• UK | An enriched coverage of a debate to track people's sentiment
  Last week's TV debate featuring the leaders of the three main parties was the event to follow. Apparently the most interesting aspect seems to be the instant reaction of the audience and many organizations worked on that. So did ITV channel using some very interesting tools to track electors' sentiment towards the political leaders. One of them is Worm (which was a constant of US TV coverage of debates): the tv channel selected 20 undecided voters and asked them to participate in a worm poll during the discussion:

Are you in charge of your organization's email list? Do you wonder if your list is performing up to snuff? What's a good response rate? How is the financial crisis affecting the environment for online fundraising?

This Thursday, October 1st, 1:00-2:00pm EST on the PdF Network conference call we'll be talking with two experts, Marc Ruben and Karen Matheson of M+R Strategic Services. They'll be sharing the results of their eNonprofit Benchmarks Study for 2009, done in tandem with NTEN. It's based on an analysis of online messaging, fundraising, and advocacy data from 32 leading nonprofit organizations. We'll cover topics like...

What could you do with $2?

What about $250,000?

On February 12, Twitterers in 202 cities around the world asked exactly that of charity: water, raising more than a quarter million dollars online in just a few short weeks. The event, Twestival, wasn't the first to use Twitter for fundraising -- but it was the first to do so at such a large, networked and volunteer-driven scale.

The success of Twestival has a lot of non-profits and organizers thinking carefully about the opportunities -- and challenges -- of using Twitter.

Join us this Thursday, June 4th at the PdF Network, where Twestival's founder and event organizer Amanda Rose will clue us into how she did it and what other organizers can learn from her experience.

To join the call (and get the opportunity to pose your questions directly to Amanda), you’ll need to join the PdF Network.

From time to time (like, every other day it seems), I get email from a reporter or an academic or a student with questions about the impact of the Internet on the 2008 election, or similar themes. Usually, if I have time, I try to answer those emails (and if I don't do it right away, they often fall by the way side). This morning was no different. A senior majoring in politics at Occidental College wrote saying, "I'm writing my senior thesis on the impact of new media in youth participation in national politics and I would love to get your thoughts to a few questions." But it occurred to me as I was responding to her questions that this was a blog post (or, as Doc Searls likes to say, blogging is just sending emails to the world). So, keeping in mind that these are the quick top-line responses I tend to give when asked these questions, here goes:

The Prince of Darkness explains away his propagation of the story that John McCain was picking a running mate this week by saying that all he did was post the story on the Internet; barackobama@gmail.com is not the direct connection to the Democratic candidate's inbox that we may have thought it was; a new video feature puts congressional competitors head-to-heard, answering the same questions; and loads more.

Both the online left and the online right gather in Austin, though the size and profile of Netroots Nation demonstrates the distance that conservatives still have to travel on the Internet; a congressman takes up a new post as Flip-equipped correspondent for the effort to move elections to a more sensible day; a candidate's web comic helps to sextuple the existing fundraising record in his race; and much, much more.

A group protesting Barack Obama's stand on warrantless surveillance has attracted more than 10,000 members in just a week, making it the largest user-created group on MyBarackObama.com; we spotlight a tech policy dust-up worth keeping an eye on: the conservative battle over broadband; a new experiment in governing out of the U.K. pairs government data stashes and a cash prize; and much, much more.

With Change.org and Project Agape trying to make good use of the Facebook apps platform, you wouldn’t think there’s room for yet another social causes app. Razoo is hoping there is.

I am often told by people who "know" that, like the bl

The Web on the Candidates -- Daily Digest Lite

Over PrezVid Jeff Jarvis takes a look at what presidential candidates are advertising using Google AdSense, and whose keywords they're advertising with. The most active advertisers are Hillary Clinton -- who's advertising on Obama, Biden, and Dodd searches, and Rudy Giuliani -- who's advertising on McCain, Brownback, Tancredo and the phrase "flat tax." This basically means that when you do a search for, say, McCain or Tancredo, you may see an ad for Giuliani on the right side of the page. Take a closer look at the post for many more interesting results, including the fact that "no one — no candidate, no brand, no news organization, no one — is advertising against “Bush” and “George W. Bush”, even negatively. Nobody wants any of that on them."