My OpenCongress: Facebook For Congress Nerds

by Andrew Meyer on January 15, 2008

Update: Near the bottom of this post I suggest that OpenCongress and Facebook should find ways to better integrate since the results could be socially powerful (plus, I can only be a part of so many social networks).

Well, good news!

David Moore over at OpenCongress’ blog says, “… Andrew, yes definitely, we look forward to integrating more of our new features with Facebook and other popular social services… it’s good to hear that new users are picking up our Facebook app…”

About a month ago I totally nerded out with being able to track my senators, representatives and favorite bills via OpenCongress’ site and RSS feeds.

I even called out Robert Scoble for using the Luddite-ish GovTrack instead OpenCongress.

Well, I have some awesome news about my favorite Congress-tracking site OpenCongress.

Yesterday morning, OpenCongress’ head guy Donny Shaw over at their excellent blog contacted me about Monday’s launch of My OpenCongress.

My OpenCongress let’s people create personal profiles on OpenCongress with the bills and people they’re tracking, network with other users, comment and vote on bills, rate news and blog coverage and share their position on specific bills, senators and reps.

You can view my profile and add me as a friend here. Here is a screen capture of my profile:

my-opencongress-profile.png

I know what you’re thinking “Not another social network!” Before you go too far down that road I have to say that this is completely different than any other social network. OpenCongress is aiming to bring extreme transparency and open information to the world of US government.

This is a very ambitious goal given the backwards, closed-off, insider-only world of Congress info and data.

Hopefully, OpenCongress will be able to break open the decades-long trend of people getting their Congress news from a small group of reporters via a very controlled media room via the lips of an experienced PR/media person.

Register for a My OpenCongress profile here. And, catch OpenCongress’ blog posts on their new social network launch here and here.

I can seriously only be a part of so many social networks so I’d love to see integration of My OpenCongress features with Facebook. Do you hear me Facebook and OpenCongress?!? Update: Excellent comments on this issue below.

I have to say OpenCongress does have a really nice Facebook App. Also, sorry for the shameless plug, but BUZZYEAH has its very own Facebook App and Facebook Page (become a fan!).

Read more blog coverage on My OpenCongress over at BoingBoing and Craig Newmark’s blog.

  • Sam, my feelings exactly. I will continue to follow specific bills, senators and reps via RSS in my Google Reader.

    I would like to see fuller integration of My OpenCongress features into my preferred social network Facebook.

    As you can see above, one of my Facebook friends Blaine added the OpenCongress Facebook app to his profile. That's awesome.

    I don't think many of my friends will sign up for My OpenCongress as a standalone social network. However, they will add the ABC/Facebook Politics app to their profile (go figure!).
  • Sam
    I hear you on the oversaturation of social networking sites!!! There is an internal battle between my desire to empower myself with the knowledge and information of "My OpenCongress" and my intense laziness to check yet another networking site. How much time do we consume in a day on blogs and networking sites?
  • Blaine, glad I could return the favor since I get so many cool links from your blog
  • Andrew - thanks for the links! I added OpenCongress to my Facebook account; convenient way to keep track of important bills without adding another site to visit.
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