Online fundraising is for real - to the tune of half a billion dollars…

From the Washington Post:

“In an exclusive interview with The Post, members of the vaunted Triple O, Obama’s online operation, broke down the numbers: 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.”

In The Boston Globe, a former Romney communications advisor lements the decline of traditional media and pleads with online media to more closely adhere to a journalistic “code of ethics.”

“Where are the online gatekeepers? Gatekeeping is the most important function for the offline media. Editors decide which stories get published. They make sure rumors aren’t printed. Sensitive information is double- and sometimes triple-sourced. Gatekeeping serves an important purpose in establishing the ethics of journalism. Sadly, it doesn’t exist on the Web.”

Unfortunately for traditional PR and communications people, that horse has left the barn.

Successfully managing online communications involves more than technology. It involves a seasoned communications perspective capable of responding quickly in a volatile message environment.

(Cross-posted at PolicyMedia.com)

Earlier this year, Flat Creek built www.TheRightTweets.com in partnership with the Sam Adams Alliance in order to provide a place for non-Twitter users to follow the online conversation at various conferences and events.

Currently, the site is being used by Oklahoma bloggers to cover conversation about the debates, and last night Oklahoma City 9 News did a story on the project: