If you know a little something about online social network sites -- Facebook, MySpace, Fark, Digg, Twitter*, Flickr, etc. -- you'll want to jump to this article from the LATimes about how social media have invaded the political campaigns and the DNC and RNC.
The folks over at The Huffington Post have put together a Twitter account updating live from the Democratic National Convention. You can visit their site or follow them on Twitter. It's funny and revealing, such as:
"The Rolling Stone party sucked worse than a vacuum cleaner. I swear I'm not just saying that because police escorted me out of it! -AlGi "
and:
"according to kathy lash, clooney to make appearance at GQ party -alisavino"
Also be sure to follow the #rnc08 and #dnc08 hashtag for everyone's tweets.
There's been a lot of debate over politicians using social media lately. How they should do it, rules for how they should do it, great uses of it, abuses of it, and complete misunderstandings of it.
I wish politicians would try to use social media more, even if they fail, they've tried. If they do use it, I hope they find it a fun, habit forming, interactive and useful tool to keep their fingers directly on the pulse of their bosses.
*For those unfamiliar, Twitter is a free micro-blogging and social networking site that enables users to upload “tweets,” or small messages under 140 characters about a variety of topics. Here's a great Twtter tools resource list.
