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:
Last Friday, Republican Members of Congress launched a firestorm over high gas prices, and they haven’t looked back since.
To fuel the fire, my good friend Eric Odom and I quickly saw the brouhaha brewing on Twitter – mostly under the vigilance of Katie Harbath, Media Lizzy, and others — and started using the hashtag “#dontgo” as a way to label posts about the conversation. Others quickly joined in, and before long we had the makings of a movement. Within an hour I had fired up WordPress and launched a new site, http://dontgo.us. By adding an RSS aggregator on the homepage and a petition post on an inside page, we were able to provide a platform for the conversation, even for people who aren’t active on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Congressman John Culberson demonstrated the reach of new media when he began broadcasting the House post-session session via his Qik channel. For those of you unfamiliar with the technology, Qik lets users broadcast live streaming video via their cell phone. Despite the Congressional blackout, Culberson was able to broadcast every word to a hungry online audience.
Robert Bluey rushed over to the Capitol and began live tweeting the event, as did Congressman Pete Hoekstra.
We still need your help
The #dontgo movement has really started to grow. Rep. Eric Cantor has launched a petition site at www.callbackcongress.com that now has over 5,000 signatures. Although responsibilities here at Flat Creek have pulled me back to work, Eric has faithfully kept http://dontgo.us updated with breaking news and links to relevant sites and is on the verge of launching a massively cool site at http://dontgomovement.com.
This really is a case study in how like-minded people who don’t even know they’re working on the same thing can converge to create something bigger than themselves. It really speaks to the nature of viral communications. There was no strategic plan, no unifying message grid, and no conference call to coordinate the whole endeavor. But people with the same passion, who had the tools at their disposal, were able to move into action quickly. Will the House reconvene? It’s not likely, but thanks to new media, more people are aware of the need for energy independence.
So if you haven’t yet, go sign the petitions at http://dontgo.us and at www.callbackcongress.com. And stay tuned. One exciting thing about viral events is their unpredictability. No one knows where this will go next, we can only hope to continue to bring attention to an important issue and make more people aware of the power of new media.
We are proud to announce the re-launch of MarkHillman.com. The site is the online presence of Mark Hillman, a former Colorado State Treasurer, State Senator, and life-long wheat farmer. Through this easy-to-update website, Mark can share his unique insights on Colorado politics. He also maintains a priceless list of local coffee shops around Colorado.
Mark is hardly new to us at Flat Creek. In addition to re-designing his website, Flat Creek has long hosted Mark’s email newsletter, Capitol Review. In fact, we’ve integrated a archive of past issues into the new site. Take a minute to check out markhillman.com to see what’s going on. If you like what you see let us know so we can help you take your interests online, just like we helped Mark.
Although it is just temporary, Flat Creek has launched a new website for Senator Roger Wicker, who was appointed to the United States Senate today. His new campaign site features a biography and links for contributions and volunteers. It also contains a section on the announcement, with the Senator’s prepared remarks and reaction from public officials, including the President.
Flat Creek has also launched an early social media strategy, setting up accounts for the campaign on Twitter, Facebook YouTube, del.icio.us, and more.
The full version of the site will feature advanced grassroots resources for both volunteers and campaign staff. Stay tuned for details!
Today Flat Creek launched www.nvgopcaucus.com, an information resource from the Nevada Republican Party that will provide Nevadans resources, news and details about the GOP Presidential Caucus taking place on January 19, 2008.
Full details are in our press release, found here.
I’m really excited to announce the launch of a new portfolio feature, Flat Creek Stories (found here), on our main website. We called it Flat Creek Stories because the results of the creative, strategic services we offer are more than a portfolio. They are our stories, and help tell the stories of our clients.
We’ve had the opportunity to bring to life many exciting stories over the last few years. From the classic stories of swanky Washington, DC events to heartfelt tales of championing a cause, Flat Creek has a few memoirs from integrating the marketing capabilities that today’s professional firm needs.
There’s only a few to start, but we’ll add more soon. I realize it’s not the flashy-est portfolio around, but it tells about what we do and why we do it. And at the end of the day, I believe helping our clients tell their stories is what we do best.
Over the weekend, we launched a new official website for Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma:
The new website features advanced content management, a creative, user-friendly interface, and an expanded media section with RSS and video for Congressman Cole’s regular TV program “Cole on Congress.” Usability was a key factor in the redesign, and we have built audience-specific portals for major constituent groups in the Congressman’s district, so they can find tools and information quickly.
The features for the site were strongly influenced by the Congressional Management Foundation’s best practices guidelines, and we thank them for their advice and insights throughout this redesign project.
Of course, no web design is ever complete, so stay tuned for exciting new Web 2.0 features in the coming months, many of which will be used for the first time by an official Congressional website!
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