e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Quick Hits — February 22, 2011

February 22nd, 2011

See also the recent list of articles relevant to the internet’s role in Egypt, Tunisia and the general unrest in the Arab world.

• Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter. Bogus trend piece alert! An article whose content contradicts its title — the “young” are going to Facebook, while social networking and Twitter actually complement serious blogging, not supplant it.
• This week in sock-puppetry: Sarah Palin Has Secret ‘Lou Sarah’ Facebook Account To Praise Other Sarah Palin Facebook Account.
• Wisconsin Dem Senator Posts ‘brb’ Message On Facebook after leaving the chamber in protest, and Obama joins Wisconsin’s budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill as Organizing for America Injects Effort (and Obama) into Wisconsin Union Fight.
• Egypt’s New Military Rulers Launch Official Facebook Page, Attract 75,000 Fans in 24 Hours, via K Street Cafe.
• The Rise of the “Twitter Can’t Topple a Dictator” Article as a Genre. But c.f. An Upside to the “Twitter Can’t Topple Dicators” Genre?
• Curating the Revolution: Building a Real-Time News Feed About Egypt, an interview with Andy Carvin.
• Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution. Via A Loyal Reader (thanks Dad!).
• News of Chinese Jasmine Revolution Spreads Online. Wishful thinking, or a harbinger?
• Cellphones Become the World’s Eyes and Ears on Protests, and Mobile Phones and the Middle East’s Many Million Documentarians.
• Is the tweet the new sound bite?, via K Street Cafe.
• Nir Rosen tweets himself out of a job over Lara Logan’s assault.
• Clinton@State: Seriously, #NetFreedom’s a Big Deal.
• Hackers Reveal Offers to Spy on Corporate Rivals.
• Danah boyd, Digital Anthropologist.
• Past and Future: “Winning the Future” means “Defining Republicans as the Past” via video.
• Esperanza Spalding wins Grammy for Best New Artist, @WhiteHouse celebrates the moment, and White House recognizes Grammy winner on Twitter, links to performance on YouTube. But, Hey Grammys, you can’t tape-delay social media.
• White Paper: Connecting Online Advocacy and Fundraising.
• News Flash: Viral Video Isn’t The Answer For Brands.
• Obama’s 2012 Budget Proposal: How $3.7 Trillion Is Spent. Cool interactive presentation.
• 1000 Digital Strategists for the Labor Movement.
• How To (and Why You Should) Connect Twitter to FriendFeed.
• Online Advocacy around a Lifetime Channel movie.
• Top 50 Individual Givers of 2010. Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines! C.f. Nonprofits Raise More Money as the Recession Fades.
• Care2 passes 15 million members.
• Likely GOP Candidate’s New Video More Like Action Flick Trailer.
• How YouTube Used Obama Chat to Build Brand.
• Want to Get a Conversation Going on Twitter? Call a Reporter.
• Facebook’s Washington Operation Adds Two More Boots on the Ground.
• Facebook’s Web of Frenemies.
• Who Says Email’s Dead?
• Brian Hill: Hobby blogger sued by MediaNews & Righthaven is 20, chronically ill, autistic. Jerx (via Burt Edwards).
• HuffPost Blogger Hearts Arianna. Or, sucking up for fun and (no share of the) profit.
• Why Your Nonprofit Is Not Ranking on Google, and Which mini-blogging platform is more SEO friendly: Tumblr or Posterous?, the latter via Alnisa Allgood.
• 10 Steps to Facebook Success for Your Non-Profit Organization.
• HuffPo bombs fake twitter account.
• Toyota Pays Mom Bloggers $10 to Bury Bad Press?
• Where does politics online go from here? (in the UK).
• With Update to ‘Social Search,’ Google Embraces The Crowd, via A Loyal Reader (thanks again, Dad!).
• The Cold War goes online, a Russian perspective.
• Does the Harlequin Romance Unicorn Vengeance boast the worst sentence ever published in English? Mayhap!. Via Libby Jacobsen.
• Rahm Makes Offer to Foul-Mouthed Tweeter.
• Employee/rep sends out errant (drunk) tweet using @RedCross Twitter account.
• With social media, pet adoptions are love at first ‘like”. Whether or not it can topple dictators, the internet can sure as hell sell cats.
• And finally, the most horrifying safety video you’ll see all week, via my brother Stratton, whose taste is, as usual, impeccable.

– cpd