the image and found out it was a singer from Atlanta. The Twitter address was registered at the same location as one of Mr. Perry’s political consultants.”

Derived by Rick Hasen, with inspiration from Ben Smith, from the term Astroturfing.

Petition sites Part 3 - iPetitions.com

2011-08-24T09:12:00.001-04:00

Here's another top online petition site for your consideration -- iPetitions.com

Like Change.org and thepetitionsite.com , you can start an online petition and generate contacts to public officials in minutes.

Here's the official scoop on iPetitions from their site:

About us

iPetitions takes the power of the internet to transform society and places it in the hands of ordinary people. With iPetitions, you don't have to be a technical whiz or corporate behemoth to get your voice heard. We give you the tools and community to create your own sophisticated online campaign. All you have to do is write a petition in support of your cause. We help you gather support from around the world.

Changing the world

At iPetitions, we are committed to the idea that technology can change the world for the better. Around the world, technology is making a difference to lives. In developing countries, the internet is delivering health information to villages and equipping schools with virtual libraries. In dictatorships, web sites are spaces of freedom where dissidents evade the clutches of a repressive state. In America, the internet offers voters direct access to their political representatives and helps enforce corporate responsibility. With our tools, you can be part of this process of democratization.

iPetitions is committed to fostering a genuine grassroots democracy, where citizens from around the world can gather to exchange information and freely debate the issues. We allow you to tap into the internet’s hundreds of millions of users to support the cause that you care about.

What we offer

We offer the physical space to host your petition, and we give you the tools to gather signatures, blog about your cause, and build a community around the issues that you care about. Our sophisticated tools have been tested on a number of online petitions, and offer a high degree of customization without requiring any programming or technical knowledge. You might find other petition sites out there. But none of them offers the full range of tools that we do. Among other things, our tools allow you to:

Customize your question list
Customize the design of your petition
Download real-time data on your petition
Blog about your petition
Create filters to block out duplicate signatures
And much more…

Who can host a petition

Anyone. Thanks to iPetitions, you don't have to be a big organization or a technical whiz to manage an online campaign. On the other hand, even if you are a large organization, you will still benefit from working with us. For larger organizations, we offer customized campaign-building solutions. These are total packages that can include anything from consulting services to web design and construction. If you are an organization or company and would like to know more, contact usdirectly.

Is it free

Yes. Our costs are covered by advertising and donations, so we are able to offer you these great tools totally free.

Our principles

NON-PARTISAN: iPetitions is neither left nor right, neither liberal nor conservative. We believe that all opinions deserve an equal hearing.
TOLERANCE: We will not accept any petition which discriminates on grounds of race, class, sex, ethnicity, political affiliation, or sexual orientation. We reserve the right to refuse any petition which we feel does not contribute to an open and democratic exchange of ideas.
PRIVACY: We are committed to maintaining the privacy of our petition hosts and those who sign their petitions. Click here for more information on our privacy policy.

Another Petition site to check out

2011-08-22T09:01:00.008-04:00

If you like online advocacy and are looking for new outlets for activists in support of your cause give a petition site a try. There are several to pick from and you can get started for free!

Today, let's look at The Petition Site . They boast direct connections to Facebook for all their petitions - giving you greater range and scope for your advocacy effort.

Here's an overview of the parent company Care 2 from their site:

Company Overview

Care2 is a trusted social action network that empowers millions of people to lead a healthy, sustainable lifestyle and support socially responsible causes.

Care2's content offering includes original stories, blogs and syndication partners covering a wide range of healthy lifestyle areas, and causes ranging from politics to human rights and animal welfare. By integrating relevant content with action opportunities such as petitions, pledges and daily actions, Care2 builds a deeper level of passion and engagement with its users. The Butterfly Rewards member loyalty program is a "currency for good" for Care2 members to earn points and support nonprofit projects worldwide.

Care2 users are the emerging mainstream of conscious consumers, bringing a high level of passion, engagement and influence to everything they do. The typical Care2 user is a woman who is 25-54 years old, lives with a spouse or partner, has one or more pets, volunteers for causes she believes in, buys eco-friendly products and donates to nonprofits.

Care2 is the largest and fastest growing social action network, with over 16 million members and 175% growth in unique visitors year over year. Care2 also owns and operates the #1 site for petitions, www.thepetitionsite.com, generating 24 million signatures in the past 12 months. With applications on Facebook and a network of over 100 revenue sharing partner sites, Care2's reach is to over 150 million people.

Care2 is in the top 200 sites worldwide on Quantcast traffic reporting. http://bit.ly/care2quantcast

Care2 is a profitable, privately funded company and a B-Corporation. The company's business model is focused on pay-per-action lead generation for non-profit organizations and CPM sponsorships for responsible consumer brands. As a B-Corporation or social enterprise, Care2 generates revenues by connecting individuals with nonprofits and businesses that are making the world a better place.

There are a few simple steps to get started:

It's quick, easy, & free to start a petition
Every petition created on Care2 is automatically available on Facebook
An online petition is your direct line to your Congressperson, Senator, heads of Corporate America, & even the President.
The Care2 community is passionate resulting in 68,002,580 online petition signatures.
One Care2 member got 450,000 signatures on her petition. That's huge!

Use our tools to promote your petition on Facebook and other social networks
Our embedded petition widget lets people sign your petition on any website or blog!
Our Facebook petition application lets your friends sign your petition without leaving Facebook.
Care2's seasoned campaigners may take up your cause and help promote your online petition.
Find more tips in the Activist Toolkit.

Good luck!

Petition Your Government at Change.org

2011-08-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

Looking for another way to motivate activists to contact public officials to support your cause? Try out a "petition" site like Change.org to "start a petition for change.

It's easy, quick and effective given the right support system to supplement the effort. Focus can be on politicians at any level of government. Users report action from tens-of-thousands of e-mailing activists around a diverse array of issues from liberal to conservative.

Give it a try!

Here's a description from their website:

VICTORIES

Every day, Change.org members win people-powered campaigns for social change

We believe that building momentum for social change globally means empowering citizen activists locally -- and that the influence of a local victory is always much larger than the change it immediately achieves. Using this community-driven model, Change.org members have won hundreds of campaigns and are together building a powerful movement that is rapidly spanning the globe.

Here's how we win together: Someone, somewhere, starts a petition. Change.org members spread the word over Facebook, Twitter, email, and blogs. Momentum builds as the target of the petition is flooded with messages calling for change.

With the support of Change.org's team of organizers, members then increase pressure via phone calls, in-person events, media exposure, and other grassroots tactics to drive the campaign to victory.

What Do You Love?

2011-08-09T10:00:00.005-04:00

This is a fun new way to search "The Google" and find what you love!

What Do You Love (WDYL): www.wdyl.com

For lobbying, I find it a useful way to do alternate searches on public officials, issues and competitors.

So, give it a try and find what you love!

Best Practice - Facebook Campaigns for President - Romney Style

2011-07-29T11:15:00.028-04:00

2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is using Facebook for his campaign in an interesting way. His tagline "Believe in America" is pre-designed on a downloadable sign that can be accessed from his Facebook page. Supporters are urged to write a note on the sign, take a picture with it, and submit it to the Romney campaign for possible inclusion on the site.

Download the sign here.

With over 1 million likes so far, this campaign seems to be attracting the attention of supporters from all corners of Facebook.

How can you interact with potential supporters in a fun and memorable way?

Is There an App for That? App's for Lobbying

2011-07-26T10:30:00.000-04:00

Practically everyone either has or is thinking about having an iPhone or iPad. You can actually do more with that thing than play Angry Birds -- you can use it for your lobbying and advocacy work.

Check out the iTunes App Store and do some simple searches for Congress, government, advocacy, lobbying and other related key word searches. Someone has created an App for Michigan political contributions that allows searching out anyone that has contributed to Michigan members of Congress. Another App is a directory to the Michigan legislature and includes pictures, bios and contact information.

These Apps are becoming more and more popular and are likely available for your state as well as the federal government.a

Check out Congress in Your Pocket . They have several different reference Apps available that will become necessities for you advocacy efforts. There are many competitors entering this field and most are cheap and easy to use.

Congress in Your Pocket currently covers the following units of government:

California
Chicago
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
President
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

Here's the sample of the Michigan legislature App:

Michigan in Your Pocket

Now you can have all of the members of the Michigan Legislature and their key staff right in your pocket.

MICHIGAN offers you all of the vital information you need to be an active and effective citizen.

Michigan+ ($4.99) provides you with contact, staff, campaign and biographical information. MichiganPro($9.99) keeps you updated for one full year. MichiganPro for Android and BlackBerry ($29.99) keeps you updated for one full year and adds access from any computer.
Search for the legislator you want to contact and then call, email, or post feedback to their web forms. Visiting the state capitol? Tap on any address and get directions using Google maps. Want to follow the money? Tap on campaign finance and get a list of top contributors, industries, and economic interests. Want to follow legislation? Visit the "More" section and search for the bills you want to track and see how much the each member raised for his or her most recent campaign.

The applications include bookmarks you assign, a link to the official legislature bill information system, a special tab for new members of the legislature, a link to the governor's official website, a link to theMoney In State Politics Michigan page, a link to the Detroit Free Pressmobile website, our Twitter feed and blog, polls on issues, user feedback, FAQ, and the ability to email us updates on members of the legislature.

Our goal is to maintain the most comprehensive and up-to-date data on members of the Michigan Legislature. Information in these applications is strictly maintained by our team, which is led by Lisa McGraw, who lives in Michigan. We also receive helpful updates from our users, which we check out to make sure they are correct.
INCLUDED INFORMATION

Full name

Color photo

District and political party

Title

Mailing address with link to a Google map

Official website

Telephone number

Email address or web contact form

Key staff names

Committee membership

Campaign news

Campaign finance

Campaign website

Campaign opponent and website

Most recent election results

Short biography

More are coming soon.

Now you can get back to Angry Birds!

Do you Have Influence?

2011-07-21T10:00:00.001-04:00

You think you're influencing your targets -- you're using Twitter, Facebook, blogs and YouTube. But, how do you know? One way is to sign up for Klout and watch your score rise and fall over time.

Klout Score

"The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.

True Reach is the size of your engaged audience and is based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages. Amplification Score is the likelihood that your messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments) and is on a scale of 1 to 100. Network score indicates how influential your engaged audience is and is also on a scale from 1 to 100. The Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.

We believe that influence is the ability to drive people to action -- "action" might be defined as a reply, a retweet, a comment, or a click. We perform significant testing to ensure that the average click-through rate on links shared is highly correlated with a person's Klout Score. The 25+ variables used to generate scores for each of these categories are normalized across the whole data set and run through our analytics engine. After the first pass of analytics, we apply a specific weight to each data point. We then run the factors through our machine-learning analysis and calculate the final Klout Score. The final Klout Score is a representation of how successful a person is at engaging their audience and how big of an impact their messages have on people. "

Re-Tweets on Twitter - Give Yourself Some Space!

2011-07-18T10:00:00.003-04:00

If' you're using Twitter for your advocacy efforts, it's likely that you're re-tweeting messages from your supporters and friends. I'm sure you often find the limit of 140 characters frustrating - especially in a RT situation. Here's a few tips:

1. Use a "." (period) to begin "@ replies" so your message shows up in the feed of your friends. When your Tweet begins with the "@", only the recipient can view it, so your friends are not exposed to your conversation - which may be useful to your efforts. This is a useful alternative to the "RT".

2. Increase your chance of being retweeted by limiting your message to 125 characters. Then, when someone retweets in the old style, they will have room to add their own comment and handle.

3. Shorten the retweet and preface it with "MT" or Modified Tweet. Don't change the intent of the message, but alert your followers to the updated nature of the comment.

4. Ask for a Retweet. Shameless self-promotion often truly works. Give your followers a call to action, make your tweet interesting and retweetable, and end it with "Plz RT!"

Good luck!

Use An Infographic to tell your Advocacy Story

2011-07-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a great example of an infographic being used by the Internet Innovation Alliance to promote their message of greater access to wireless broadband.

How can you tell your story through pictures?

The Twitter Townhall - New Tool Available Now!

2011-07-08T10:30:00.016-04:00

Earlier this week, the White House held an online townhall meeting via Twitter using the hashtag #AskObama and linking via their official feed @WhiteHouse connected with Twitter's new @Townhall service.

Find more here -- watch the video, check out the feed and learn more about how they did it.

This is a natural progression for politicians and Twitter. Some have tried it in the past without the special Twitter assistance with mixed results - I predict we'll see much more of this in the future as politicians and advocates use Twitter for instant crowd-sourcing. Watch this really mature in the 2012 election season!

Here's Pres. Obama Tweeting during the event:

Find the full Twitter Q & A online at WhiteHouse.gov

Have you Checked Your Google Dashboard?

2011-07-07T11:39:00.001-04:00

Props to Ari Adler for this post on TalentZoo.com regarding the usefulness of the Google Dashboard.

Here's the opening paragraph:

Google+ is quickly becoming a topic of discussion among the early adopters of social networks, but when was the last time you checked your Google Dashboard? Did you even know you have one? At the Google Dashboard, you can get a quick overview of how much Google has infiltrated your life and, more importantly, how much of that life is being shared publicly on the Web. You also can use the links and tools on the page to take care of your account settings, including your overall Google account as well as the many Google offerings you have signed up for. It's especially helpful to remind you of stuff you signed up to try out and then forgot as it joined the flotsam of Internet productivity.

Remember to check out these tools as you're monitoring the results of your social media advocacy.

Follow the author on Twitter @AriBAdler

Best Practice: Ford Motor Company Social Media Policy

2010-08-23T08:30:00.000-04:00

Ford Motor Company is leading the automotive industry with it's innovative social media approach to customer communication and marketing. Recently, they went public with their social media policy found here.

They provide excellent, common sense advice for anyone participating in social media networks - whether doing it for work, fun or advocacy!

Here's the highlights:

In brief, our guidelines for engaging on the social Web consist of the following core principles:

1.Honesty about who you are
2.Clarity that your opinions are your own
3.Respect and humility in all communication
4.Good judgment in sharing only public information – including fnancial data
5.Awareness that what you say is permanent

Words to live by!

Follow Ford Moter Company on Twitter @Ford

Twitter Lists - Track Lawmakers and Policy Influencers

2010-08-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

Twitter lists are now used for tracking friends, foes, politicians, media and any other group in which you might be interested. Check out the official "How to Use Twitter Lists" and make one of your own to track potential advocates, legislative targets, and the other side.

You can create your own list or simply follow a list already created by someone else.

For an interesting twist on the list, take a look at He, She, They Said . This is an ingenious use of the list feature to sort out influentials in Michigan politics. Created by Resch Strategies in Lansing, Michigan, this portal nicely frames lists including Michigan politicians, media and opinion leaders on Twitter. If you're not comfortable with Twitter but still want to follow the action, this is a great resource.

If Members of Congress are your target, it's pretty handy to just follow @TweetCongress and their lists:

@tweetcongress/floxee-tweetcongress
@tweetcongress/house-committee
@tweetcongress/congressional-caucuses
@tweetcongress/senate
@tweetcongress/democrats
@tweetcongress/republican
@tweetcongress/congress

List are a great source for quick monitoring of various groups in your lobbying world.

Social Media for Lobbying Firms

2010-08-18T07:00:00.003-04:00

The blog Social Media for Lawyers asks an interesting, if not basic, question. Is your law firm on Wikipedia? This is a great question for lobbyists as well. Are you listed on Wikipedia? It's a great resource for the media and client leads.

Find some great benefits, tips and best practices here

From Wikipedia:

What is Wikipedia?
Editing tutorial for Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia, written synergistically by the people who use it. It is a special type of website designed to make collaboration easy, called a wiki. Many people are constantly improving Wikipedia, making thousands of changes per hour. All of these changes are recorded in article histories and recent changes. For a more detailed account of the project, see About Wikipedia.

How you can contribute?
Don't be afraid to edit – anyone can edit almost every page, and we are encouraged to be bold! Find something that can be improved and make it better—for example, spelling, grammar, rewriting for readability, or removing non-constructive edits. If you wish to add new facts, please try to provide references so they may be verified, or suggest them on the article's discussion page. Changes to controversial topics and Wikipedia's main pages should usually be discussed first.

Remember – you can't break Wikipedia; all edits can be reversed, fixed or improved later. Wikipedia is allowed to be imperfect. So go ahead, edit an article and help make Wikipedia the best information source on the Internet!

Donate – Wikipedia is free to use, but relies on donations and grants to do so. Please consider donating using the Donate to Wikipedia link on the left to help with the projects running costs and expansion.

Better Real Time Election Coverage from Twitter

2010-08-16T07:35:00.008-04:00

I recently wrote this article for Dome Magazine about my experience on primary election night, August 2, 2010. I received quicker information about primary election results through a combination of old and new media. When television and radio news didn't have the most up-to-date results, I turned to Twitter.

Here's the beginning of the article:

Better Real-Time Election Coverage on Twitter

Guest Column
by Sarah Hubbard
August 13, 2010
Supporters of social media have been putting traditional print reporting to shame for a few years now. The first picture of the plane that landed on the Hudson came from a bystander who posted it to Twitter. Twitter’s founders realized its potential to break news early on during a major earthquake in 2007 in Mexico. Last year, the messaging service beat mainstream news organizations to report earthquakes in the UK and China.

Beyond accidents and natural disasters, people are also using Twitter to get quicker information. The first results of many primary elections last week were posted on Twitter.

They’re also more interesting, because many of the political posts on Twitter are opinion driven. Advocacy groups such as the Detroit Regional Chamber use social media to drive public opinion of issues and to rally interested individuals to contact legislators in support of preferred policies. If you’re like me, you live a significant portion of your life, both work and play, online. Using the Internet is a daily occurrence.

Many of my friends traveled the state to attend last week’s election night celebrations, but I covered the event from my couch with the TV on, live Detroit radio streaming on my computer, making frequent checks of the Secretary of State and other websites covering returns. And, of course, my Twitter account was fully engaged.

Read the entire piece here .

Best Practice: "Unshackle Upstate" Social Media Lobbying Portal

2010-08-13T07:58:00.011-04:00

One of the best uses of social media for grassroots lobbying is the effort known as "Unshackle Upstate." A group of Chambers of Commerce in upstate New York joined together around a legislative agenda for state government reform. They decided to use their limited financial resources to launch a sophisticated social media campaign in support of their position and are holding New York public officials accountable for their spending decisions.

From their website:

About Unshackle Upstate

Unshackle Upstate is a bi-partisan coalition of over 70 business and trade organizations representing upwards of 45,000 companies and employing more than 1 million people. We hail from across Upstate New York with one goal: To achieve reforms in Albany that make Upstate a stronger place to do business.

Thousands of Upstate residents have already been heard by sending an email through our website to the decision makers in Albany. Progress has been made and the coalition continues to work for more.

Make sure your voice is heard and send an email by clicking on the "Contact Albany" button. You will find a template email of support for Unshackle Upstate's reform agenda already done for you. Sending an email will only take a minute or two, and is sure to make an impact.

They area also using this as an effective method to engage interested parties in fundraising for their Political Action Committee - UPAC. Funds raised via UPAC are used to support candidates that align with the Unshackle Upstate agenda.

This is a great model for future social media lobbying campaigns that fully integrate the webs most popular free tools including Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and blogging.

CapWiz for Facebook

2010-08-11T07:46:00.010-04:00

Grassroots e-lobbying with social media is becoming more convenient.

Recently the popular e-advocacy portal CapWiz unveiled its subscription only application for Facebook.

Essentially current subscribers to the CapWiz service can (for a fee) access this new Facebook application which will embed the traditional e-mail portal for messaging public officials right into Facebook. This application could increase the reach of advocates far beyond their membership to the world of Fan pages that draw many non-members and other generally interested parties.

CapWiz is owned by CQ-RollCall Group. More information on their service can be found here.

Here's the sample screenshot from their website:

This looks like a very useful tool for those who can afford it.

Congressman Rogers (MI) Has a New Widget on Facebook

2010-08-09T07:30:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure if this is unique to my Congressman, spreading across the Members. Congressman Mike Rogers (R - Lansing, Michigan) added a tab to his Facebook page that allows his friends to activate an application that is consituent oriented and interactive.

As with all Facebook apps, I was required to grant it access to my information in order for it to embed in my page.

http://apps.facebook.com/mikerogers/

Headers include: Home, News, Tweets, Videos, Tell a Friend

He also includes an option to participate in a poll and engage with his constituent services staff. His widget can be shared on multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger and others

This could be the latest in Congressional outreach to constituents on Facebook. As a lobbyist engaging in social media for advocacy, there are many ways this kind of application could be used to influence the thinking of your Congressman or to use it as a model for dedicated advocacy efforts.

I've added the Mike Rogers widget to the right sidebar of this blog so you can see it in action.

Doctors Use Social Media for Advocacy

2010-08-05T16:37:00.000-04:00

A nice article about the use of social media for lobbying by my friends at the Michigan State Medical Society in Dome online magazine.

Here's a taste:

Internet, Social Media Helping Groups Boost Grassroots Lobbying

Doctors use latest tools to operate better in public policy arena
by Ari B. Adler
July 16, 2010

When the Michigan Legislature was considering levying a “provider tax” on physicians last year, legislators were inundated with thousands of letters and e-mails from doctors offering a second opinion.

Dr. Daniel Michael, a Royal Oak neurosurgeon and president of the Michigan State Medical Society, presses a policy point with Rep. Marc Corriveau.The successful crusade to prevent passage of the tax was led by the Michigan State Medical Society, an association long known for its lobbying efforts in the Capitol. Over the past few years, however, MSMS and other organizations have been increasing their effectiveness even more by growing a network of activists who are reaching out to legislators online as well as when they are at home in their districts.

More advocates are turning to social media for their issue and political efforts.

Analytics for Facebook Fan Pages

2010-08-05T16:25:00.001-04:00

Great article over at SocialMediaExaminer that gives you the step-by-step approach to add analytics to your favorite issue fan page.

Click here for the full article.

The more you know about your visitors, the better you can hone your message and target advocates.

Four-Square for Advocacy?

2010-03-25T18:35:00.000-04:00

The latest social media craze is known as a little program called Four-Square.

From their website:

Check-in to places

People use foursquare to "check-in", which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we'll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places - cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.

You'll find that as your friends use foursquare to check-in, you'll start learning more about the places they frequent. Not only is it a great way to meet up with nearby friends, but you'll also start to learn about their favorite spots and the new places they discover.

So, how could Four-Square be used effectively for political advocacy? Take a look at the K Street Cafe Blog for a few ideas from their contributors.

First, Amanda Phraner suggests calls to action around "check-ins." Read her piece here. Next, Alan Rosenblatt suggests the concept of a virtual flash mob via the a similar tactic. Find his take here.

Either way, the creatives out there will find a way to use this fun new platform for advocacy. I'm looking forward to the possibilities!

How Can I Protect My Turf? Know'em!

2009-09-18T09:30:00.000-04:00

KnowEm checks the availability of your brand name, user name or vanity URL on 120 popular Social Media websites. If you're planning to launch a major online lobbying campaign, you should not only protect your brand on every major site, but also secure it so competitors and enemies can't falsely represent you.

This is an easy to use website where they do all the tedious work of signing up for all these sites for only $64.95. How do they do it? By hand!

In between 1 and 5 business days, KnowEm will manually go to each of the 120 sites and enter your information - secure your user name and use the password you provide.

According to KnowEm, they:

"could have automated this system and published it a while ago but that would be a violation of the terms for the majority of these sites. We didn't want to go that route so we actually recruited a great team to complete the signups."

Once the signup is complete, your data is erased unless you want to sign up for the subscription service for new sites that are added to the list. If you forget your password, just go to the site and ask for a password reset.

I haven't tried the service myself, but it looks like a great way to save a lot of time if you're trying to protect your name across the social web as you jumpstart your advocacy campaign.

How Do Politicians Raise All That Money Online?

2009-09-17T08:58:00.002-04:00

Take a look at Slatecard a "utility to support and enhance Republican activism."

Congressman Joe Wilson has turned to Slatecard in the wake of his "You lie" outburst during President Obama's speech to Congress last week.

Slatecard has created a simple, convenient interface for online fundraising.

From Slatecard.com:

ABOUT THE UTILITY

Slatecard is a utility to support and enhance Republican activism.

"Slatecard" is Slatecard.com PAC. Slatecard.com PAC is an independent, federally registered political action committee (PAC) which acts as a "conduit" to raise money online to help Republican candidates for federal office in compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA).

It is no secret that Democrats are far ahead of Republicans in converting their online presence to offline support. One website which the Left has used effectively since 2004, is ActBlue.com (ActBlue PAC), a site which provides a tool for activists and committees to raise funds for the candidates and causes they support. In fact, millions of dollars have been raised through the site since 2004.

It is our hope that Slatecard will level the playing field for Republican candidates and causes by providing an innovative platform for use by the Right kind of activists.

Our utility is available for use by all candidates running for a Republican federal office and we hope to make this service available to state and local candidates where possible in the near future.

Using a commercial vendor to handle our transactions, we are leveraging some of the lowest available rates on the market, which means that by contributing to candidates through Slatecard.com PAC, a larger percentage of the donation will actually end up going to the candidate. Soon, we will work to integrate with PayPal to offer more options to our users.

In addition to supporting candidates via this site, Slatecard has created an opportunity to fund their own commpany through the mechanism below. Basically the donor can offer to "tip" the site providers by adding a percentage or designated amount to the contribution.

Slatecard is a platform that leverages the power of the Internet to better connect Republican candidates with grassroots activists. Slatecard is a volunteer effort, and we need your financial support to pay for bandwidth, continue our work, and improve our services for the community. Please consider supporting Slatecard with a donation today. We will continue to make you proud.

No Tip
5%
10%
Other
Other Tip Amount :
Is this tip monthly?

You can use the power of the Internet to support a candidate supporting your issue. I'll profile other portals in a later post.

Type Once, Update Many Part 2

2009-09-16T09:30:00.000-04:00

Last month I told you about the social media updater service HelloTxt . This month, let's take a look at Ping.fm

The basic premise and results are similar: Sign up for several social media sites that include status update functions and consolidate them all in one place. Type in a status update once and automatically update all of your social media outlets immediately. This is a great tool to spread the message of your advocacy effort far and wide to as many social networks as possible.

Click here for a full list of partner social media sites. They include the basics like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, Friendster and Flickr and dozens more.

Ping.fm has experienced an outage recently, but has been able to restore most of its data. As with many social media sites, the technology is still evolving and there will be hiccups. However, this service is very popular and will continue to grow.

Type once, update many!