In the 2008 election, women turned out in droves to raise money and to cast their votes.

Still, they were unpredictable till the end, making up 60 percent of all undecided registered voters just two weeks before the election.

How do you harness a constituency that is engaged and looking for real answers -- not to mention one that’s too big to ignore?

You can start with one group: mothers. In 2006, the U.S. Census estimated that mothers make up 55% of women ages 15-44, and 80% of women 40-44.

Thursday, July 23rd at the PdF Network
Forging Alliances Online: How MomsRising Built a Versatile Activist Force
1-2 p.m. EST

Join the call!

Since it was founded in May 2006, MomsRising members have taken over a million online and on-the-ground actions on issues ranging from paid sick leave, to healthcare and fair pay. MomsRising works with over 90 aligned organizations, leveraging its grassroots base to achieve their shared policy goals.

Earlier this year, the customizable “Momsrising.org Mother of the Year” video went viral. It gained more than 10 million views to date -- and more than tripled the organization’s membership in just a few days.

This Thursday, Rosalyn Lemieux of Fission Strategy and Katie Bethell of MomsRising will show us how they’re using technology to band moms together nationwide.

Join the call!

Upcoming PdF Network calls:

Aug 6 | Journalists and Bloggers: Navigating the Changing Media Landscape | Scott Rosenberg, co-founder Salon.com & author of "Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters"

Sept 10 | How to Harness Changes in African American Participation Online | Cheryl Contee, Fission Strategy & JackandJillPolitics.com

Sept 24 | Measuring Online Advocacy & Fundraising: Learnings from the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study | Marc Ruben & Karen Matheson, M+R Strategic Services

RSVP here!

Oct 8 | Thirty Staffers and No Office: How to Make the Virtual Organization Work, the MoveOn Model | Ilyse Hogue, MoveOn.org

Oct 22 | Mobile Volunteers: How to Harness Microvolunteering for Your Cause | Jacob Colker, The Extraordinaries

Dec 3 | A $10 Challenge Turns into $25 Million: The "Nothing But Nets" Case Study | Shannon Raybold, UN Foundation

RSVP here!

Missed a call? Listen to a podcast of any one of our previous calls and learn about how to Google for votes, fundraising and organizing through Twitter, evaluating returns on investment in social media, how to pitch (and not pitch) a political blogger, building a social network, longtail nanotargeting, and more.

In the tumultuous days after the Iranian election, we turned to the internet for a moment-by-moment account of events on the ground -- and wondered how all of this would affect the ultimate outcome.

Supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi used the internet to campaign and organize -- but the Iranian government also used technology to its advantage.

For all of the potential of the internet to change political communications, is technology changing the fundamental nature of power?

Can the keyboard ever win against the barrel of a gun?

Fresh off her lunchtime session on the topic at PdF 2009, Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org, will share share insights of Iranians' and our experience of this and other controversial elections through social media.

Thursday, July 9th at the PdF Network
Social Media in Crisis: Lessons from the Iran Election Aftermath

RSVP here.

And we’ve added a whole slew of upcoming calls:

July 23 | Forging Alliances Online: How MomsRising Built a Versatile Activist Force | Rosalyn Lemieux, Fission Strategy

Aug 6 | Journalists and Bloggers: Navigating the Changing Media Landscape | Scott Rosenberg, co-founder Salon.com & author of "Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters"

Sept 10 | How to Harness Changes in African American Participation Online | Cheryl Contee, Fission Strategy & JackandJillPolitics.com

Sept 24 | Measuring Online Advocacy & Fundraising: Learnings from the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study | Marc Ruben & Karen Matheson, M+R Strategic Services

Oct 8 | Thirty Staffers and No Office: How to Make the Virtual Organization Work, the MoveOn Model | Ilyse Hogue, MoveOn.org

Oct 22 | Mobile Volunteers: How to Harness Microvolunteering for Your Cause | Jacob Colker, The Extraordinaries

Dec 3 | A $10 Challenge Turns into $25 Million: The "Nothing But Nets" Case Study | Shannon Raybold, UN Foundation

Missed a call? Listen to a podcast of any one of our previous calls and learn about how to Google for votes, fundraising and organizing through Twitter, evaluating returns on investment in social media, how to pitch (and not pitch) a political blogger, building a social network, longtail nanotargeting, and more.

"Mock not," pleaded blogger Andrew Sullivan as he posted an instaclassic of hyperbole, "The Revolution Will Be Twittered" in praise of Iranian supporters of Mir Hussein Moussavi who took the streets and - in some cases - used the short-form blogging services to post about the scene in Tehran.

Mock on, says I.

There is something like digital catnip on the breakfast bar for western politicogeeks in the story of Iran's disputed election and the ensuing power struggle roiling the Middle East's largest theocracy. Anything that suggests that some of the tools and tricks adopted among the wired, iPhone-wielding politically active classes in the United States may be used to - dramatic pause - start a revolution in one of the world's most dangerous countries carries the potency of a synthetic narcotic injected into the great XML vein of the Internet...

Hillary Clinton has been talking up online diplomacy, as Micah Sifry and Nancy Scola reported in this space, and her husband is getting in on the act, too.