With all of the social web start-ups and blog widgets now available for everything from internet fundraising to ecommerce, you would think there might be more political blog widgets and social web sites around. Instead, there appears to be a dearth of innovation in using the potential of the social web for politics. SunLight Labs is one of the few exceptions. They have released a blog widget called Popup Politicians. It contains mini profiles of members of congress, with links to them. It is intended as a step in the right direction, towards more government transparency. There are already sites that are all about political transparancy that have been around for years, like VoteSmart. But the viral marketing, social networking, “mashability” and ease of use that characterize social websites and blog widgets could enable projects like VoteSmart to become more popularized and better utilized.

Other Posts Categorized as Social Web:

• Wired Women, What Kind of World Do You Want to Live and Work In? - July 28th, 2006