By Gayle Plato
June 08, 2009
Political action takes on new meaning for women outside of the DC Beltway. Whether married, raising a family, or working outside of the home, many women will tell of a disconnect. Smart Girl Politics is changing all of that. Internet interaction and social media ushered in a new venue for people to express, discuss, and debate. Blogging now a norm, Beltway insight matters less as hometown analysis and cooperative interaction weaves together the digital threads of people. But conservative women needed a virtual meet and greet where action grows from a catalytic community.
Political action takes on new meaning for women outside of the DC Beltway. Whether married, raising a family, or working outside of the home, many women will tell of a disconnect. Smart Girl Politics is changing all of that. Internet interaction and social media ushered in a new venue for people to express, discuss, and debate. Blogging now a norm, Beltway insight matters less as hometown analysis and cooperative interaction weaves together the digital threads of people. But conservative women needed a virtual meet and greet where action grows from a catalytic community.
Stacy Mott, Founder & President of Smart Girl Politics (SGP), felt the pulse of the women on the Web and came up with a plan: “After McCain lost the election, I was struggling to find other conservative women on the internet. There were random bloggers that I followed, but there really wasn`t a community environment for conservative women. I placed a help wanted ad on my blog asking for conservative women. I was shocked that the first week alone I received sixty emails wanting to help. Smart Girl Politics officially launched December, 2008”
Mott feels a need to help women not only meet virtually and discuss local candidates and issues, but find resources about current events, legislation, accessing educational information regarding trending topics. SGP is developing a sense of purposeful, connected activism, as blogging morphs into a network of empowerment.
Smart Girl Politics member Anne Loftfield explained why she joined the online community, “Joining SGP was a natural progression from the tea party movement; citizens taking action to rescue our great nation for our grandchildren.” Member Jennifer Leslie tapped a common sentiment in many polled about joining: “I joined because I was tired of being frustrated and ignored by our elected representatives. SGP has given me the avenue for activism that I never knew existed or how to tap into it.”
The SGP community grows from the Ning social networking platform. Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning, notes that the free, do-it-yourself templates create opportunities for people to network around their passions. Ning is the brainchild of Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape. Netscape was sold to America Online (AOL) for 4.2 billion dollars in 1999, at the spark of the hot times inside Internet creation. Andreessen put up $15 million for Ning (Chinese for ‘peace’) and brought on Bianchini, a former Goldman Sachs analyst. Smart Girl Politics is just one of the latest machinations of the social networking virtual realities like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and others.
All are based on a drive to add friends and explore relationships around a common bond. “If you get to know some of our members, many of them are just like me and are relatively new to politics. Our members have asked us for resources ranging from how to contact your Congressional representative to how to run for office. SGP is a way for us to inform our members on how to get involved, how to stay involved, and how to get their family, friends, and neighbors involved,” Stacy Mott, SGP Founder.
Visit SGP at http://www.smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/
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