We all know blogs are here to stay and can have a significant impact in advocacy and campaigns. But have you wondered why?

David Perlmutter, Professor of Communications at the University of Kansas wondered just how a medium for personalized communication rose from obscurity and fringe status in the late 90s to power, influence and popularity today.

When Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert challenged his viewers to "Make McCain Exciting" he opened up a new fora for political commentary.

A few months ago I discovered Animoto.com and I've been hooked since!

Animoto is a web based application that creates a slideshow out of your images. But not just any slide show.

What animoto creates is a customized presentation of visuals and music. The images seem dance to the music!

According to a recent study the social networks of smokers have a big role to play in their ability to quite smoking.

Are your constituents emailing Congress? Are they being heard?

Joe Trippi, pioneer of using online tools in political campaigns, made a very interesting statement last Friday. He said, we've seen the use of radio by FDR and television by JFK, but now "we are going to see a networked president."

There are lots of uses for live blogging - one is to share an event (such as a lecture or conference session) with others in your organization or network.

There's been a lot of buzz about using maps in advocacy, and its been something I've been meaning to explore further. I knew about the use of maps to see that damage done in Darfur (you can track as village go missing, and as communities are destroyed in Zimbabwe). And as neat as these were, they didn't really do anything more than show me what I had just read before I click on "see map."

But today I came across a completely engaging use of maps.

The Center for American Progress will be holding its monthly Internet Advocacy Roundtable this afternoon. The title of today's roundtable is, "Party On...line with the Rebulican and Democratic Parties."

I'll be attending the event and invite you to follow along as I live blog! Please feel free to post comments or questions as well.

Ever wonder what social networks people in other countries are using?

Here's an interesting map from French newspaper, Le Monde.

Click on the picture below to go to the article and see the enlarged version.