In politics, advocacy and business, largely static Web sites remain common, often representing opportunity lost. Complementing the need for a strong, viable message, the entire WA Republican apparatus - state party, county and district organizations, candidates, officeholders - must get better online. Message-wise, key approaches involve dynamic rather than static content, and "pull" technology, not outmoded "push" boosting inbox clutter. So, the WA House GOP's new Web site rates a look. Especially the "Capitol Buzz" daily news and opinion round-up by category, useful to bloggers of all stripes in an OrbusMax-y kind of way.
However, the "Capitol Buzz" links (today, at least) include many articles and editorials reflecting liberal priorities. Exactly how partisan can a publicly-financed Web site be? Not egregiously so, certainly. But the House GOP's online press releases are pretty combative and partisan at times. So how much more of a stretch would it be to make "Capitol Buzz" more blog-like and directed; with news and opinion links, plus value-add commentary girding the agenda of the caucus? The other apparent option would be a party-funded site with the same attributes.
Also notable at the House GOP's revamped site is the often-refreshed page of linkable press releases. These are never the whole story, but when the meat-to fluff-ratio warrants, they're at least now more useful to new media than old-school linkless versions sent in the body of an e-mail or as a file attachment.
Such tactical considerations and the larger strategic framework are increasingly germane to politicos, advocates and business as the rise of blogs continues, and as newspapers increasingly embrace the blogosphere. Reuters notes that a new Nielsen/Net Ratings report found: unique visitors to blogs housed at the largest online newspapers more than tripled last month versus a year ago; and that at online newspapers, their own blog pages drew 13 percent of all visits last month versus four percent one year ago.
Expect these trends to gain more steam in coming months and years.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 18, 2007 11:09 AM | Email ThisIt would be good to see, but my bet is on Static as in the speed of an elephant.
Posted by: swatter on January 18, 2007 11:03 AMSorry to be harsh, but I think the point still is that the web can be used far more than as a copy of a campaign brochure. I agree completely that it is an opportunity lost. I check my feeds from 72 blogs daily and if something catches my eye then I go to their website. I would love to add feeds from the GOP state websites if they existed.
Posted by: DJ on January 18, 2007 01:01 PMBut, still, it is a good start for the Rs to start getting web savvy in this State.
Posted by: swatter on January 18, 2007 02:07 PMNote that "Capitol Buzz" isn't intended to be a pro-Republican piece. It's intended to capture the news of the day, published on news media sites throughout the state, that is relevant to legislators in their work. That will include news and commentary that both agrees and disagrees with your position. The fact that it links to a lot of "liberal priorities" isn't surprising, if that's what the media is reporting that day. "Capitol Buzz" will include links to blogs, too. It's a once-a-day clipping service for legislators, not intended be something "sticky" that keeps the public coming back.