John Sharp Launches Online Social Networking Site For Senate Race

In a first for Texas, John Sharp’s campaign has launched a full-fledged online social networking site as part of his bid for United States Senate.

You can visit the website at SharpSenator.com (a catchy name in and of itself).

Over the past couple of election cycles (and even in the current election cycle), we’ve heard other Texas candidates promise this kind of thing, but none had the foresight to actually deliver on the promise. Sharp’s website is modeled off of the very successful “My.BarackObama.com” tools that were used across the nation with great success during the last election cycle.

The same technology Sharp is using is already in use in a Virginia senate race, and has attracted the attention of CNN.

Sharp’s site was developed by Jerome Armstrong of MyDD fame. Longtime Texas Netroots activist Nate Wilcox worked with Armstrong on the site.

Any Texas Democrat–whether they support Sharp or not–should be excited about this development. If you ever used the “My.BarackObama” tools during the last election, you’ll recall how useful the tools were not just to mobilize people for Obama, but to mobilize people for local candidates and local events.

Sharp’s toolset offers the same functionality. You can organize events, connect with people, and more. One of the coolest parts of the site is that you can actually use it to urge people to “take action,” such as write a letter to the editor, call an elected official, etc. That’s something Obama’s toolset didn’t have (at least, not that I remember). People can blog, create interest groups, meet people in their area, etc.

One reason this is special is because it is online grassroots organizing that will be able to stay around after the campaign, and it is accessible to all Democrats. Just like Obama’s “my.BarackObama” is still around, so too would Sharp’s SharpSenator.com be once he is elected (or the election is over). The site lays the foundation for a new generation of organizing in Texas.

As one of a few netroots activists invited to help test the site behind the scenes over the last few days, I have to say that I’m very impressed with SharpSenator.com. I see a lot of potential there that will help propel Sharp to a win, and help bolster Democrats up and down the ballot.

Tweet This Post   Ping This Post

Bookmark It