Advocate to Influence...Not to Annoy
by CMF
on September 09, 2010
The last few years have seen an explosion in interest in advocacy, and that is generally a good thing. A CMF survey of citizens found that 44% of adult Americans had contacted Congress within the last five years. While this increased interest in exercising constitutional rights has value, one must keep in mind there is such a thing as 'bad advocacy.'
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A “Sham” or Democracy at Work?
Clay Johnson, formerly of the Sunlight Foundation, wrote in his blog last week that "online petitions are a sham." He even used some of our data about congressional mail volumes to help make his point. While I think that he makes some really keen observations and puts his finger on some of the key challenges, not all online advocacy is the same.
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Ask Us: How Do We Drive Constituents To Our Website?
by administrator
on August 11, 2010
Members of Congress and their staff are eager to communicate more effectively with constituents. They come to the Congressional Management Foundation and the Partnership for a More Perfect Union with questions about everything from how to best improve their constituent mail operations, to how to best use social media tools like Twitter or Facebook. Through our new 'Ask Us' series, we will attempt to answer those questions for the benefit of not only the asker (whose identity we will carefully guard) but also for anyone else who might have the same question.
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Inside the Hill: How and Why Does Congress Use Twitter
by PMPU
on August 03, 2010
In the third installment of "Inside the Hill", congressional staff discuss the different uses and advantages of Twitter.
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Turning Websites into Online Offices
by administrator
on July 28, 2010
For congressional offices looking to improve their online communications, one of the biggest challenges can be deciding what information to put on your website, or what's most important. We find that it can be helpful to think of the website as another district or state office which serves constituents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What services do your physical offices provide to constituents? What questions and concerns do they hear? Let the answers to those questions be your guide.
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Using Facebook for more than just press releases
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.
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Member’s Constituents Help Question Oil Giants
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.
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Communicating with Distressed Constituents
Our friends over at the American Psychological Association recently brought to our attention a publication created by their affiliate, the California Psychological Association, entitled ''A Legislator's Guide: Communicating with Distressed Constituents.' (PDF-418 KB) The document was authored by clinical psychologist Sandra R. Harris, Ph.D. and was originally created and distributed to members of the California State Legislature. The information that it provides, however, translates well to the challenges Members of Congress and congressional staff face at the federal level when assisting constituents with casework requests, taking constituent comments over the phone, or answering constituent letters or emails.
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Taking Transparency a Step Further
Earlier this week at our House training on congressional websites and the Gold Mouse Report, one of the attendees asked what his office - as an award winning office - could do to improve their website and perhaps get a Gold or even the Platinum Mouse Award next time around. I love that question because it shows that an office is not resting on their laurels happy that they won an award. It's something we get a lot. The best want to be better. Regrettably, we don't always see that same focus and drive in the offices at the bottom of the list.
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111th Congress Gold Mouse Project Training
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: (PDF) (9.3 MB).
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