social media

In the fourth installment of "Inside the Hill", Members of Congress and congressional staff discuss how citizens' voices are heard on Capitol Hill.

In our evaluations of congressional websites we found that there is a digital divide in Congress (PDF), with 'A' and 'F' being the two most common letter grades. While we will continue to cover the basics, we also want to highlight a few new and innovative ways Members of Congress are engaging citizens in the 112th Congress.

As Hollywood prepares for the Oscars, Congress is gearing up to compete for a different prize: the Gold Mouse Awards. They are awarded to the Members of Congress who best use the Internet to more effectively communicate with and serve citizens. Preparations have already begun for the evaluations to start this summer!

I just got done reading an amazing book about creating change in society, "Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard," by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. This morning, as I heard the stories of the winners of the Public Affairs Council's Grassroots Innovation Awards, I realized that these innovators used some of the same strategies that the authors urged.

Today, CMF and the Partnership released a new survey of congressional staff which reveals that they believe constituents have far more influence on undecided lawmakers than lobbyists. If you listen to the media, the pundits, or the general public, however, you might think lobbyists are at the top of the heap. But our research shows this is not the case.

Members of Congress and their staffs have gotten used to a world where a constituent writes a postal letter or e-mail or calls the office and the office responds in written form to the citizen's concerns. One of the challenges that social media creates for congressional offices is that they can no longer just wait for constituent communication to come to them. They now need to monitor external sources to capture it all.

For some congressional offices, the default use for new communication avenues is as just another place to post the office's press releases. We saw it when blogs became popular, and the same has been true with Twitter and social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. But it's not the most effective use of those resources.

When I talk to citizens and grassroots advocates, one of the biggest complaints they have is that they feel like they have few avenues to participate in committee processes on the Hill. Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL), however, recently gave his constituents a unique opportunity to participate in a House Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing.

Today we conducted training programs for House and Senate congressional staff on "Lessons from the 111th Congress Gold Mouse Project". Attendees looked at examples of successful websites, learned how to immediately improve their websites and received advice and insight from a panel of staff from award-winning congressional offices.

If you missed it, download the presentation handouts here: Gold-Mouse-Training-handouts (PDF) (9.3 MB).

Building and managing a successful congressional website can be difficult. Check back often for information, tips, and guidance on how to make the process easier.

Previous posts:

1. Our office is going for the gold! ...where do we start?

2. What Makes an Award Winning Web Site

3. 111th Congress Gold Mouse Project Training

4. Taking Transparency a Step Further

5. Turning Websites into Online Offices

6. Ask Us: How Do We Drive Constituents To Our Website

7. Coming soon: 112th Congress Gold Mouse evaluations

8. Winning a Gold Mouse Is Like Moving a Grand Piano

9. Use Web Stats, and Other Tips for Improving Your Website

10. Advanced Studies: Innovative Ways to Engage Citizens

11. Back to Basics: The Foundations of a Good Website

12. How to Win a Congressional Website Award: Solid Issue Information

13. The Quick Fix: Improve Your Website Easily