Lobbyist Welcomes Facebook, MySpace into Policy Campaigns

Dutko Worldwide Vice Chairman for Public Policy Gary J. Andres writes in this morning's Wash Times that "new media technologies, which started with political applications, are now quickly migrating to the lobbying world." (DC PR firms like mine are already helping companies navigate this world.) More Andres:

Expanding these tools [like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook] into lobbying and advocacy is already happening too, but a lot more is on the way...In the public-policy world, as with electoral politics, whoever figures out the best way to use new media and the Internet will possess a major advocacy advantage. Applying new media techniques more broadly to lobbying offers huge potential and is already well underway.

[A] post last week on the Personal Democracy Forum Web site underscored this point. It highlighted a campaign by a group called Campus Progress, which is advocating more funding for college financial aid. Advertisements in the campaign urge students to help "make college affordable now" by text messaging the word "Debt" to a code that sends an automated response asking for their e-mail address and ZIP code. A subsequent e-mail tells them how to get in touch with their representatives (based on ZIP code).