September 6, 2012 •
Gov 2.0 Round-Up
A few good articles on social media
For those of you who may have missed some recent relevant social media articles, here are a few for you to check out!
- WeForPresident, The Social Victory Center, I Voted, Nation Builder, and Votizen are each playing their part in the election. 5 Facebook Apps That Are Shaking Up Politics.
- Twitter has been tracking your election-related tweets for months, and using that data to build the Twitter Political Index — or “Twindex” for short. Take a Tour of the Twitter Political Index.
- YouTube launched the “YouTube Elections Hub” Wednesday, providing a one-stop spot for live footage and video news coverage of the 2012 presidential election. YouTube Wants to Be Your Go-To for Election Coverage.
- Facebook has stepped up its security on brand pages, working to remove fraudulent Likes caused by spambots, malware or fake account users. Facebook Weeds Out Fake ‘Likes,’ Improves Brand Integrity.
- More than 2.5 million people have signed online petitions posted to the White House’s We the People website since its September 2011 launch. ‘We the People Nets More Than 3,000,000 Signatures.
September 5, 2012 •
Social Media on the Campaign Trail
Republicans and Democrats battle to be the most present on social media platforms
As the United States continues to follow the 2012 presidential candidates down the campaign trail, social media is playing an ever growing role in both campaigns.
During the 2008 election, the use of social media by President Obama was considered innovative and a significant contributing factor to his success. While he is still hard at work to keep his title as the most social media savvy politician (even having a 50-state Twitter campaign), Republicans are catching up.
There now seems to be an ever-present competition going on between Republicans and Democrats, each trying to get the most traffic and largest response to their continuously updated social media platforms.
Although, the Democratic National Convention is still going on, it is already very apparent that this competition has extended with full force to both parties’ respective national conventions.
According to this article provided on Mashable, social media was dominated by GOP related traffic during their convention. There were over 4 million tweets and over 2.5 million YouTube views, as well as 300,000 streaming video hours.
Not to be outdone, an app created by ABC will provide a continuous news flow this week of the Democratic National Convention, including three live streams for mobile and desktop.
An interesting consequential outcome to the rising importance of social media in political campaigns is the rising competition among social media platforms to be the most innovative and utilized source.
It will be interesting to see which party comes out as the social media winner after all the statistics are tallied up for the DNC.
August 21, 2012 •
Gov 2.0 News
Keeping up with the intersection of social media, government, and the political campaigns:
“New Online Game Puts Players in the Lawmaker’s Chair” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.
“Study Examines Influence of Social Media on Interaction Between People and their Governments” by Lisa Goldman in TechPresident.
“Federal Mobile App Provides Real-Time Economic Stats” by Brian Heaton in Government Technology.
“Republicans plan a tech-heavy convention” by Steve Friess in Politico.
“Tweets Surrounding Paul Ryan Pick May Have Violated Electioneering Rules” by Emma Dumain in Roll Call.
“Social Media and Politics: An Interview with George Scoville” by Bianca Sciotti in the Independent Voter Network.
July 18, 2012 •
Gov 2.0 News
Here is the latest news about government technology and social media:
“Wash. to unveil voter registration on Facebook” by Rachel La Corte (Associated Press) in the Seattle Times.
“How the New iPhone Will Expose Cities Lagging on Open Data” by Emily Badger in The Atlantic Cities.
“Political Ad Database Debuted by FCC” by Brian Heaton in Government Technology.
“Legislating Social Media in the States” by Dylan Scott in Governing.
July 17, 2012 •
Tuesday News Summary
Campaign finance, lobbying, ethics, and social media
Campaign Finance
Connecticut: “Vote to kill filibuster on campaign finance bill fails, despite Connecticut senators’ support” by Ana Radelat in the CT Mirror.
Florida: “Unlimited campaign contributions finding a route to Florida lawmakers” by Steve Bousquet in the Miami Herald.
Lobbying
“ALEC struggles to retain members” by Steve Terrell in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
“Tech lobbyists’ new mantra: Strength through unity” by Michelle Quinn in Politico.
Connecticut: “Lobbyists form SuperPAC to help Murphy in Senate race” by Ana Radelat in the CT Mirror.
Government Ethics
“Former top state administrator fined for conflicts of interest” by Jennifer Gollan in the Bay Citizen.
Gov 2.0
“Despite Cuomo’s Vow of Sunlight, a Bid to Keep Aides’ E-Mail in the Dark” by Thomas Kaplan in The New York Times.
“What Social Media Do Government Officials Use Most?” by Matt Williams in Government Technology.
July 13, 2012 •
Code for America Q & A
Today at 3 p.m. EDT!
Code for America is a favorite topic of mine. In what they are calling a new public service, the organization gathers great talent to write apps to solve problems in our cities and make government run better. Brilliant!
Well, at 3 p.m. this afternoon Code for America is holding a question and answer session. Don’t miss the chance to ask Code for America founder Jennifer Pahlka about how to get your city involved, or how existing apps are already helping people around the nation.
According to their announcement:
“Considering applying for 2013 fellowship? Wondering about an app built this year? Or maybe you want to know why she founded Code for America? Or which of her eight chickens is her favorite?”
Kudos to Code for America!
July 5, 2012 •
Online Disclosure for Political Ads on TV
and other government social media and technology news
“White House Orders Political Ad Info To Be Posted Online” by Seth Cline in U.S. News and World Report.
Here is the order published by the Federal Register: “Standardized and Enhanced Disclosure Requirements for Television Broadcast Licensee Public Interest Obligations; Extension of the Filing Requirement for Children’s Television Programming Report (FCC Form 398)”
“How hackers can code a better America” by Luke Fretwell in Govfresh.
“Civic kickstart: Citizinvestor wants to help your local project get funded” by Luke Fretwell in Govfresh.
“Agencies should publish lists of all their data, group says” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.
Indiana: “Twitter town hall meeting taxes lawmaker’s ability to be concise” by Eric Bradner in the Evansville Courier & Press.
New Jersey: “Chris Christie, YouTube star?” by Caitlin McDevitt in Politico.
July 2, 2012 •
Social Media and the 2012 Campaigns
Plus an open government tech article in the news today:
“Starbucks CEO Launches Social Media ‘Indivisible’ Campaign”in the International Digital Times.
“2012: The Social Media Election? (Opinion)” by Steve Towns in Government Technology.
“Nearly Half of Young Adults Participate Politically Online, New Survey Finds” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.
“Digital Political Candidates Driven by Technology” by Jessica Meyer Maria in Government Technology.
“High-Tech Campaigns Face New Security Risks” by Adam Stone in Government Technology.
“Watchdog points to FOIA.gov improvements” by Eric Katz in Government Executive.
June 29, 2012 •
Government and Campaigns Technology News Update
We are always following news about the interplay between government, political campaigns, social media, and technology:
“David All Shares Ideas on Emerging Trends for Campaigns and Elections” by Matt Williams and Matt Pittman in Government Technology.
“Apps Challenge Aims to Improve Detroit Through Technology” by Brian Peteritas in Governing.
“How 3 Startups Are Improving Urban Life Through Tech” by Jennifer Diamond in Mashable.
“States, Cities Use Social Networks to Test Open Records Laws and Transparency Goals” by Dylan Scott in Governing.
“Reps. Delete Tweets Celebrating Overturning of Affordable Care Act” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.
“Heavy Twitter Traffic for Scotus Ruling” by Rubina Madan Fillion and Brian Aguilar in The Wall Street Journal.
June 12, 2012 •
Are Facebook Political Ads Showing up Illegally in North Dakota?
And more of the latest news about political and government technology and social media:
North Dakota: “Facebook advertisements for candidates pop up on election day” by Jenny Michael in the Bismarck Tribune.
“How Microsoft and Yahoo are selling politicians access to you” by Lois Beckett (ProPublica) on MNPolitics.net.
“US elections 2012: top 50 Twitter accounts to follow” by Richard Adams in The Guardian.
“LinkedIn: The Preferred Social Network of Government?” by Sarah Rich in Government Technology.
“How Political Donations by Text Message Might Work” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.
May 16, 2012 •
Speaker.gov is Back and More Gov 2.0 News
We are always intrigued by the interplay between government, political campaigns, social media, and technology.
“House Republicans Relaunch Speaker.gov” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.
Having a good social media policy in place is crucial: “Think before You Tweet” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.
Social-media style journalism and the Obama campaign: “We’re All Journalists, Indeed: Obama Campaign Guests Checked Mobile Phones at the Door” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.
Do-it-youself ROI for government websites: “Free Tool Gauges Website Engagement Effectiveness” by Brian Heaton in Government Technology.
May 4, 2012 •
Friday Government Tech News
Let’s wind up the week with the latest news about government technology and social media:
“How House Oversight Conquered YouTube and What It Means”by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.
“Is Procurement Killing Innovation?” by Steve Towns in Government Technology.
“Twitter #Hashtags a #DoubleEdgedSword for #Obama, #Romney Campaigns” by Ray Suarez on PBS NewsHour.
“No Credible Proof that Twitter Can Predict Elections, Researcher Finds” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.
May 1, 2012 •
Oklahoma Gets a New Official State Web Site
A new look and more transparency.
The state of Oklahoma has just announced the debut of its new web portal, OK.gov. The site sports a new look and promises to offer a wealth of searchable datasets on Data.OK.gov. For instance, you can view state expenditures and vendor payments by quarter.
According to their site: “Data.OK.gov strives to make Oklahoma government more transparent through an unprecedented level of openness in Oklahoma government. By publishing raw datasets in different formats, you can look up statistics, build applications, conduct analysis and perform research. Data.OK.gov allows for a simple way to gather Oklahoma government data about the economy, public health, transportation, environment, and more on one website. Centralized access to this data saves you from having to visit multiple websites.”
Perhaps you don’t find the information you need on OK.gov? The state invites you to send your feedback and let them know what data you would like to see included.
Here is the press release for the new site.
April 30, 2012 •
Today’s News Roundup
Keep up with the latest campaign finance, ethics, and government tech news:
Campaign Finance
“FCC’s political ad rule disappoints supporters and foes alike” by Andrew Feinberg in The Hill.
“The FCC Makes Campaign Finance (a Bit) More Transparent” by Kirsten Salyer in Bloomberg.
“FCC Approves Political Ad Rule” by Amy Schatz in The Wall Street Journal.
Ethics
“Former State Senator Is Sentenced to 7 Years in Vast Bribery Case” by Benjamin Weiser in The New York Times.
“Illinois Gov. Ryan’s Corruption Appeal Sent Back to Lower Court” by The Associated Press in Governing.
“Aaron Schock hit with FEC complaint” by John Bresnahan in Politico.
Campaign and Government Tech
“With the 2012 Election Looming, NRCC Names a New Digital Director” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.
“Philadelphia Embraces The World Of Open Data” by Sarah Lai Stirland in TechPresident.
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