Brad Rourke

Brad Rourke’s Blog

  • Seven Steps To Happy Volunteers

    My friend Cindy (who also collaborates with me on Rockville Central), is a formidable community volunteer, both in her work and in her personal life. She’s been on both sides of the volunteer aisle — being a volunteer, and leading other volunteers. Together, we formed the leadership team at the helm of a local Cub…

  • Astroturf On Twitter

    In organizing circles, “astroturf” refers to the practice of creating the simulation of a grassroots groundswell through robo calls, highly choreographed postcard campaigns, etc. People on Capitol Hill can tell it’s happening when they suddenly get pounds of mail that’s identical. My friend Jed Miller raises some interesting (related) questions about using Twitter as a…

  • Building A Talk Using Social Media

    In late January, the New York Time’s David Pogue gained a bit of Twitter infamy with a stunt. He didn’t mean anything by it. He was making a presentation and as a way to demonstrate the “power of Twitter,” he asked for a cure for hiccups with Twitter running on his screen. He got lots…

  • Tweets Squeezing Out Rants

    Brian Solis of TechCrunch wrote an important review of an interesting trend in today’s social media world. We are learning to publish and react to content in “Twitter time” and I’d argue that many of us are spending less time blogging, commenting directly on blogs, or writing blogs in response to blog sources because of…

  • Bully

    Boy, I feel for Abigail Pardou. Why? Here’s how Washington Post’s Marc Fisher sets the scene: As much as any elected official in Washington, Harry “Tommy” Thomas, the D.C. council member from Ward 5, carries himself like a good old-fashioned machine politician. Son of a council member, Thomas is a cheerful and omnipresent face in…

  • Study: Religions Losing Ground

    An important new survey on Americans’ religious behaviors and attitudes was released this morning. The American Religious Identification Survey was first fielded in 1990 and was updated in 2001 and now in 2008. The survey shows that just about across the board, Americans are less religious today than they were two decades ago. From USA Today:…

  • Giving A Presentation

    This morning I am in historic Williamsburg, Virginia giving a talk to the opening session of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership’s Political Leaders Program. We’re in the Wren Building, which dates to the 1600’s. I feel a little bit in awe. I also want to do a good job. This is the kickoff of…