I think the fundamental premise is very true, that FB communications have become degraded due to the sheer volume of often unimportant traffic. How to sort the wheat from the chaff?

Worth a read:

http://www.jonworth.eu/facebook-isn%e2%80%99t-working/

This year I feature in two categories, this blog is in under ‘Best blog by a politician’ which I quite like as before I was lumped in with ‘political blogs’ which was good company sure, but difficult on a competitive level where the categories differed subtly. Some were dedicated commentators and analysts (including some professional journalists) and others were trying to knock out a few words when time permitted to give a local heads up. So the new category makes sense and is better suited here.

During the past year I also joined the team at IrishElection.com which is a previous multi-award winner and I would like to think their new recruit’s alternate analysis and keen counterpoint to the anti-establishment bias gives them a more complete portfolio and may even nudge the award back into the IE camp again. This time with me joining them in the winners’ enclosure of course

Full list of nominations and categories here:

http://awards.ie/blogawards/2010/02/20/2010-irish-blog-awards-nominations/

So I’m making an appeal. If you like this blog or if it provokes you in any way please say so.  Just try leaving a comment after you read a post. Tell your friends, spread the word. Lionise or lacerate, your choice.  But either way I’d love to hear your views..

PS To those of you who already comment thankyou it is much appreciated.

Having been around the ward a bit at this stage I now have the details on where exactly does and doesn’t have the service. It all depends on the local exchange, whether or not it is enabled, and then on your own connection and your distance to the exchange. Some houses require a localised upgrade while most will benefit immediately from an exchange upgrade, providing however that the distance from exchange does not exceed 5 KM.

It can be inconsistent at times. There are parts of Caragh where one side of the road has it (high speed broadband) and the other doesn’t. Two Mile House don’t have but are in line when the Athgarvan exchange comes on stream later this year – however it will still depend on distance along the wire.

When I met people in Eadestown a month or so back it came across as the number one issue. I used some of my contacts to track down senior management in Eircom and put it to them. A local techie had also raised it at a First Tuesday meeting recently and a local petition was gathering momentum. I always say credit where its due and I have to say Eircom were very responsive and reacted very positively to the concerns. Originally they told me June but they actually upgraded ahead of schedule last month with the result that the area now has a fully enabled exchange and hence high speed broadband. Result.

One down, two to go (Caragh, Two Mile House). I’ll keep on it.

Obama is credited with an unprecedented online campaign

Joe was in town to announce a new partnership with Fianna Fail on the parties new website. Whilst in town there was a gig organised to allow him share his wisdom.

I received an invite via the normal channels (FF press office) and it was fairly standard, FF hosting an audience with an online guru, etc etc so far so excellent, and I was really hoping to get along. I was a bit miffed at the short notice and as it turned out logistics would not permit my attendance but it was a great step in the right direction. As someone interested in Obama, FF, politics and technology it pretty much ticked all the boxes for me.

So far, so good. Unfortunately things started to go wrong. The firm charged with pulling the thing together was in hybrid mode, as an FF Cllr who runs his own media firm. Nothing wrong with that, and contrary to popular perception perhaps, Cllrs. do actually need a day job, being slightly (well actually majorly!) less well paid than our town cousins in the big house.

However the problem was whilst one audience were invited to an FF event (albeit a small ‘ff’ – a public talk hosted while he was in town with the party) another section seemingly had no idea there was a political tie-in. A separate invite had been fired into the blogosphere via the tech/media wing of the organising outfit which alas skipped over the basic premise. Result was a crowd of bloggers turned up to hear Rospars but seemed to pop a fuse when the FF logo hovered into view. I can’t speak for the quality of the event not physically being present but reports vary on whether Rospars spoke for 40 or 5 minutes. I certainly would have been annoyed had I cancelled other arrangements and travelled specially to Dublin (as I almost did) only to hear a 5 minute talk but a 40 minute one may have been worth it. Who knows but I will check out the video which I believe is coming onstream shortly.

Long story short an online backlash ensued here here here and here for starters. Some wailing, some gnashing, some grumbling and some grievences. Some gems and some gyrations. I can understand why the guys are complaining btu I can’t help wondering would there have been the same reaction had it been a Campbells soup ad he was in town to launch (for example). But absolutely, the thing should have been made clear what it was all about from the start. I have a slightly different grievance to the rest of the gang possibly, in that I can’t understand why it wasn’t shouted from the rooftops that Rospars was in town and here with FF. Well it was in the invite I got but not in the one that went out through Stawberry media. Lets all sing off the same hymn sheet in future is the message fairly loud and clear and there’s been lots of public mea culpa from the principal protagonist / central cuplrit.

I’m looking forward to getting the vid-cast of the talk itself, and hopefully distilling some nuggets, also looking forward to taking the new site for a test drive. I have a personal reservation as to how well online tactics can be applied on a local level (e.g. for a local election campaign) as opposed to a massive (300 million) catchment for a US presidential one. I’ve been trying out some tools, obviously the blog itself but also twitter and facebook and so forth and have some mixed views. Twitter is an interesting social tool. The blog is an excellent way to disseminate information. Facebook I’ve a few complaints about. But I may return to that theme another day.

Anyway make your own mind up – here’s the new site: www.fiannafail.ie

Hi, lawlessj (lawlessj).

Barack Obama (BarackObama) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out Barack Obama’s profile here:

http://twitter.com/BarackObama

Best,
Twitter

Course it’s open to yall not just himself ; http://twitter.com/lawlessj

Like the immediate aftermath of the Nixon denouement, all sorts of tales from the dying days are now beginning to emerge – tales of accounts hacking and moderators abusing permissions and user confidentiality are swarming the blogosphere… Stories of intercepted private messages, rumours of YFG posters finding their avatars (user logos) morphing overnight into IRSP placards, and so forth..

As someone who moderated and even ran an FF private chatroom on the site, just like the Pistols at the Hacienda, the last helicopter out of Saigon, or the men behind the barricades in 69/16 I can truly say I was there when it all came down…

But I am interested, if anyone can tell me, does anyone know what the hell is actually going on?

And most importantly where are all the P.ie refugees going to find a new home? (The comments section has been quiet here..Hint Hint)

Cedar Lounge revolution was my own personal polblog favourite for sheer academic quality content and of course the boys are all P.ie gene pool, not that we’d be nepotists or anything like that of course. Slugger O’Toole I remarked upon for incredibly high interaction levels although I guess it’s been around a while. The event was a fun night which turned into a late one although I now remember why I don’t go to nightclubs any more (more anon).

Was an odd crowd. Most eclectic. As I mingled and said my hellos, was strange how people (whom I’d never met before nor had even read my blog) started off not liking me (it’s an FF thing – with us or against us – you get used to it) and ended up apologising and trying to be nice by the time I was leaving. One guy for example had setup his blog specifically ‘to bring down Bertie’ so we were on a sticky wicket there from the start. Turned out he was an ex-FG candidate (they’re all Regan wannabes now). Anyway despite initial skirmishes we parted on good terms and moved onto the next table. Amazing how much networking and speed dating have in common.

There were some nice folk of course such as Clockwork Rob who joined me in a grumbling session at the bar after neither of us won although Evil Bob his sidekick didn’t appear as affable, muttering something about me being a Fauler (which I took as a reference to Monsignor Faul making a mental note to fact check my Ed Molony books later). And a nice chap from Kilkeny told me all about the cats answer to John Peel. Earlier I had ended up writing an acceptance speech on the back of my nametag when I realised I could be in front of 400 people with a microphone in mere moments but alas my superlatives proved superflous.

Anyway cheers to the organisers and sponsors for a good bash, is a great industry gig if nothing else, and a special thanks to the judge who early on in the night revealed how highly rated I’d scored under quality, frequency and interaction (so why didn’t I win then? But I’m not bitter) and later after many wines and several stouts confessed to being a closet Fianna Failer.. so at least there’s a happy ending

Much as I hate to drive congestion charges off the front page, the hour is nearly upon us and just over 24 hours remains till the defining moment of our time, the day of reckoning, the final denouement in the grand spectacle of the Irish Blog Awards will be here..

With the weight of the entire North Kildare political blogging community on my shoulders I await to take my place on the shoulders of giants.

But rather than sheepishly studying tally figures in the corners why not swap notes in advance, or at least say hello to each other so I am suggesting we sell out and go do a pre-meet of our own..

Alexander foyer – 6.46-7.13pm.. first in grab an area and start waving. Polbloggers are us.