blogs

For liveblogging, using a static story post and then posting comments is not very effective. This isn't a chat atmosphere at all, and it's not conducive to conversation. I humbly suggest you find a service that works better! I am independent in the matter, but I've used the free service from CoverItLive before, and found it to be very effective. We run liveblogs simultaneously with our evening newscasts every day at WIBW. It's really worth a look.

Can I just say that in the last week the YDA blog has become indispensable reading for anyone working in a communications capacity at a youth org or project?

Today's entry is on Developing a Traditional Media Strategy. Go read it.

Last week, I linked to a piece that rather succinctly explained why I don't do more than skim the candidate blogs anymore - they are typically nothing more than generic boosterism of the candidate's latest activity or press releases for upcoming events.

There is an exception to that, however. I actually read the Students for Barack Obama blog every day. To be sure, there is a fair amount of boosterism on the SFBO blog too, but there are occasionally some decent historical and think pieces, and SFBO Rewind, a regular feature which reviews the recent events and achievements of students for Barack chapters across the country is genuinely useful. It helps build the sense that SFBO chapters and blog readers are part of a larger, national movement, and is a decent vehicle for disseminating some best practices and conveys to SFBO members ideas as to what it is possible to accomplish with their own chapters.

As I was reading the blog today, I also noticed a feature that had previously escaped my attention. Atop each blog is a link notifying the reader as to how many groups within the MyBarackObama social network are talking about that particular post, and linking the reader to those groups. There's been some criticism (and I myself have complained) that the Obama campaign's grassroots were not as transparent as the Dean grassroots. Little things like this make it more transparent. That's not to say that there aren't differences between Dean and Obama's online operations and indeed the structure of their whole campaign, but these little touches are helping me see something more coherent and national and less siloed that my previous impressions.

Two things about Fox this week you might want to know.

1. The Simpsons can be mistaken for FoxNews
Yes we've already heard about this but I have a new video!

2. Bloggers are nazi's.

Personal Democracy Forum launched a new group blog today: techPresident. As you might guess from the name, the site is dedicated to how the Presidential hopefuls for 2008 are using the web within their campaigns. Here's more from their mission:

The 2008 election will be the first where the Internet will play a central role, not only in terms of how the campaigns use technology, but also in how voter-generated content affects its course. TechPresident.com plans to track all these changes in real-time, covering everything from campaign websites, online advertising and email lists to the postings on YouTube and who's got the fastest growing group of friends on Facebook.

Our team of bloggers is made of veterans of the 2004 and 2006 elections, ranging across the political spectrum. Their expertise covers everything from website design to the latest in mobile tools and social networking sites. And we'll look closely not just at what the campaigns are or are not doing, but what voters and activists are doing online to independently affect the election.

And stop hating, Mr. Dereau, we all know that you're just bitter because Hillary is waaaaay more popular than John Edwards with the youngens.

Kos is getting religion about young voters today. MyDD had some good stuff yesterday too.

It's a nice change.