POLITICO Playbook
Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels, POLITICO, 5/20/22
OUT AND ABOUT — At his latest gathering of bipartisan politicos and media figures, Michael Hardaway invited people who worked for presidents on both sides of the aisle and asked them each to share an anecdote from a former boss. SPOTTED at the dinner at the Palm: Jalina Porter, Kamau Marshall, David Almacy, Darren Peters, Eva McKend, Cameron Trimble, Robert Primus and Juliegrace Brufke.

Pioneers of Podcasting
Newsy, 11/30/21
Former White House Internet Director David Almacy joined Dave Briggs for a “Pioneers in Podcasting” segment on Newsy to discuss the history of the first White House podcast during President George W. Bush’s Administration and the potential future growth of the broadcasting medium.

Press Pool with Julie Mason
SiriusXM, POTUS Ch.124, 7/14/20
David Almacy, who served as the White House Internet Director for President George W. Bush, discussed the launch of “43 Alumni for Biden.”

Notre Dame fire witness: ‘The smoke turned orange, then green, then dark black’
Samuel Chamberlain, Fox News, 4/15/19
David Almacy, a former White House Internet director under George W. Bush, told Fox News that he, his wife, and two daughters had finished a tour of the smaller Saint-Chappelle chapel, not far from Notre Dame, and decided to walk over to the cathedral at around 6:30 p.m. local time.

“As we were walking over that way, we started to smell smoke and I think it was my younger daughter who looked up and said, ‘What’s that?'” Almacy said. “Initially, it [the smoke] looked like it was coming from behind the building.”

“We thought, ‘We’ll come back tomorrow,'” said Almacy, who arrived back to Notre Dame with his family shortly after the cathedral’s 6:45 p.m. closing time and first noticed smoke from the blaze at approximately 6:50 p.m.

The situation became more serious at around 7:30 p.m. when Almacy described seeing “flames shooting out” of the building as “the smoke turned orange, then green, then dark black.”

“We didn’t know, was it an attack? Was it an accident?” He said. “We decided to move away and let the first responders and law enforcement do their work. Plus, we were having trouble breathing, our lungs were starting to hurt a little bit.”

As they walked, the Almacys passed hundreds of bystanders who had gathered to watch the horror from the bridges across the Seine River. They did not see Notre Dame’s centuries-old roof collapse in the gathering darkness.

“This building took 200 years to build and it was destroyed by fire in less than two hours,” Almacy said Monday evening. “It’s a reminder to not take the things that we have for granted.”

The Big Picture with Olivier Knox
SiriusXM, POTUS Ch.124, 12/10/18
Former White House staffer David Almacy explains George W. Bush’s role in bringing social media into presidential politics.

On Campus: Widener tours White House
The Delaware County Daily Times, 3/4/18
As part of a shared political engagement and sustainability trip, Widener University students and faculty went on a private tour of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 15. The tour of the East Wing was led by David Almacy, a member of the Widener Communication Studies Advisory Board and a 1992 graduate who served under former President George W. Bush as the White House Internet and e-communications director.

Widener students tour the White House Widener students tour the White House

Bush Comm Director: “Media Matters”
Emily Pride, Western Kentucky University, 12/2/17
Almacy, who served as White House e-communications director under President George W. Bush, said he believes the relationship between the White House and the Press is key to ensuring the safety and security of the country. The media has the power to shape the actions of our government and to shape the narrative of what is going on in our country. His work in the Bush administration centered on bringing the White House into the digital era to partner with the continuation of traditional media strategy. Almacy spoke with the Fleischaker/Greene Scholars during their trip to Washington, D.C., in October about the how the evolution of technology affected public communication from the White House and its relationship with the press.

“There’s no question that the introduction of new devices combined with the rise of social media and ubiquitous access to the Internet makes it easier than ever for users to voice their opinion or capture and share content on the fly. Social media use in digital marketing both for consumers and voters will only increase in the coming years. However, mainstream media still continues to play an important role in shaping the conversation through various outlets including television, radio, print and online news coverage.”

“With a strong team and a clear vision for President Bush’s digital operation, both day-to-day and long term, we were able to achieve some pretty amazing things during my tenure and set the precedent for future administrations. We were fortunate to have such a great team, specifically in the Office of Media Affairs and the technical, creative, and web development staff in the Office of Administration who supported WhiteHouse.gov.”

“The opportunity to walk through those gates every day to serve the the American people was an honor and a privilege. Every day was unique, both challenging and rewarding all at the same time.”

Boston Free Speech Rally and Protest
Elizabeth Prann, Fox News, 8/19/17
Panel discussion during live coverage of the free speech rally and protest in Boston with Robert Patillo and Fox News ANHQ host Elizabeth Prann.

Part 1: What impact will Boston protests have on politics?

Part 2: Turning demonstrations into legislation, action

POLITICO Playbook Power Briefing
Daniel Lippman, POLITICO, 6/22/17
OUT AND ABOUT — Bush-Cheney alums gathered at The Ritz-Carlton for a “Portraits of Courage” book signing last night with the former president. ($21.18 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2rZjbRv). Bush ribbed Josh Bolten, his final chief of staff, saying he “thought I was a cultural cretin and wouldn’t know who Bono was when I first met him.” Bush called Steve Hadley “the best NSA ever, don’t tell Condi.” He said he hoped PEPFAR would get funded, and spoke about the work he’s doing in Africa. Bush said spending money to teach democracy “is out of fashion now” but you have to give them a way to get freedom.

Asked why he isn’t speaking out against this or any president, Bush said he is “muted” because actions speak louder than words. He specifically noted his democracy fund. Bush said it is impossible to garner press coverage unless you criticize the current president. He ended by urging the crowd to not take themselves too seriously, and closed with “keep laughing and thank you for serving.” Pics from last night’s Bush-related events http://bit.ly/2sZeIh4 … http://bit.ly/2sZeXIP … http://bit.ly/2sZnLhG … http://bit.ly/2sZq5pe

SPOTTED: Josh Bolten, Steve Hadley, Joel Kaplan, Brian McCormack, Marilyn Baker, Becky Relic, Sara Fagen, Ashley and Garrett Marquis, Jeanne Phillips, former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, Chris Frech, Holly Kuzmich, Tracy Schmitt, Tony Fratto, Jeanie Mamo, Matthew Downer, Amber Downer, Stuart Siciliano, Andrew Olivastro, Valerie Boyd, Andrea Wuebker, Nate Bailey, David McFadden, ER Anderson, Emily Miller, Judy Pino, Brian Jones, Christie Parell, Col. Mark Tillman, Eryn Witcher, Rob and Tonya Klause, David and Julie Almacy, Scott and Mary Sforza, Dan Ronayne.

POLITICO Playbook
Daniel Lippman, POLITICO, 3/15/17
–THE WHITE HOUSE has launched a daily email newsletter called “Your 1600 Daily” that they’re sending to people who subscribe through Whitehouse.gov. The email has sections like “White House Memo,” “Get Involved,” “From President Trump” (embedded tweets), “Oval Office Highlights,” “White House Updates,” “Press Room,” “President Trump’s Schedule” and “News Reports.” See yesterday’s email http://politi.co/2mHQPFv (h/t former Bush White House internet director David Almacy)

5 Questions With David Almacy
Chief Digital Officer, 3/13/17
David Almacy is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches digital communications strategy and social media classes. He was recently featured as a panelist at our dinner event in March in Washington D.C.

Trump’s Welcome at CPAC
Bill Gallo, VOA News, National Harbor, Oxon Hill, MD, 2/24/17
It’s still too early to tell whether the conservative movement has fully embraced Trump, says GOP strategist David Almacy. “There are a lot of different viewpoints and a lot of different people within that movement, some of which may be 100% on board with Trump and some of which may not. So, it’s a little bit difficult to paint with a broad brush.”

Trump needs time to make whitehouse.gov great again
Darren Samuelsohn, POLITICO, 1/19/17
For Trump, the White House website offers yet another powerful platform to get his ideas out. Former West Wing digital staffers explained, for example, that content written up on the official page often skyrocketed to the top of Google searches, giving the administration a relatively inexpensive way to amplify its policy and political message at key moments in a debate. “You have that advantage as president,” said David Almacy, former internet and e-communications director of the George W. Bush White House.

POLITICO Playbook
Daniel Lippman, POLITICO, 12/7/16
SPOTTED at last night’s Bush-Cheney reunion party at the Edison Electric Institute: VP Dick Cheney, Brian McCormack (who joked that he was recommending Cheney for Sec of State), Geoff Morrell, Alex Conant, Dan Ronayne, Patrick Royal, Jeanie Mamo, Christin Baker, Luke Frans, Stephen McMillin, Rob Saliterman, David Almacy, Christie Parell, Karl Anderson, Kate Klunk, Elizabeth Sullivan, Dan Bartlett, Brian Danza, Jonathan Felts, Molly Flanagan, Brian Bartlett, Fritz Brogan, Rich Ward, Joey Smith, Vinh Nguyen, Ari Fleischer, Brad Blakeman, Geoff Smith, Miles Taylor, Kimberlee Hewitt, Bill Briggs, Otto Heck.

POLITICO Playbook Plus
Daniel Lippman, POLITICO, 11/25/16
Birthday of the Day Q&A with David Almacy, an Edelman and Bush WH alum now a PR/digital strategist

Trump triumphs: Election 2016 lessons for PR pros
Rob Pasquinucci, Cincinnati PRSA, 11/16/16
My friend Dave Almacy’s (former) D.C.-based digital agency put together a scorecard on the candidates’ social following. Not surprising, Trump’s numbers on Twitter and Facebook are the highest.

Election tech: Lies, damned lies, and statistics
Dan Patterson, TechRepublic, 11/11/16
“The election speaks to the power of brand loyalty. Once you bought into Donald Trump, you were unlikely to be moved. Maybe we didn’t fully understand the sentiment of how voters felt. The race was so divided that if anyone said anything positive about either candidate they were attacked [on social media]. Those who were fully onboard with a campaign were not shy, but many went quiet and stopped participating. Data can’t predict silence.” – David Almacy, former White House Internet Director for the George W. Bush administration

France 24
Election Night Coverage, Washington, DC, 11/8/16

Trump, Clinton Campaigns in Final Days Amid Voter Discontent
Wayne Lee, Voice of America, 11/4/16
David Almacy, a former White House staffer for former Republican President George W. Bush, told VOA the candidates still have some convincing to do in the waning days of the presidential campaign. “I don’t think anyone’s minds are going to be changed between now and then for those who have decided they’re voting on issues or political parties. I think for the undecideds in the middle, the challenge is determining between two unpopular candidates which one will actually be the better president.” Because of the strong divisiveness between Trump and Clinton, Almacy said the segment of the electorate who has remained silent about their political preferences are an untapped source of support for whomever can win them over. Nevertheless, Almacy added: “I do think there is going to be a percentage of those who may not choose to vote because of their distaste for what we’ve seen over the past two years.”

Podcast: GOP Strategists Talk Trump and the Future of the Party
Aarti Shah, The Holmes Report, 11/3/16
The latest Echo Chamber episode explores the highly-unusual rhetoric around the US presidential election, especially from the Republican nominee Donald Trump. Aarti Shah talks to two GOP strategists — Tucker Bounds and David Almacy — about Trump’s communications strategy and what Trump’s divisive rhetoric ultimately means for the future of the Republican party and how the GOP can rebuild its standing with groups that are largely eschewing Trump.

123 Republican Leaders Urge RNC to Cut Off Funding to Trump
Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone, 8/16/16
“We believe that Donald Trump’s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide”

How Did Trump Get Here?
Chris Hannas, Elizabeth Cherneff, Voice of America, 7/21/16
David Almacy, a partner at the digital firm Engage who served as internet director under former President George W. Bush, said in the early stages Trump was not seen as being able to govern effectively. “He was probably not perceived as being someone who could be taken seriously in the beginning, because I think many felt that he was doing it for publicity or maybe just to further his own name and his brand,” Almacy told VOA.

The Election Scorecard: How big data, big money, and social media equal electoral victory
Dan Patterson, TechRepublic, 7/19/16
Engage partner David Almacy said tracking money is essential. “Fundraising—money—is a key performance indicator for electoral success. Money pays for necessary things like staff, advertising, and consultants,” he said in a recent interview. “Money pays for structure, and structure helps campaigns [win elections].”

Platforms Spell Out What Political Parties Stand For
Elizabeth Cherneff, Voice of America, 7/19/16
“It is the hope that every voter before they step into the booth is informed about the issues and the candidates and where they stand on the specific issues before they actually vote,” said David Almacy, a partner at the digital firm Engage who served as internet director under former President George W. Bush.

FamousDC Friday Round-Up
#FAMOUSFORDC, 7/8/16

FamousDC Friday Round-Up
#FAMOUSFORDC, 4/29/16

Why Republicans at ad agencies keep a low profile
Shareen Pathak, Digiday, 3/16/16
Of course, there are Republican agencies out there, and they tend to do political work for the GOP or its candidates. For David Almacy, a John Kasich campaign adviser and principal at Engage, a political ad agency that heavily leans right, being a Republican is nothing to hide. The firm employs folks who also lean Democrat, he said. “D.C. is different,” Almacy said. “We are the political establishment. And as an agency in Washington, you want people on both sides of the aisle because you usually need them for key issues.”

Almacy, who used to be President George W. Bush’s Internet director, said he can see why most GOP supporters in agency-land won’t want to speak up, however. “If you have someplace whose CEO is a vocal Clinton supporter, you’re not going to say anything,” said Almacy. “But here, some of my best friends are Democrats.”

Region States Its Case for Expanded Rail
George O’Brien, BusinessWest, 2/23/16
David Almacy was in a really good mood. And why not? Ohio Gov. John Kasich, for whom he was doing volunteer work leading up to, and then the day of, the New Hampshire primary, finished second in that closely watched contest, surprising pundits and energizing his candidacy while doing so. “A definitive second,” offered Almacy, putting heavy stress on that adjective as he typed correspondences on his laptop while riding Amtrak’s Vermonter back to his home in Alexandria, Va. the day after the Granite State voted.

Almacy, a principal with Alexandria-based Engage, a Republican digital-strategy company, has mixed politics with technology for some time now — he was White House Internet director for George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007— and regularly takes the train north out of Washington, D.C. Area officials want to attract riders who will get on and off in this region.

“I like the comfort. It’s a nice ride; I can be online and do my work, and you don’t have to worry about falling asleep at the wheel,” he joked, adding that he usually doesn’t get past Philadelphia or New York, cities where he has many clients. But his service to Kasich — “we were part of the ground game, going door to door, making phone calls, town halls, you name it” — took him to the northern stretches of the Vermonter and, for these particular remarks, the stretch between Springfield and Greenfield.

Why Presidential Hopefuls Are Relying on Endorsements From Social Celebrities: Lena Dunham, Phil Robertson and others are picking sides
Lauren Johnson, AdWeek, 1/24/16
Of course, nobody knows whether any of this will translate into actual votes. And while the campaigns would obviously disagree, there are those who contend that this unprecedented focus on celebrity contributes to the general dumbing down of political discourse in this country. “It’s always been difficult for younger folks [to understand political issues], but now you layer the social media snark and entertainment on top of it and I wonder if the seriousness of the debate is lost,” explains David Almacy, partner at Engage, a digital firm that works with Republican candidates.

POLITICO Playbook
Mike Allen, POLITICO, 7/15/15
BUSH ALUMNI – DAVID ALMACY to Engage as partner — Nick Schaper: “David brings … experience … from the White House and Congress to C-SPAN, and most recently as senior vice president at Edelman Public Relations.” http://bit.ly/1CzofvH

Hillary Clinton vs. the record-keepers
Nancy Scola, Yahoo News, 3/23/15
Being more email-adjacent than email-dependent isn’t all that unusual for high-ranking officials. David Almacy was the Internet director for the George W. Bush White House from 2005 to 2007. Bush swore off email when he took office. But Almacy remembers that he’d sometimes get internal emails saying “Some people over here were wondering…,” knowing that some people and over here meant the president of the United States, sitting in the Oval Office. … Today, knowing that all executive branch emails might one day be housed in a searchable, online archive raises concerns about whether such a practice would have a chilling effect on internal debate. David Almacy, the Bush-era White House Internet director, says that the prospect of being read by future audiences was always in the back of his mind.

Digital Politics Radio: Archiving Digital Breadcrumbs
Karen Jagoda, E-Voter Institute, 3/19/15
Guest: David Almacy, former White House Internet and E-Communications Director for President George W. Bush.
How the web has changed since 2005, expectations for archiving government data, use of multiple devices, and challenges for elected officials in the age of social media.

Top Political Digital Free Agents You Should Know
FamousDC, 03/10/15
Super Wild Card – David Almacy
David is part of the reason many on this list have a job in digital communications. David led up the digital efforts for George W. Bush and has helped shape digital policy for years from his desk at Edelman. Will he make the leap to a presidential campaign? It’s a long shot, hence his super wildcard status, but any campaign would be lucky to have him playing a senior advisory role.

POLITICO Playbook
Mike Allen, POLITICO, 12/06/14
BUSH-CHENEY ALUMNI HOLIDAY PARTY gets surprise visit by Dick and Lynne Cheney. The V.P. thanked several hundred attendees for their service, and for standing with President Bush throughout his administration. The group was charged up with the recent electoral successes of former colleagues including Sen.-elect Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Pennsylvania State Rep.-elect Kate Klunk, who attended. –SPOTTED: Ari Fleisher, Joe Hagin, Karen Keller, Julie Cram, Brian McCormack, Trevor Francis, Claire Buchan Parker, Christin Baker, Sara Armstrong, Sean and Rebecca Spicer, Stuart and Ali Siciliano, Corinne and Tom Hoare, Sara Sendek, Scott Sendek, David Almacy, Tory McGuire, Otto Heck, James Davis, Kelly Lugar, Lindely Kratovil, Tom Kuhn, Caroline Swann, Nat Wienecke, and Justine Sterling of the Bush Library

Moving tech to right of political spectrum
Joe Garofoli, SFGate, Hearst Communications, 04/08/14
“But other digital strategists warn that this outreach has to be more than translating tech-speak or playing with the latest digital tools. “You can have the best tools, but if the candidate isn’t any good, then it really doesn’t matter,” said David Almacy, former White House Internet and digital communications director for President George W. Bush. Another challenge, according to Almacy: Campaigns must have their digital presence ready to go within just weeks. To address that, the GOP is trying to identify and vet a number of digital consultants who can help with campaigns in the next couple of years.”

Panelists: Hill’s Got a Ways to Go on Understanding Tech Tools, Policy
Alex Byers, Erin Mershon, Brooks Boliek and Jessica Meyers, Politico Morning Tech, 03/14/14
Lawmakers may have improved their technological prowess but they have a long way to go before Congress can consider itself tech literate, industry representatives and policy experts emphasized last night at a roundtable hosted by the Internet Association and Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Mieke Eoyang, a former staffer for Silicon Valley Rep. Anna Eshoo who’s now with Third Way, said government often fails to reach out to the region about key tech issues. Even as lawmakers jump on Twitter and Facebook, said David Almacy, the White House Internet Director under George W. Bush, Congress still ‘makes the mistake just to push a message but not use these tools to have a conversation.’ And Chris Massey of the popular ride-sharing service Lyft, warned hearings where ‘we’re talking about advancing sharing concepts and members are still talking about Craigslist…will affect legislation going forward.’

Obama’s #GetCovered Photo Faces Epic Twitter Vandalism
Dusten Carlson, Social News Daily, 12/12/13
Oh, want to see something really horrifying?

WPHT Talk Radio 1210 with host Rich Zeoli
CBS Philly, Washington DC studio, 10/30/13

Bush Alumni Turn Out for Photographer
Byron Tau & Anna Palmer, Politico Influence, 05/23/13
Bush administration alumni turned out in force for an Eric Draper — the president’s White House photographer — book event at Edelman’s Washington office. His book, called “Front Row Seat,” chronicles the eight years of the George W. Bush presidency. In the crowd: Anita McBride, Ed Gillespie, Tony Fratto, former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Dan Price, former Ambassador Susan Schwab and Claire Buchan. David Almacy, Brad Blakeman, Scott Sforza, Rebecca Spicer, Sean Spicer, Julie Goon, Mary Diamond Stirewalt, Jonathan Felts, Chuck DeFeo, Jen Lisaius, Ken Lisaius and Sara Armstrong were also at the event.

Digital Politics Radio: Persuasion, Mobilization & Voter Turnout
Karen Jagoda, E-Voter Institute, 11/28/12

PART I

    • :

Persuasion and Mobilization

    • Technology keeps changing but it has always been about people talking to others and sharing opinions, mobile devices changing decision process on purchases, taking advantage of that moment of inquiry online, targeting messages on tv and online, who is persuadable online, and the rise of dual screen usage.

PART II: Rise of Social Media and Dual Screen Usage
Presidential web activities from Clinton to Bush to Obama, Twitter growth in 2012, crowd-sourcing to track election results, value of engaging voters on social nets with examples from Obama/Biden and Romney/Ryan campaigns, and different measures of success on social media.

Will social media influence presidential elections?
By Jon Schmid, San Diego Source | The Daily Transcript, 10/24/12
Regarding Twitter @gov charts measuring Tweets per Minute (TPM) during the 2012 presidential & vice presidential debates: “There’s no breakdown on sentiment. It’s just measuring quantity,” said David Almacy, senior vice president, digital strategies, Edelman PR, and former White House Internet and e-communications director under former President George W. Bush.

Social Media & The Presidential Election
By Andrew Meranus, PR Newswire, 10/17/12
Regardless of one’s political affiliation or interest in political discourse, it is virtually impossible to not be aware of how social media is playing a role in politics and driving forward the messages in the upcoming presidential election. For the first time in a presidential campaign, Twitter and YouTube usage and engagement have virtually skyrocketed in the sheer number of tweets, re-tweets, followers, and postings about the campaign and recent debates.

How to Market the Next President
By Liza Porteus Viana, Mashable, 10/2/12
“I think there has been a traditional narrative that 2008 was the preeminent campaign and that Democrats owned the world in social media,” says Almacy. “I’m not sure I would fully agree with that. I think they had an upper hand and used that pretty effectively. I think what we’ve seen this year is a real leveling of that.”

Congress’s ‘socially awkward’ phase
By Lisa Desjardins, CNN Radio, 9/26/12
“It’s interesting because we expect these people to be experts in something that is roughly 5 years old, you know,” said David Almacy, who was the White House internet and e-communications director under President George W. Bush and is now a senior vice president at the Edelman public relations firm.

The Tonya Hall Show with Brian Reich
KRCN Radio, Denver, CO, 9/4/12

Can Facebook maintain its value as a public company?
By Doug McKelway, Fox News, 5/18/12
Special Report with Bret Baier (Shannon Bream)
“The Internet is moving so quickly and technology is advancing so what might be applicable today in terms of data information sharing might be totally irrelevant a year or two years from now. … I think Facebook has actually taken privacy very seriously. This is one of their core success measures. If they don’t get this right, then people will cease to use it.”

Morning Bell: President Me
By Rory Cooper, The Heritage Foundation, The Foundry, 5/16/12
Former White House Internet Director David Almacy explained to The Heritage Foundation that under Bush, this editing practice would have been unthinkable, saying: “It was our intent to preserve the history of the White House as an institution as well as those who served as president from a non-partisan historical perspective.” Almacy added: “It was ingrained in Bush Administration staffers from day one that our time in service to our nation was a privilege and that we must separate political promotion from the institution as a whole.

The Tonya Hall Show with Brian Reich
KRCN Radio, Denver, CO, 5/11/12
“The campaigns are crafting their messages and what they want to talk about and then there’s a reaction to that. At the same time, because the Internet leveled the playing field, people are rising up and saying, ‘Here are the issues that we care about.’ If you have groups of people who rise up and are loud enough via these channels, and if the campaigns are doing their jobs and monitoring and listening to what people are saying, then eventually those sorts of conversations can bubble up to larger channels whether they be mainstream media … some of the blogs or other online outlets who are covering politics. … There are things that people want to talk about and there are things that campaigns want to talk about and somewhere in between, social media serves as sort of a mediator between both.”

Facebook Subscribe Suggestions: 50 People In Politics To Follow
The Huffington Post, 5/7/12
Facebook’s relatively new subscribe feature allows members of the public to view updates from Facebook users, without having to friend them. While the feature is more popular among members of the tech and media communities, there are still plenty of members of the political community who use it. HuffPost Politics has curated a list of our 50 favorite people to follow on Facebook using subscribe.

Polioptics: Episode 53
SiriusXM POTUS Ch.124, 4/21/12
Discussion with Adam Belmar, Josh King and Arun Chaudhary about the history and evolution of White House digital communications. Segment Begins 17:47, Ends 45:43
In SiriusXM studio w/ Adam Belmar & Arun Chaudhary during Polioptics segment on POTUS Ch. 124Almacy: “The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had specific requirements according to the Presidential Record Act, that anything that’s published on behalf of the White House must be preserved for all time. … So, when we were done, we literally unplugged the server and actually, my good friend Rob Klause was in charge of the transition of the website. So, literally he unplugged one server and turned the other server on — on Inauguration Day. I was standing in the hangar at Andrews Air Force Base when former President Bush was going home to Texas and President Obama was being sworn-in. I had my BlackBerry and I hit refresh and I saw the old website of WhiteHouse.gov and suddenly the new website for President Obama came up, and I tell you — I got a little emotional. It was a really cool moment.”
Arun Chaundry: “I love that image as the new peaceful transition between two administrations is now a redesign on the website.”
AUDIO: Polioptics: Episode 53

Congressional Use of Twitter
Fox News: America’s News HQ with Shannon Bream, 4/15/12
Members of Congress are capitalizing on social media by using Twitter to communicate with constituents in their home states. That doesn’t always make them an expert at tweeting. Former White House Internet and e-communications director, David Almacy, joined Shannon Bream to talk about those who get it right, and those who … well, have some issues. … Almacy says the best practices to get people to notice tweets are to be authentic, tweet in real time, create links and other multimedia, and of course use #hashtags.

Recall efforts take over social media, Web:
Parties use digital tactics to zero in on core voters
By Alex Morrell, Green Bay Press-Gazette, 12/8/11
“More and more people are going online to find information, and I think one of the advantages of improved and increasing technology is the ability to reach people on a very microtargeted level,” said David Almacy, a senior vice president at a public relations firm in Washington, D.C., and the White House Internet director from 2005-2007. “The ability to get your message out in a targeted way is really where the value comes in.” … The rise in digital campaigning — more precise and significantly less expensive — will not necessarily mean fewer television and radio campaign ads. Almacy said it shouldn’t be an either-or choice, but rather smart campaigns will embed digital strategies with what they already do. “Any campaign who is not leveraging digital, whether it is Google, or social media or social networking, is missing I think an opportunity to reach a core voter block,” Almacy said. “We’re not saying online replaces radio, replaces television. But basically your campaign should be integrated so that you are hitting folks within all those channels.”

Election process bolstered by maturing social media efforts
By Michelle Lodge, PRWeek, 8/1/11 (Subscription)
Social media is not new to the presidential race, but elevating the way it’s used to garner better information and more targeted results is. “It’s not what’s new,” explains David Almacy, SVP, Edelman Digital, based in Washington, DC, “but how to use existing tools in new, more mature ways.” Lane Bailey, president of public affairs at GolinHarris, agrees. “There will be a refinement of the use of analytical modeling,” he notes, to identify and target voters based on their voting records and preferences. From there, he adds, political campaigns can send customized messages to voters via social media and other platforms to speak with voters in their own language. … American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, for which GOP strategist Karl Rove is an adviser, is aiming to raise $120 million for the 2012 elections and will dedicate a larger percentage to online advertising than it did in the 2010 midterms, says Jonathan Collegio, the organizations’ communications director. … Collegio agrees with Almacy and Bailey that the next year in politics will be one of increasingly targeted campaigning, which will employ social media, but with a new maturity designed for more effective results.

White House masters Wild Web
By Abby Phillip, Politico, 5/2/11
“It used to be that you never pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel. That playing field has been leveled,” said David Almacy, who was the Internet director for President George W. Bush. “The perspective of the beholder is now able to be communicated and disseminated very quickly online. If you’re not optimizing the Web to make sure that your side of the story is getting out, then you’re missing out on an opportunity.”

Barack Obama’s shadow – the man who films the president
By Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News, 4/22/11
David Almacy, who was the White House internet director under President George W. Bush, argues that while the idea of West Wing Week is “intriguing”, it is an unnecessary expense. … “It is taxpayer funded and the videographer has the ability to take scenes and edit them the way they wish, and when you have a White House press corps that’s a hundred of feet away from the Oval Office,” he says. … “The videographer is a federal employee, the power of editing could cause some concerns about perceived propaganda. … “With average views between 5,000 and 10,000 for most West Wing Weeks (with a few exceptions), one could argue that the costs associated with producing the weekly installments aren’t providing much value to citizens, especially in tough economic times when Congress and the White House are looking for ways to cut the budget,” adds Mr. Almacy. … That is a sentiment felt by some White House correspondents, who believe that Mr. Chaudhary gets access and notification of some events that they are not invited to.

POLITICO Playbook
Mike Allen, POLITICO, 11/16/10
–David Almacy tweets: “BCAA Reunion w/ @scottstanzel @TonyFratto @KarlRove @DanaPerino @ssiciliano @imjamesdavis @pfeifle & 800 others. (@ Gilley’s Dallas).”

Congressional Transparency: The Camera Eye
By Chad Pergram, Fox News, The Speaker’s Lobby, 7/16/10
David Almacy is an expert on the confluence of politics and new media. He served as the first internet guru at the White House under President Bush. He says that the most blunt discussions are never publicized. “Sometimes I refer to this as the paradox of transparency,” said Almacy, “Once the camera’s turned on and the people in the room know that the cameras are on the conversation obviously changes.”

Fake George W. Bush Is Maybe Lying to You on Twitter!
By Juli Weiner, Vanity Fair, 6/3/10
Next, David Almacy, George W. Bush’s former White House Internet director, tweeted to say that the account was not an official one, and directed would-be followers to a slightly different feed, one he deemed “the official George W. Bush Foundation Twitter account,” which is a verified account.

Techno-GOP: Web-savvy is no longer a monopoly of the political left
By Mary Katharine Ham, The Weekly Standard, 4/26/10
Developers dedicated to the conservative cause are hard to find, said David Almacy, former White House Internet director under George W. Bush, which means Republican candidates pay more for expertise than opponents. The same holds true for graphic designers, but Almacy says the outlook is improving. Some hope the rise of fiscal issues (and relative decline of social issues) will help attract more libertarian programmers and tech-savvy young people.

CNN Radio: ‘Golden Age’ of political social media?
By Bob Costantini, CNN Political Ticker, 4/22/10
“If you look at these types of sites, the last thing we need to do is start creating these networks all over again because it is pretty time-consuming,” says David Almacy, the White House Internet Director for much of former President Bush George W. Bush’s second term. … Now a senior vice president at Edelman Communications, Almacy said that he worries some new “fad” for communicating a political message might come along forcing campaigns to start from scratch, which he said could frustrate supporters who are comfortable with the current online networking tools. … He thinks the major sites have not matured completely, but are well established and useful enough that “we’re on the cusp of it coming into more of a ‘Golden Age'” with less need for something new to engage voters and activists.

The Political Start, Slow & Go Of WhiteHouse.gov
By Chad Catacchio, The Next Web, 4/20/10
Another interesting story from the session, was that after Facebook launched, they came to David Almacy, the Bush administration’s White House Internet director from 2005-07, because Facebook wanted Bush to have a Facebook page. Almacy said that at the time Facebook was still focused on college students and that he asked them why the White House should bother as they were getting 7 million page view a week already and didn’t see how having a profile on Facebook would be anywhere near as impactful.

The Evolution of WhiteHouse.gov
By Jeremy Jacobs, Campaigns & Elections, 4/19/10
When George W. Bush took office, the website adapted, adding video like the “Barney Cam” and an “Ask the White House” feature. Almacy said he viewed the website primarily as a tool to disseminate information. “It was not a place for commentary,” he said. Almacy was also limited by several privacy regulations, including a prohibition from linking to anything that didn’t have a “.gov” or “.mil” URL.

Podcast: The Right Doctor with David Almacy
By Dr. Melissa Clouthier, The Right Doctor, 11/5/09
David Almacy now of Edleman Public Relations as Senior Vice President for Digital Affairs and formerly White House Internet and E Communications Office Director of Media Affairs for President Bush, spoke with me about the White House’s claim that the website the Obama team received was archaic and out-of-date. This simply was not true. As part of the “smoothest transition in history,” President Bush had a brand new website ready for whichever new administration took office.

Before Drupal, There Was “The Tool”
By Nancy Scola, techPresident, 10/30/09
Even smaller than the fraternity of people who have served as President of the United States is the fraternity of those who have served as the Internet Director to the President of the United States. David Almacy is a member of the latter club, having served under President George W. Bush’s tenure, and as we chew over the White House’s recent embrace of the Drupal open-source content management system, Almacy has an invaluable post up walking us back through the history of the online White House, back to the days when there was no content management system to speak of.

For Drupal Enterprise Software in White House, It’s One Step Forward, One Step Back
By Dennis Byron, IT Business Edge, 10/29/09
David Almacy, Internet and e-communications director at the Bush White House from March 2005 to May 2007, has also helped out by explaining the minimal role of the previous administration in this story and explaining details about the much-maligned Bush-era CMS.

White House collects Web users’ data without notice
By Audrey Hudson, The Washington Times, 9/16/09
David Almacy, who served as President George W. Bush’s Internet director, said the Bush administration did not use the then-fledgling social-networking sites in the same manner as the Obama White House, except to upload presidential speeches onto iTunes. The White House, however, did archive comments posted to its official Web site.

Hackers Imperil Wilson Campaign Web Site
By Chad Pergram, FOXNews.com, The Speaker’s Lobby, 9/13/09
“It’s like an ‘e-warrior’ kind of politics,” said David Almacy, a senior vice president at Edelman Public Affairs who studies the nexus of technology and government. “There are groups of people who believe that if they can shut down someone’s website, they hurt their ability to campaign.”

Data lags on Obama’s stylish Web site
By Jon Ward, The Washington Times, 6/23/09
It is a point of pride for the Obama administration that they are more technologically advanced than any previous White House, and they say they are using new media to open up government to regular Americans.

The Twitter Revolt Against Mainstream Media
OpEd by David Almacy and Dave Levy, Edelman Digital Public Affairs, PRWeek, 6/17/09
Among the many Twitter-fueled stories from the event, the one that impacts media coverage the most may be how this backchannel removed the mainstream filter to display an amalgamated concept of the news. It gave the masses – first inside Tehran and then across the world – a crude and easy way to drive the issues that concerned them to the top of the marketplace of ideas.

The Obamas, Living Out Loud
By Jill Lawrence, Politics Daily, www.politicsdaily.com, 5/14/09
It’s easy to make the mistake of believing that the Internet age at the White House started with the Obamas.

Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two
By Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, 5/11/09
Is WhiteHouse.gov, the online hub of the American presidency, getting better?

Presidential PR: Former White House Web Communications Director on Obama, Katrina, Twitter
By Frank Zeccola, Bulldog Reporter – Daily Dog, bulldogreporter.com, 5/7/09
David Almacy, Senior Vice President, Edelman Former Bush White House Internet and e-communications director David Almacy praises Obama’s use of the Internet and social media during the 2008 presidential campaign, but underscores the challenges ahead for the new administration.

Washington’s Tech Titans
By Garrett M. Graff, Washingtonian Magazine, washingtonian.com, 5/1/09
David Almacy, senior vice president, Edelman Public Relations. A new recruit to Michael Krempasky’s talented digital-public-affairs team at Edelman, Almacy is a former White House Webmaster and one of the few people who talk about eGov who have actually done eGov.

Suite Talk
By Jacqueline Klingbeil & Ariel Alexovich, Politico, 4/28/09
David Almacy, who was e-communications director for the Bush White House, has joined Edelman’s Washington office as a senior vice president in its fast-growing, bipartisan digital public affairs practice.

South by Southwest Whitehouse.gov 2.0 Session
By Sarah Granger, Personal Democracy Forum, 4/10/09
David Almacy emphasized the limitations that whitehouse has in terms of what information they can and cannot publish and that much of the technology and contractors are passed on from administration to administration. As Obama has had problems adjusting to the Bush White House, Bush had problems adjusting to the Clinton White House, and so on… Almacy calls Clinton the “first Internet president” since he put up the first whitehouse.gov, Bush the “first digital president” due to his use of regular online content, and Obama the “first social media president.”

Obama Team Finds It Hard to Adapt Its Web Savvy to Government
By Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, 3/2/09
The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government. WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges…

Lessons from Obama
By Helen Dunne, CorpComms Magazine (UK), 2/18/09
“Certainly, the Obama campaign understood the power of building online community. They used the Internet as an effective communications tool and, of course, to raise money. … Leveraging social media sites like Facebook and Twitter helped connect his supporters but ultimately his election, in my opinion, was more a reflection of the promise of his candidacy rather than just his web presence.”

Chairman Steele Calls a Tech Huddle
Hugh Hewitt, 2/9/09
“Suggestion: Not all ideas are created equal. The best on the GOP side include some familiar names like All, Almacy, Hynes, Neppell, and Ruffini. I think the “open mike” approach is fine for comedy clubs, and perhaps for one afternoon session, but there are established, successful practitioners in the world of political tech consulting, and they ought to be recognized and listened to out of the box.”

You don’t have mail
By Mike Madden, Salon, 1/27/09
“What people tend to forget is just how much the Internet has changed in the past two years, let alone the past eight,” Almacy said.

White House Already Well Wired, Bush Staffers Say
By Paul Wagenseil, FOXNews.com, 1/23/09
David Almacy, who ran the whitehouse.gov Web site and was the administration’s Internet and e-communications director from 2005 to 2007, blames simple logistics and red tape for the Obama team’s problems. “Bureaucracy is nonpartisan,” he said. “Moving 3,000 people out and 3,000 people in is a Herculean task.”

Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology
By Anne E. Kornblut, washingtonpost.com, 1/22/09
If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past. The system has daunted past White House employees. David Almacy, who became President George W. Bush’s Internet director in 2005, recalled having a week-long delay between his arrival at the White House and getting set up with a computer and a BlackBerry. “The White House itself is an institution that transitions regardless of who the president is,” he said. “The White House is not starting from scratch. Processes are already in place.”

Microsoft Oval Office:
Will President Obama have a personal computer?
By Nina Shen Rastogi, Slate, 1/22/09
According to David Almacy, who served as Bush’s director for Internet and e-communications from 2005-07, only two people had access to the iTunes store during that period: Almacy, who had to upload speeches to the site, and the president’s personal aide, so that he could download songs for Bush’s iPod.

The Wired Presidency:
Can Obama Really Reboot the White House?
By Evan Ratliff, Wired, 1/19/09
In November, not two weeks after winning the election and still two months from becoming commander in chief, Barack Obama brought the government into the 21st century. Or at least that was what we were told when he released his first Web video address as president-elect.

Obama staff will say cu l8r 2 IM
By Ben Smith, Politico.com, 1/17/09
This is yet another good example of how campaigning and governing online differ. The tools and technology are rapidly increasing inside government, but there are still limitations. Perhaps now some will understand the challenges we faced. It’s clear that the rules need to be changed to keep pace with this ever-changing medium.

What’s Next For Obama’s Wired White House?
By Sarah Lai Stirland, National Journal, CongressDaily, 1/12/09
“President Clinton was the first Web President, [George W.] Bush was the first digital president, and President [elect] Obama will be the first social media president,” says David Almacy … who worked as Bush’s White House Internet director until May 2007.

e-Hail To the Chief: Obama Won With Web’s Help.
Now, How to Govern Using That Community?
By Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com, 12/31/08
“Clinton was the first Web president. Bush is the first digital president,” says David Almacy, who served as Bush’s Internet director from 2005 to 2007. “Obama is the first online social networking president.” And online social networking is designed to foster a community. For that approach to be effective, WhiteHouse.gov can’t just push information out — it has to pull content in, too. And once it does so, the administration will have to decide whether, when and how to incorporate those voices into its decision-making process.

A ‘Dotcom’ White House
By Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News, 11/28/08
During Obama’s election campaign he took fundraising and grass roots organizing on the world wide web to a whole new level. But now that he’s won the keys to the White House how will this tech savy leader operate? [ Video ]

White House awaits president 2.0
By Savannah Guthrie, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, 11/22/08
Longtime political advisers marveled at the ability of Barack Obama’s campaign to harness the Internet as a fundraising and coalition-building tool. As NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports, the transition team is hoping to bring their technological touch to the White House. [ Video ]

Under Obama, a newly interactive government?
The president-elect aims to use the Internet to make government more participatory
By Alexandra Marks, Christian Science Monitor, 11/8/08
President Bush took that a step further, turning the White House website into a “repository of all the things the president was doing on that day,” according to David Almacy, who was the White House’s Internet director from 2005 to 2007.

Obama to preside over White House 2.0
AFP, 11/8/08
David Almacy, who served as Internet and e-communications director for President George W. Bush, said the Internet is “a very powerful tool in communicating the president’s agenda.” … Almacy, who overhauled whitehouse.gov during his two years in the White House, making it a much more dynamic website, warned though that the Obama administration may find there are limits to how much it can do.

Obama surfs the Web to the White House
AFP, 11/4/08
Almacy, who brought RSS feeds, email updates, audio podcasts and on-demand video to whitehouse.gov while serving in the Bush White House, said he will be watching with interest what an Obama administration does with the Internet. “It’s a lot more difficult,” he said. “A campaign is centered around one day, you’re pushing to that one day. Government is not focused on one day. It’s more of a long-term approach.”

The new battleground
By Erica Iacono, PRWeek, 9/22/08
“What’s changed is how people have used the medium and how the user-generated content [has grown],” he says. “[For] the younger generation… it’s a primary form of communication – whether it’s online or through mobile devices.”

Wanted: A More Digital Congress
By Ariel Alexovich, New York Times: The Caucus, 3/5/08
One of the most successful examples of a government-run Web site is WhiteHouse.gov, said David Almacy, a former Internet director for George W. Bush’s White House. The site gets about 3 to 7 million page views per week, and provides policy information — and the popular Barney Cam holiday videos — to Internet surfers.

The next generation – PRWeek’s 40 Under 40
December 2007 – Talent has always been at the heart of the PR industry. Certain individuals can help attract new clients, grow existing business, and inspire colleagues. Such abilities are crucial as the industry competes with other marketing disciplines. Today’s PR pros exhibit their talent in different ways – from traditional media relations to digital prowess to crisis communications. On these pages, PRWeek profiles 40 PR pros, nominated by industry peers, who have achieved tremendous feats before they turn 40. [ PDF download ]

WE’s Almacy offers White House-honed Web savvy
PRWeek, 7/2/07
While David Almacy was working for the White House … he displayed an understanding of the blogosphere’s importance, particularly as it related to crisis scenarios, when many inside the Beltway were still wringing their hands about social media.

David Almacy hosts Ask the White House
WhiteHouse.gov, 3/1/07
Thank you for joining us today to discuss the new design and functionality of WhiteHouse.gov. … In addition, this month marks my two-year anniversary as the White House Internet and E-Communications Director, and it has been an honor to serve President Bush and to communicate his message online. With that, I am happy to answer your questions.

White House 2.0
National Journal, Tech Daily Dose, 2/28/07
The White House Web site has a new look this week. Visitors will find an updated design with improved access to information about the president’s speeches, events and policies. … According to White House Web guru David Almacy, the upgrades were made to streamline the code, refresh the design and better highlight features.

Bush: Saddam’s Execution Will Not Stop Bloodshed
Associated Press, FoxNews.com, 12/31/06
“The president was pleased with the culmination of the Iraqi judicial process and that justice was done,” White House spokesman David Almacy said, describing Bush’s reaction to learning that the execution was close to being carried out. Bush arose shortly before 5 a.m. CST on Saturday and had a 10-minute phone call about an hour later with Hadley to discuss world reaction to the execution, Almacy said.

The Paradox of Podcasting
By Robert MacMillan, WashingtonPost.com, 8/11/05
“As technology advances, the White House recognizes the importance of providing content in new ways to reach new audiences to communicate the president’s vision,” Almacy said. … Regardless of the current brouhaha over what that vision is, it might be possible to classify the Bush White House as jumping ahead of the curve on technology.

White House Defends Iraq Postwar Plan
Associated Press, 6/13/05
“There was significant post war planning,” said spokesman David Almacy. “More importantly, the memo in question was written eight months before the war began; there was significant post war planning in the time that elapsed. … Some things we prepared for did not happen, like large numbers of refugees needing humanitarian assistance, and others we did not expect, such as large numbers of regime elements fleeing the battlefield only to return later,” said Almacy. “Anytime you go to war you have to be flexible to adapt to the unexpected. That is why we gave our commanders the flexibility to do so.”