Facebook and Google are getting more involved in the political process.

The New York Times reports that Facebook has created a PAC called “FB PAC” so they and their employees can direct money toward the candidates they like.

Google also turned up in the news as they are now making political contributions to Republican groups such as the Republican Governors Association and the Republican State Leadership Committee. This shift makes their involvement appear to be more bipartisan.

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President Obama will be holding a town hall on LinkedIn called “Putting America Back to Work 2011” today at 2:00 pm ET. You can watch the live feed on the LinkedIn site or on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Send your questions in now at this LinkedIn page.

Politico today reports that Twitter will be offering the opportunity for political campaigns to run ads on it social network.

The article, “Twitter to launch political advertising” by Ben Smith, says Twitter has had five years of observing online behavior. Like Google with its ads, Twitter wishes to cash in on what should be a great money-maker.

As for the issue of disclosure, Smith spoke with Twitter’s government liaison Adam Sharp, who said disclosure statements probably are not legally necessary for their ads. But Twitter will offer the ability to show “paid for by” information via a mouse-over on the paid Tweet.

It will be interesting to see if any regulation springs from this new development.

Here is an interesting article on Law Technology News (Law.com) that surveys the landscape of government agencies and their use of Twitter.

You’ll find the Twitter handles of many government agencies and more than a dozen examples of government tweets.

The article is called “Your Government, on Twitter” by Jesse Londin.

GovTech.com has published an interesting read about the relationship between technology and the elections industry.

The article, “Perspective: 5 Tech Trends in the Elections Industry“by Nicole Ciotti, lists trends to expect in the upcoming elections. Mobile phone optimized websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms will be prominent in voter outreach and in educating the public prior to the elections. Those tools will be an advantage in offering news and updates during and after the elections as well.

Photo of the vote sign by Tom Arthur on Wikipedia.

For those of you who may have missed some of today’s relevant social media articles, here are a few for you to check out!

• House lawmakers have returned from the August recess resolved to fight the nation’s cyber adversaries with a flurry of new legislative proposals aiming to boost security of public and private networks and infrastructure.  Cybersecurity is the Focus of New Bills
• Nearly a quarter of federal executive-branch websites are unreachable and only about a third use a modern content management system like Drupal or WordPress. Analysis Based on Open Data Finds Many Federal Websites Are Behind the Times
• Press Secretary Jay Carney, who rarely uses Twitter, will answer questions in person at the White House Friday from a group of @WhiteHouse followers who have applied to attend through a web form.  The White House’s Latest Tweetup Host Hardly Ever Tweets
• Code for America is sending programmers and other technologists to spend a year in city halls in Philadelphia, Penn., Macon, Ga., and Detroit, Mich. Code for America Will Send Geeks for a Year of Service in Philly, Detroit, and Macon

Enjoy!

Elliot Volkman has written a piece, “Contractors Use Webinars, Social Media To Extend Their Voices,” on GovWin.com’s blog. He discusses the benefits and limitations government contractors may face when using social media for their communications strategies.

Aside from discussing how to make the most out of using Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, Volkman also gives advice on hosting webinars and how they can fit in with the use of social media.

For those of you who may have missed some of today’s relevant social media articles, here’s a few for you to check out!

• A platform called Change By Us allows anyone from a city agency, not-for-profit, business, community-based organization, block association, and just normal citizens to start a project to improve his or her city. ‘Change by Us’ Connects Citizens to Government
• You can post and vote for questions that will be asked at the GOP debate that will be held in Orlando, Florida on Sept. 22. GOP Candidates to Face User-Submitted Questions in Google/FOX News Debate
• While government apps have starting to appear everywhere, if they are not updated regularly, they become useless and misleading. Agency apps must be regularly updated or face obsolescence
• The White House will soon be launching a tool that will allow the public to float a petition to the executive branch that becomes “searchable” once it accumulates at least 150 electronic signatures, and the White House will issue an official response if it gets 5,000 signatures. With ‘We The People,’ White House Promises to Go E-to-the-People

Enjoy!

Another example of mock Twitter accounts similar to the ones discussed in yesterday’s blog post popped up today.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a strategist for Mitt Romney and Senator Scott Brown, admitted in an email to the Boston Globe that he was the one responsible for the mock Twitter account @CrazyKhazei which produces satirical tweets at the expense of Brown’s 2012 opponent, Alan Khazei.

An example of a tweet posted on this Twitter account read:

Hiring my brother at my charity was not a conflict of interest. It was an act of kindness.

Unlike many political figures who have been targeted by fake Twitter profiles and don’t seem to be especially bothered by the account, the Khazei campaign reacted angrily to the allegations, calling on Brown to denounce the tactics, close the Twitter account, and apologize.

Read more about this in the article posted by TheHill, “Brown adviser admits to running Twitter account mocking Democratic opponent“.

For those of you who may have missed some of today’s relevant social media articles, here’s a few for you to check out!

• The Environmental Protection Agency is challenging the public to help develop apps that utilize EPA data in unique ways in their Apps for the Environment challenge, with a deadline of September 16th. EPA App Challenge Article
• The Government Business Council is looking for input from the public concerning mobile phone apps and how they could be used in the federal government and corresponding agencies. Mobile apps are changing government: Tell us how
• Are you social media savvy? The Obama re-election campaign is hiring “social media copywriters”. Obama Campaign Seeking Social Media Staffers
• A former advisor for President Obama suggested that the real key to open government is for governments to compete for openness. Using Technology to Open Government Should Be a Competition

I hope you find these interesting. Enjoy!

According to an article on the LasVegasSun, mock Twitter accounts are being created for the sole purpose of impersonating political figures. Some creators are looking to entertain, while others have a more ambitious goal of influencing the outcome of an election.

One prominent example @BPGlobalPR, a satirical mock account that was created soon after the BP oil spill, has accumulated thousands more followers than the actual BP Corporate Twitter page.

Many political figures in Nevada such as U.S. Rep. Dina Titus and Republican congressional candidate Mark Amodei have also been victims of less prominent mock Twitter accounts that focus on topics such as Rep. Dina’s accent and Amodei being lazy.

Most targeted politicians don’t seem too bothered by their Twitter alter-egos, but Tracy Viselli, a social media expert advises that if these alter-egos accumulate more followers than the candidate’s offical page to consider possibly acknowledging and engaging the impersonator, but do so carefully.

Read the full article by Anjeanette Damon, “Fake Twitter accounts force their way onto political landscape“.

Social media has become such a huge part of our culture that terms such as “retweet” and “cyberbullying” have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

According to a blog post by Oxford Dictionaries , every quarter they update the current English dictionary in Oxford Dictionaries Online with new words and meanings that have made it into common usage. With over 750 million Facebook users and over 200 million Twitter members, its no surprise that such social media specific terms are considered relevant to every day conversation.

As defined by the OED, a retweet is:

Pronunciation:/riːˈtwiːt/

verb [with object]: (on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by another user)

noun: a reposted or forwarded message on Twitter

“Retweet” is not the first nor likely the last social media term to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

For the latest information on campaign finance requirements in Michigan, the state’s Bureau of Elections now has a Twitter account to keep you informed. The Twitter feed will include information about reporting deadlines, electronic filing updates, and announcements regarding training sessions. You can follow the Twitter account at @MichCFR.

According to a Michigan Department of State press release, “Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced today that the Bureau of Elections is launching a Twitter account to alert candidates, committees and those interested in campaign finance of reports detailing campaign contributions and expenditures.”

For another way to receive the latest information, the release also mentions that the Secretary of State also has a Facebook presence.

While the federal government has launched over 70 mobile apps of its own, many new developments in government apps have been made by the states.

Arkansas, for example, created an app that allows the families and friends of  incarcerated individuals to make secure payments into the inmates’ accounts, as well as creating an app that allows hunters to register deer and turkeys they have killed.

Many other states such as Indiana, Minnesota, and New York have released a variety of useful apps for services ranging from school bus inspections to lake safety. 

Read “Mobile Apps are Reshaping Government Services and Operations” by Joseph Marks on NextGov.com which addresses these state government apps in more depth.