Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Is There an App for That? App's for Lobbying

Practically everyone either has or is thinking about having an iPhone or iPad.  You can actually do more with that thing than play Angry Birds -- you can use it for your lobbying and advocacy work.

Check out the iTunes App Store and do some simple searches for Congress, government, advocacy, lobbying and other related key word searches.  Someone has created an App for Michigan political contributions that allows searching out anyone that has contributed to Michigan members of Congress.  Another App is a directory to the Michigan legislature and includes pictures, bios and contact information.

These Apps are becoming more and more popular and are likely available for your state as well as the federal government.a



Check out Congress in Your Pocket .  They have several different reference Apps available that will become necessities for you advocacy efforts.  There are many competitors entering this field and most are cheap and easy to use.

Congress in Your Pocket currently covers the following units of government:


California
Chicago
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
President
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin

Here's the sample of the Michigan legislature App:

Michigan in Your Pocket
 Now you can have all of the members of the Michigan Legislature and their key staff right in your pocket.
MICHIGAN offers you all of the vital information you need to be an active and effective citizen. 
 Michigan+ ($4.99) provides you with contact, staff, campaign and biographical information. MichiganPro($9.99) keeps you updated for one full year. MichiganPro for Android and BlackBerry ($29.99) keeps you updated for one full year and adds access from any computer.
  
Search for the legislator you want to contact and then call, email, or post feedback to their web forms. Visiting the state capitol? Tap on any address and get directions using Google maps. Want to follow the money? Tap on campaign finance and get a list of top contributors, industries, and economic interests. Want to follow legislation? Visit the "More" section and search for the bills you want to track and see how much the each member raised for his or her most recent campaign.
The applications include bookmarks you assign, a link to the official legislature bill information system, a special tab for new members of the legislature, a link to the governor's official website, a link to theMoney In State Politics Michigan page, a link to the Detroit Free Pressmobile website, our Twitter feed and blog, polls on issues, user feedback, FAQ, and the ability to email us updates on members of the legislature. 
Our goal is to maintain the most comprehensive and up-to-date data on members of the Michigan Legislature. Information in these applications is strictly maintained by our team, which is led by Lisa McGraw, who lives in Michigan. We also receive helpful updates from our users, which we check out to make sure they are correct.
INCLUDED INFORMATION
  • Full name
  • Color photo
  • District and political party
  • Title
  • Mailing address with link to a Google map
  • Official website
  • Telephone number
  • Email address or web contact form
  • Key staff names
  • Committee membership
  • Campaign news
  • Campaign finance
  • Campaign website
  • Campaign opponent and website
  • Most recent election results
  • Short biography



More are coming soon.

Now you can get back to Angry Birds!

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