New Social Media Tool Lets Your Voice Be Heard
Category: Michele Paige, Social Media
Social media is all about the two-way conversations. Most of us use these tools everyday to share our thoughts and information to those who have joined our circle. It’s fun to connect with old friends but how can social media make a difference?
I can’t think of a better use of social media than to be heard by those individuals who represent me – my city, state and federal representatives. Well, guess what? Microsoft has made the ability to connect with these leaders even easier.
During the 2010 Politics Online Conference, Microsoft unveiled TownHall, a social media platform designed to assist political figures and government officials with collecting feedback and assessing the interests of their community.
Our leaders will now be able to build sites dedicated to campaign topics and encourage supporter participation. The TownHall tool will allow like-minded people to share ideas, raise concerns and vote on issues they care about. It also allows members to share their participation on their social networks. According to Microsoft’s fact sheet, another benefit allows users to share TownHall questions and comments on Twitter and Facebook, extending the conversation to include members of their broader social communities.
TownHall is a plug and play web-based platform that is part of Microsoft’s Campaign Ready suite. It is a cloud-based solution hosted on Microsoft's Windows Azure platform.
NASA is already using the TownHall technology for its Be a Martian project. The idea behind this site is to build an online community for “citizen scientists” to share information. And based on its thematic design, it looks like the tool is fully customizable to fit any brand. If you want to try TownHall, visit this demo site.
I am hopeful that my representatives will take full advantage of this new tool so I, and others, can have a voice when it comes to issues that will impact my community.
Source:Microsoft on the Issues
Share Your ThoughtsDo you think politicians will use this new tool or shy away from it? Comment and share your thoughts with us.
Posted By: Michele Paige | Date Published: 5.27.2010 | Comments (1)