Thank you to everyone who came to our Sunday morning session/discussion on choosing online strategies and tools for government officials. By popular request, here are 2 lists that we came up with from the session:
1) A list of case studies of elected officials online to check out for ideas and comparisons, and
2) a list of tools to check out and consider using for any government office or elected official just getting online.
Case Studies of Govt. Officials Online
Mayor Cory Booker, Newark – great case study of a local politician using social media, esp. Twitter
CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen – state level politician who is very engaged in social media
Rep. Bob Latta — great example of Member of Congress using mobile/SMS technology — one of the first Reps to do so
Sen. Claire McCaskill — excellent use of Twitter & Tumblr
Useful Tools to Consider
TwitVid – great for sharing videos on Twitter
Bit.ly – share & track analytics on links
TweetCongress - find other Members of Congress on Twitter
GovTwit - huge directory of government officials on Twitter
TweetProgress – directory of progressives on Twitter
Qik – useful for livestreaming video
SMS – check Bob Latta’s website for ideas on how to use mobile tech to communicate with citizens
GovPulse – search the federal register
DataMasher.org – mash up various types of govt data
Thought I’d share one more useful tool to consider: LegiStalker. Legistalker provides real time tracking of legislators’ activities on social web sites, in the news, and on the Capitol floor in real time. In the Apps for America Contest, the Legistalker application was awarded second place.
Check out: http://www.legistalker.org.