Campaign 2006 Online

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The Wall Street Journal

Campaign 2006 Online

New Sites Aim to Capitalize On Social-Networking Craze To Spark Political Involvement
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
September 21, 2006; Page D1

Social networking sites such as MySpace.com can help people find new friends, dates or jobs. Now, with election season kicking into gear, a host of new sites aim to help them find political allies -- or sparring partners.

The sites say they are nonpartisan and aren't intended to help elect particular candidates or parties. But some are being launched by heavyweights in politics and the technology industry. Hotsoup.com, which plans to go live next month, is backed by Joe Lockhart, President Clinton's former press secretary and Mark McKinnon, former media strategist for President Bush. The site will invite users to discuss hot topics like health-care reform and immigration. Campaigns Wikia, started by the founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, launched this summer and allows members to create and share profiles and collaboratively draft and edit articles on political topics and campaigns.

Other new sites have humbler origins. Essembly.com, unveiled this year, was founded by a 23-year-old Harvard grad who worked on John Kerry's presidential campaign. The site now has thousands of members who organize around "resolves," more than 10,000 user-created statements ranging from "Laura Bush is an outstanding first lady" to "Election Day should be extended to Election Week." MorePerfect.org, launched this summer, was founded by Tim Killian of Seattle, who has helped run local referendums in Washington state.

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The new sites are primarily comprised of user-generated content including personal profiles that members populate with photos, information about where they live and their political interests. Hotsoup.com, however, will also feature opinions from some prominent personalities such as cycling champion Lance Armstrong and former White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Candidates for political office will be able to create their own profiles. Hotsoup.com says Sen. John McCain and Barack Obama will have profiles up on the site when it launches... While privacy-conscious users can typically register with just an email address, the profiles often ask for more detailed information than those on other social networking sites. Essembly.com, for example, asks users to agree or disagree with a series of introductory resolves ranging from "Comprehensive health care is every citizen's right" to "Overall, free trade is good for American workers." The site crunches the user's answers to those questions, along with all the other "resolves" he votes on, to rank a member's ideological closeness to other members, which can be used to help them identify political allies.

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