Matt Sokoloff

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Sr. Product Manager at Tribune Interactive, news and politics fanatic.

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Why some Democrats and Republicans don't support PAYGO

While the Republicans are being criticized for not supporting PAYGO, I thought it was important to highlight that not all the Democrats support the legislation. Fifteen democrats didn't vote for it including Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach who was at one point a cosponsor. Here is the explanation of why.

Meanwhile, a Kosmas aide wrote this in response to the question about today’s votes:

“She is a strong supporter of PAYGO (cosponsored it, voted to pass it clean), but she is committed to fiscal responsibility and felt that despite the procedural attempt to separate out the PAYGO from the debt limit increase, the underlying resolution would increase the debt limit and she does not want to play procedural games with our nation’s financial future.”

via feeds.orlandosentinel.com

Filed under  //  Politics  
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Posted 3 days ago

Fact Check: Obama's examples of the stimulus plan's success in the #SOTU

So it's hard to make sure you have his exact examples used in the State of the Union but here are my best guesses:

But you don’t have to take their word for it. 

Talk to the small business in Phoenix that will triple its workforce because of the Recovery Act.   

Phoenix small business looks like it's a non-profit cancer research center called International Genomics Consortium. According to Recovery.org they received $7.8 million and "created/saved" is 2.42. An article from AZ Central says "triple" but that was back in October and then apear to be unsure of how much money they would be getting.

Talk to the window manufacturer in Philadelphia who said he used to be skeptical about the Recovery Act, until he had to add two more work shifts just because of the business it created.  

According to Philly.com Accu-Weld saw an increase of 240 percent in window units that are eligible for a tax credit due to energy efficiency. The same article mentions that they are yet to make any new hires but that they did increase the workweek of the 140 employees from 32 hours to 40 hours a week. Since the article was written and Gov. Rendell visited the business they have since been purchased by Haddon Windows because Haddon Windows "saw an opportunity to save Accu-Weld from financial woes and job cuts."

Talk to the single teacher raising two kids who was told by her principal in the last week of school that because of the Recovery Act, she wouldn’t be laid off after all.  

I can't find the specific teach but there have been teaching jobs saved. How many? No one can say.

That's my part in fact checking...if I see any other posts, I'll be sure to link to those.

Filed under  //  Fact Check   Politics  
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Posted 11 days ago

Scott Brown's Voter Bomb and how he could have gone further

I got excited on Monday when I saw Scott Brown's Voter Bomb. A simple site where Mass residents could go to pledge that they are going to vote for Brown and indicate how many other voters they would get to vote too. After you pledge you are given a page to share with your friends and explain why they should vote for Brown. While this is a fantastic idea and got over 32,000 pledges, it didn't go far enough.

Future campaigns should take the voter bomb idea a step further by setting it up like a rewards program. After signing up and pledging their own vote, users should be able to share with their friends. The message should encourage their friends to join their "network" and pledge a vote. If they do the original user receives credit for that new voter and anyone the new voter refers. You a literally tracking the viral distribution of the voter bomb. You could have an overall leader board showing who's network has pledged the most votes or depending on how long you run the site for, a weekly leader board. Everyone who signs up is registered for the GOTV e-mails reminding them they pledged on election day.

What you've done is given potential voters another reason to spread the word by playing off of their competitiveness. Competitiveness motivates people online...just look at the Foursquare type applications success.

Could even take the idea a a step further with an iPhone app that you can get people you see in person to pledge by bumping iPhones.

Obviously the Brown campaign did a fantastic job getting out the vote...It will be interesting to see how these ideas evolve,

Filed under  //  internet   marketing   Politics  
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Posted 18 days ago

Apparently folks think it's cold in the office too.

via tweetie

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Posted 1 month ago

Very long lines at @MCO security this morning.

via tweetie

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Posted 1 month ago

Very long lines at @MCO security this morning.

via tweetie

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Posted 1 month ago

@sbryant playing dance dance revolution...or trying to.

via tweetie

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Posted 1 month ago

Currently on duty - A lot of work to tell users who is tweeting

An interesting little practice we just noticed at play on the State Department's DipNote Twitter feed: since several different folks regularly tweet on behalf of the institutional behemoth, they try to put a more personal face on things by letting us know which of the State Department's 50,000 or so staffers is "on duty" at any one time.

via personaldemocracy.com

This is one way to handle multiple people posting on one Twitter profile. I prefer to use something like CoTweet (I posted about CoTweet here.). This method would require you to go into the profile every time you want to switch "duty." That seems like a lot of work and scheduling....but then again I'm sure the Department of State can handle that.

Filed under  //  marketing   twitter  
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Posted 1 month ago

Get paid for using less energy

EarthAid.net is a Washington-based start-up that keeps track of how much electricity, water and natural gas you use. It works sort of like Quicken for your finances--you plug in your online utility account information and EarthAid pulls in updates from the utility companies. The free site then shows you what you're using and when. If you reduce your energy use, you get points that you can redeem for rewards and discounts from local businesses.

via thehill.com

This is an interesting way for utilities to promote energy efficiency. It adds another incentive to get people to use less energy.

Filed under  //  internet   marketing  
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Posted 1 month ago

How something as simple as cookies can motivate people

I'm always on the lookout for people doing something clever to raise awareness of their issues. Sure begging and tweeting and more begging and more tweeting can work but it's by no means creative. 

Check out what Rich Polt and the folks at Louder than Words did to raise awareness for the non-profit Birthday Wishes and their blog.

Here is how Rich explains it in the e-mail he sent out:

SUBJECT: A holiday gift from Louder Than Words

… in lieu of our annual holiday mailing, we’re undertaking a holiday experiment.

 

Visiting our new blog is good for 1 tasty Molasses Clove cookie from Dancing Deer Baking Company. But you won’t get to eat this cookie. Instead, we’ll purchase it, on your behalf, for an amazing organization called Birthday Wishes, which throws birthday parties for homeless children living in shelters throughout New England.

 

That’s it. There is no catch. Our goal is to have 1,000 unique visits to our Clicks for Cookies blog post before Christmas Eve, which would supply Birthday Wishes with cookies for every Massachusetts-based birthday party in the month of January (one cookie per child in attendance). The folks at Dancing Deer Baking Company have generously extended us a bulk discount to make this possible. We provide all the details about this campaign on our blog.

 

The campaign worked and just two days later they reached their goal. Sure for most blogs 1,000 pageviews isn't going to change the world (nor will an extra cookie) but it makes a difference in the non-profit, Louder Than words and most importantly the one child who got your cookie...oh yeah and the idea is pretty cool.

 

Filed under  //  marketing   non-profit  
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Posted 1 month ago