Digg

It’s been a while since I’ve heard chatter on the blogosphere about building a Rightroots movement (I last commented on it at the end of October). However, over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a number of major developments that suggest we might be on the verge of establishing a true and effective Rightroots movement.

When John Hawkins wrote about this topic, he noted that (emphasis added):

One of the biggest problems online — and this extends outside of the blogosphere — is that there are far more liberals online than conservatives and they’re much more enthusiastic.

Because of that, huge websites that can drive a lot of traffic like Digg, Fark, and YouTube have come to be dominated by liberals, even though they aren’t liberal per se.

Over the past few months, some great minds on the Right – people like Patrick Ruffini, Mindy Finn, Eric Odom, and Michael P. Leahy – have taken the lead in organizing conservatives online. As a result, I believe we’re witnessing a substantial increase in both online participation and enthusiasm among the Rightosphere. Although we haven’t fully established ourselves on Digg or YouTube (yet), we have taken Twitter by storm – and establishing a significant conservative presence on other websites may be coming very soon.

And so without further ado, I wanted to take a highlight a few fantastic websites/projects that have come to fruition since the election that are helping to organize a Rightroots movement. If you’re not already active with them, you should definitely check them out and consider getting involved.

1. Rebuild the Party – When Patrick Ruffini and Mindy Finn initially started Rebuild the Party, it was simply a forward-looking plan for the Republican Party (albeit a phenomenal plan that I have enthusiastically endorsed). However, it has since blossomed into a substantial movement. Over 7,000 people, mostly ordinary citizens, have endorsed the plan. All but one of the candidates for RNC Chair has publicly announced their support for it. And over 2,100 folks have jointed the Rebuild the Party Action Network. This is a very strong showing of the Rightroots who are clearly looking to rebuild after the devastating results of the 2008 election.
2. News Platoon and DiggCons – A number of folks, led by Eric Odom, launched the #dontgo Movement in response to the Congress’ unwillingness to pass offshore drilling legislation in August. And although #dontgo remains the umbrella organization, Eric has recently released a number of notable new spin-off projects. One of them, News Platoon, is building a state-by-state grassroots network that offers “REAL news stories across” a given state. New Platoon’s first state, Tennessee, is in beta. The other project that Eric just today released, Diggcons, is aiming to even the conservative hand on Digg, where for the most part the Right is held to a whisper.
3. Top Conservatives on Twitter – Michael P. Leahy started Top Conservatives on Twitter as “a rallying point for conservatives on Twitter.” The #tcot hash tag has been one of the top 10 trending topics on Twitter for weeks now. The list started out with no more than a few hundred names; it has since ballooned to nearly 2,000 users, and 15 RNC members have signed up on Twitter.

With websites and projects like these springing up across the nation, I truly believe that we are witnessing a new conservative online movement. We may not yet have established a true Rightroots movement, but I am starting to think that we are getting very close. A critical next step will be using peer production and mass collaboration to our advantage.

On this night, whether to the left or to the right,

Politics disappears and there is no fight.

Christmas Eve is here, and Santa is near,

So be not grumpy, just be a dear.

Celebrate Christmas, with all its cheer.

With Christmas Eve upon us we take the time to put aside our differences and forget the overburdening taxation, intrusive policies and misguided direction of Democrats.

In the spirit of the holiday and the goodwill it brings, we wish all who celebrate the birth of Christ a merry Christmas and to those who don't, we extend respectful wishes of comfort and joy for you and yours.

And remember.......... For the next day, the letter "R" stands for reindeer, not Republican!

I saw a post on thenextright the other day that linked to a DontGo article on how conservatives need to collaborate more.  One of the suggestions was to get 500+ people to drive certain stories to the top on Digg.com.

I had never paid must attention to these rating tools like Digg, Reddit, or Buzz, but thought that to the extent that these sites drive traffic, there could be some value there, so I signed up for a Digg account.

I saw a Digg icon at John Ziegler's http://www.howobamagotelected.com that exposes the result of the media bias during the 2008 election.  So I Dugg it.

Ziegler's YouTube video had been Dugg 1967 times, which should be plenty to get it up on the most Dugg list.  I looked at the most Dugg stories in the Political News section for the past 30 days (it had first been dug 8 days ago) and went to the second page and found where it should have been, right between "Bush Regrets Comments During Presidency" with 2058 Diggs and "Chris Matthews: My Job Is To Make Obama Presidency A Success" with 1797 Diggs.

Ziegler's video was no where to be found.  It is on Digg's site, but conspicuously missing from the "front page" where people visiting Digg might spot it.

Is Digg spiking stories it doesn't like?

If you're a techie like me, you probably love Digg.  If you're not familiar with it, Digg is an immensely popular social networking website -- according to Alexa, Digg is the 32nd most popular website in terms of traffic in the United States, and the 112th most popular website across the entire world.  Digg allows its users to submit links to content, and then other users vote for or "Digg" the content (and if they dislike a link, they can "Bury" it).  Using a complex algorithm that takes into account number of up and down votes and other criteria, Digg calculates which links are the best, and places them on the Front Page.

Digg is arguably the best place on the web to find out the latest news in areas such as technology, science, entertainment, and sports.  It also features political and world news -- but the problem with this is that there is an incredible liberal bias among users at Digg.  Don't believe me?  Just check out the latest political stories: "McCain Stacks Fox News 'Town Hall' With Supporters" (from the Huffington Post); "Rep. Kucinich not giving up on Bush impeachment"; and even "Alert: Impeach Bush - Contact Your Congress Person," which links to a website encouraging you to contact your Congress person to support the impeachment of the President and has received nearly 2800 Diggs at the time of writing.

Don't get me wrong, there are other great places that index political news out there -- RealClearPolitics is just one example -- but they all lack the feature that makes Digg so powerful:  all of the content is generated and promoted by the community.

Out of the belief that members of the Right deserve better, I just today launched a website called R-igg.  I'm hoping that R-igg can serve as the social networking and social content tool for Right-minded folks like myself.

I would like to encourage you to visit the R-igg website, create a user account, and begin sharing links and content -- it's 100% free.  With your help, I believe that we can establish a Right-leaning alternative to Digg.  Thank you for your support in advance!

Aaron Marks is a founding partner of Three Group, LLC, a Pittsburgh-based new media firm that focuses on providing technology-based solutions for Republican candidates and organizations, and in particular has built Web 2.0 campaign management software called Mission Control.  Aaron also worked in new media and voter outreach on Senator Rick Santorum's 2006 re-election campaign.