The President-Elect Wants Your Help
When the Obama transition team launched Change.gov, it began a whole new chapter in how the Federal government views the internet, social media, and the power of listening to citizens. A similar site could have been created years ago, but it took the outside-the-box thinking of the incoming president's team to fully grasp the power of this medium.
Today the Obama team announced it was opening the Citizens' Briefing Book to the public as part of the Change.gov site. Any person can log into the site, post an idea they have for making the country better, and watch as their fellow citizens vote on whether or not they agree. The ideas with the most votes automatically rise to the top, showing others which ideas are most important to the masses.
More than 20,000 ideas have already been posted, so this isn't just a political stunt that will never be used. Whether Obama himself is given a copy of the highest vote-getters remains to be seen, but if he can put down his Blackberry long enough maybe he will actually read them.
The site is powered by Salesforce.com using the same technology that Starbucks and Dell use for their user forums. Mystarbucksidea is one of the best examples of a company listening to its customers and acting on suggestions. Perhaps the greatest benefit of the site is that users need to register in order to post an idea, vote on which they think is best, or comment on what someone else has written.
The Obama team proved during the run-up to the election that they had an enormous database on donors and potential voters, and this is just one more channel for them to feed the massive political marketing machine. If the site creates an open dialogue between citizens and their government officials, then it will certainly be worthwhile. And if anyone can truly harness the power of social media to make democracy more democratic, it's the Obama team.
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