Today sees the public launch of ACT, the Liberal Democrats’ new social action network. This is the second launch in our three-part strategy,following on from the new-look libdems.org.uk.
ACT is a place where supporters can connect with one another, organise events and campaigns, share photos and videos and talk about politics.
Our aim is to reach a community of Liberal Democrats that extends beyond the formal boundary of party membership. So although ACT will be maintained as a Liberal Democrat supporting community, it is open to non-members as well as members.
The site has been running for a few days after a soft-launch to get the content started, but there is now a link to it on the Home Page of libdems.org.uk and other Lib Dem sites. It will also be promoted through various Lib Dem email lists.
ACT is built on the Californian-based social network platform Ning that has great usability and, with its use of Ning Apps and the OpenSocial framework, will allow further innovation and customisation.
We plan to develop a number of bespoke campaigning and fundraising apps over the coming months to extend the capability of ACT.
The third part of the web strategy, launching in December, is a completely new Members’ Website that will deliver party news, information and campaigning resources.
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11 Comments
Hooray. An insular, inward-looking third-rate Facebook clone walled garden which doubles the amount of work I have to do because now I have to do it on two sites instead of one. What a waste of time.
I think it’s a great tool and I’m really looking forward to using it. 🙂
To register the site is asking me for the day month and year for my birthday. But I have one every year!
Dave, I’d take the opposite view. I like the fact that I can now gradually unclog my Facebook profile, which is so overwhelmed with party connections that I can’t use it to keep in touch with my “normal” friends any more! It’s much more useful to have party stuff in a separate place.
The trouble with having something dedicated to the party is that it’s, well, dedicated to the party. When I organise events in my ward, I invite Lib Dems who I know will want to help my campaign, plus a bunch of locals who don’t want to be associated with the party but are happy to help out and get involved with what I’m doing to help the local community. All of the former will be on both ACT and Facebook, the latter will only be on Facebook.
Using ACT instead of Facebook makes it harder for me to get people involved, and using ACT as well as Facebook is redundant.
I’ve written more about this at http://jazzhandsseriousbusiness.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/lib-dems-inact/
…and whatever you do make sure you alter the settings so you don’t get bombarded with emails. It drove me mad.
http://andershanson.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/one-piece-of-advice-for-people-joining-lib-dem-act/
A very clever idea. 🙂 Whilst for some folks I can imagine it will be more irritating than helpful, for the Lib Dems scattered across the country with no connections, this will provide a link to the social side of the party.
Thanks for that Anders, I (and my inbox) love you lots!
Colin
ps Happy Birthday : )
I think it’s an awesome innovation for the party. Definitely easier for people who don’t want to entirely conflate their personal and political personas.
It’s open to non-members too, so even casual supporters can join, find out about events in their area and get involved.
Take a deeper look – there are loads of fun and interesting things on there!
Where do I signup for ACTS? I am not too good on the computer.
Douglas: if you visit http://act.libdems.org.uk/ you can sign up on the site.