About 100 or so gathered on the roof of our building to get a glimpse of the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was slated to fly over the Washington, DC monuments for a swansong journey before officially retiring to a new home at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA.
Although traditional methods public affairs components are still valuable, social media channels have experienced a meteoric rise in their ability to shape and influence policy worldwide over the past year. Specifically, policymakers have shown a dramatic increase in their use of Twitter, Facebook and mobile technology which underscores the importance of social media and the Internet in educating policymakers and galvanizing them to support a policy issue.
I decided to take a look at how some of the top presidential contenders were using various social media platforms. Specifically, I set out to aggregate data to include the number Facebook likes, Twitter followers, YouTube views, Foursquare fans, Flickr photos, LinkedIn friends and Google+ circles. Of course, when measuring ultimate campaign success, it’s not just about numbers but I do think that they can be an indication as to whether a candidate is building support or if specific messages are resonating.
We discussed the new Kindle, Apple price fixing allegations, President Obama’s “We the People” petition via WhiteHouse.gov, government and social media, crowdsourcing, ID spoofing and much more.
There’s something about the 4th of July that I have always loved. The sense of patriotism, respect, pride, reverence and history is unlike any other on this day.
Edelman’s Public Affairs & StrategyOne teams interviewed senior legislative staffers around the globe in several capital cities including Berlin, Brussels, London, Paris and Washington to determine the role and influence of various communications channels both online and off.
Since his departure from the White House in January 2009, much has been said and written about President George W. Bush’s personal choice to quietly step out of the national spotlight thus making way for his Oval Office successor. Tomorrow, November 9, 2010, President Bush breaks his silence with the official release of his new book, Decision Points. In it, he takes a self-described “untraditional approach” to writing his life’s memoir by providing a unique perspective of his presidency and focusing on the most demanding part of the job… making decisions.
There’s no question that the increased adoption of open source backend solutions in the private sector, and now in government, represents yet another evolutionary step in the rapid growth of the Internet. As these tools become more prevalent, users will be able to better connect and collaborate on shared platforms which only improves the potential for digital public engagement in shaping our democracy.
Last week, the Politico’s Patrick Gavin (@pwgavin) wrote this piece, The Top 10 Most Influential DC Twitterers. According to Patrick, they are: Karl Rove (@karlrove), former White House senior advisor & “Architect” Sen. Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc), U.S. Senator, D-Missouri David … Continued
Last night hundreds of Washingtonians braved a cold and wet wintry mix to attend a reception hosted by Google as they unveiled their new DC office space. Although Google has been in Washington for some time, occupying temporary offices on Penn Ave, this move is significant primarily because it … Continued