AmericaSpeakingOut helps House Republicans Reach its Constituents

Timeframe

May 2010

Company

Microsoft

Contact Name

Jamin Spitzer

Short Description 

Old-style town hall meetings have been a staple of American politics for more than two centuries.  With the rise of social media, House Republicans used Microsoft TownHall to bring a town hall atmosphere to their online dialogue with the American public.

Long Description

It’s no secret that reaching citizens online is a top priority for those looking to engage and mobilize the American public.  Each day, thousands of citizens take to the blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels to comment on the latest political news and happenings in Washington D.C.  For citizens, they want to be heard.  For policymakers, the rise of social media has created new ways to talk to constituents but has introduced a burden of collecting and making sense of wide ranging opinions on an even wider range of topics.

In May, the House Republicans launched America Speaking Out as a platform for people to log on whenever and wherever they want to be involved in the development of a new governing agenda. The site is organized by different topics and sub-topics (so “Fiscal accountability” includes more detailed subjects like “waste,” “tax reform,” “budget process,” and “long term debt.”)

Within each topic section, users can submit a policy proposal, respond to the ideas others have submitted or debate specific proposals. Next to each topic, users can click on a Facebook or Twitter icon to take the discussion with them to their favorite social network. Also, next to every idea posted, users can vote and idea up or down, much like the “like” feature found on Facebook. Users can sort proposals to read through by how popular they are to find out what other Americans are passionate about.

The response to the site has been overwhelming. In just three months, hundreds of thousands of citizens across the country have submitted more than fifteeen thousand ideas and cast nearly one million votes on a wide variety of topics.  What’s more, the House Republicans have taken action on the citizen-submitted ideas and introduced legislation to Congress based on the popular will of the site’s participants.

Powering the America Speaking Out experience behind the scenes is Microsoft TownHall, a new online engagement platform Microsoft launched this spring that runs on Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform. Microsoft designed TownHall not only as a platform to support these types of mass conversations, but also as a vehicle to extend the discussion via social networks like Twitter and Facebook and in a way that’s accessible across any Internet-connected devices (including multiple mobile platforms), making it easier than ever for people to speak out anytime, anywhere.

Leader's Effect on Outcome

House Republicans, led by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R, California), developed the site because they have a desire to more deeply engage with citizens across the country on issues most important to the American public.

The site allows visitors to talk, blog or tweet about the issues that matter most to them. It allows citizens to directly inform Republicans on what they think the biggest priorities should be.

To increase awareness of America Speaking Out, Rep. McCarthy gave CNN an exclusive sneak peek at the site. “This is a new town hall mechanism — never used before. To me it’s revolutionary, because it allows the individual to have greater control and say. For too long, people think nobody in Washington listens to them. This starts listening across the country and lets them provide the idea, but also debate the idea,” McCarthy said.

Impact

The response to the site has been overwhelming. In just under two months, hundreds of thousands of citizens across the country have submitted more than 15,000 ideas and cast nearly one million votes on topics from fiscal responsibility to immigration to national security and much more.

House Republicans are using the site to listen to the American public, interact with constituents, share legislative priorities and even draft legislation based on the site participants’ suggestions.

What You Learned

Old-style town hall meetings have been a staple of American politics for more than two centuries.  With the rise of social media, House Republicans used Microsoft TownHall to bring a town hall atmosphere to their online dialogue with the American public.  With the assistance of Microsoft and other technology partners, Republican policymakers are using AmericaSpeakingOut to host massively scalable conversations across America.

Related URL

http://www.americaspeakingout.com/

Explanatory Screenshots or Videos

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Last Modified on: 09/10/2010 01:41 PM EDT