This week saw the advent of some major national initiatives. Newt Gingrich announced his presidential bid through social media, Obama hired his 2012 digital director and the GOP relaunched a site to crowdsource spending cuts.
This weekly series picks out the week's top stories in the intersection of digital technology and politics. Have a look through and let us know what you think by joining the conversation in the comments below.
Newt Gingrich Announces Presidential Bid
Despite his numbers, Gingrich's announcement didn't create much of a boost to his social presence, reported OhMyGov.com.
President Obama 2012 Campaign Hires Digital Director
America's debt is a bit of a problem. Republicans are hoping to give some of the decision power back to the people with YouCut: Phase II, a site that lets the public vote on what the House should cut from the spending bill.
The site was actually launched a little more than a year ago when Republicans were in the minority. However, the relaunch sees the Republican party with a majority in the chamber, meaning those votes might actually bear some legislative fruit. The site will feature new spending cuts each week, drawn in part from user suggestions and ideas. It's unclear how much direct influence the site will have, but it could be a positive step to engage voters by opening up dialogue between the government and public.
White House To Text Threat Warnings
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is creating a text-message system that could be used to alert the public about potential threats, from natural disasters to terrorist attacks.
FEMA says the new system "enables government officials to target emergency alerts to specific geographic areas through cell towers -- e.g. Lower Manhattan -- which pushes the information to dedicated receivers in PLAN [Personal Localized Alerting Network]-enabled mobile devices," USA Today reports.
The plan would be opt-in (meaning you won't get texts if you don't want them) and include three levels: Alerts issued by the president, alerts on imminent danger and AMBER Alerts for missing children.
Similar technology has been used on college campuses for local alerts with success. Some cities — such as New York City — are also eyeing the technology for local alerts.