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POPVOX Now Integrated into House Democrats' Intranet

by marci on July 21, 2012

We are excited to share an announcement from House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer [D-MD-5] that the internal House Democratic intranet, DemCom, now pulls all organization positions posted on POPVOX directly into its system.

(From the press release:)

"I believe that it is important for Congress to adopt new technologies that advance our constitutional mission of communicating with our constituents. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have significantly transformed how Americans share information, and most Members of Congress have adopted these technologies resulting in improved constituent communications. Government initiatives like President Obama’s Data.gov and ‘We the People’ also use new web technologies to advance the important goals of government transparency, accountability, and participation of the people.

"POPVOX is an innovative, nonpartisan website that provides citizens and organizations across the country a new forum to publicly speak out on specific legislation that is before Congress. Today, we are recognizing that innovation by ensuring that when a citizen or organization takes a position publicly on a bill, that position will be displayed to House Democrats and their staff."

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer

This integration was built using a POPVOX API and our widgets (which you must be logged in to see).

What this means for organizations is that posting your organization's position on pending bills on POPVOX goes a long way to getting your position in front of staffers. This is a first step in what we hope are really big things to come for the wider use of the API (for both sides, both chambers, media and the general public).

Please let us know at info@popvox.com if you would like more information.

Here's how it works.

When an organization posts a bill position on POPVOX, that position is both displayed publicly on the bill's POPVOX page but also shared through a POPVOX API, which allows other websites to better access this data. Using this API and POPVOX widgets, the official intranet for House Democratic staff, DemCom, will now dynamically pull all organization positions -- support and opposition -- directly from POPVOX for every bill pending before Congress. Public sentiment for bills registered on POPVOX will also be displayed on DemCom through our new map widget, which we encourage you to use on your website as well. (Get the map widget.)

Update your organization profile on POPVOX.

Now's a good time to update your organization's profile and legislative agenda at www.popvox.com/home. For organizations new to POPVOX, visit www.popvox.com/organization to get started.
Protesting SOPA? Turn your website into an action center.

by marci on January 12, 2012

Whether you are a SOPA supporter or plan to join the Anti-SOPA blackout on January 18, you can turn your website or blog into an online action center by using free widgets from POPVOX.

The POPVOX Write Congress widget lets your visitors send a message to their member of Congress without leaving your site.

A POPVOX Comment stream widget streams comments directly on your site so you can see what others are saying.

Or just pick up a POPVOX "button" to link to the bill action page and show a real-time POPVOX sentiment tally.

POPVOX widgets are customizable for any bill, any position. So whether it is SOPA, PIPA, NDAA, or any other abbreviation... just pick up the code, and build your movement.

View the widgets in action on the POPVOX Tumblr page.
Intern Spotlight: Josh Lewis

by M.E.G. on October 20, 2011

There are a few things the POPVOX team doesn’t like: civic laziness, widget glitches, rainy D.C. days, and of course, saying goodbye. It is with fond wishes that we say goodbye to one of our excellent summer interns, Josh Lewis (or as we know him, JLew, to avoid confusion with our CTO, Josh Tauberer).

While he started off the internship debugging Internet Explorer problems, Josh ultimately transitioned into full front-end implementation and design. He helped the POPVOX team create the Write Congress widget, the bill text widget, and came up with the POPVOX envelope and stamp graphic that you see when you check your address on your message to Congress.

“I love the pride and ambition the POPVOX crew puts into their work and brand. Everyone at POPVOX is amazing and talented. They’re definitely some of the coolest people I've ever worked with.”

The feeling is definitely mutual.

Josh is taking his good attitude and polished design skills on the road -- quite literally. He just recently participated in the the StartupBus Intel event, where teams of strangers load onto a touring bus and have 48 hours to design, build and launch a startup. Josh’s team won 2nd place. “I really love the startup culture,” said Josh, “I want to be more involved in it later on in my future.” In the meantime, Josh plans to continue working with design and user experiences at a marketing agency.

Don’t let his age fool you; Josh has his own youthful wisdom to impart. “I believe in doing what you love,” he said, “and I certainly love beautiful, pixel-perfect design which brings meaningful experiences to users.”

The POPVOX team wishes Josh the best in his future internships, education, jobs, and wherever else his adventures take him.
Entrepreneur Magazine--They've Got Your Backers

by annalee on September 1, 2011

They've Got Your Backers in Entrepreneur Magazine
PRESS RELEASE: POPVOX Announces Integration With Salsa Labs Platform

by annalee on July 22, 2011

July 22, 2011, WASHINGTON, DC― POPVOX, the award-winning online platform that connects citizens with Congress, today announced seamless integration with the SALSA LABS organizing platform used by over 2,000 nonprofits, labor unions, and campaigns.

Laura Byrd, Director of Marketing at Salsa Labs, said, “So many of our clients already use Salsa for their advocacy efforts, so we are excited to provide our clients with the new POPVOX tool that organizers can take advantage of within the structure of their existing Salsa dashboard.”

The integration allows Salsa clients to embed a POPVOX “Write Congress” widget on their website to help their members weigh in on pending legislation. Since the tool is powered by POPVOX, constituent information is verified for Congressional offices, messages are aggregated publicly on the POPVOX.com website and individuals can track the delivery of their message to their legislators’ offices.

“Integrating with customer relationship management and organizing platforms will make it even easier for organizations to add POPVOX to their arsenal of advocacy tools,” said Rachna Choudhry, Chief Marketing Officer of POPVOX. “We're fortunate to have an innovative partner in Salsa Labs to launch the integrated service.”

For more information on POPVOX for organizations, visit: www.popvox.com/organization

About POPVOX

POPVOX is a neutral, nonpartisan advocacy platform that meshes legislative data with individuals’ personal stories and sentiment. POPVOX delivers public input to Congress in a format tailored to actionable policy decisions and empowers users to leverage their expertise and numbers. POPVOX provides a legislative dashboard for Congress and government aﬀairs professionals with bill status information, customized tracking, bill-speciﬁc advocacy information, and real-time constituent sentiment and comments. For more information, visit: www.popvox.com

About SALSA LABS

Salsa Labs is the creator of the leading online platform for organizing and engaging people. In one easy-to-use, integrated, and flexible platform, groups of all sizes can manage their supporters, communicate, fundraise, advocate, host events, and more. Organizations can create their own unique recipe for organizing by choosing from the dozens of available software tools as well as by plugging in dozens of other applications produced by 3rd parties in the Salsa Market. Salsa’s software and services suite currently supports over 2,000 user groups’ relationships with over 40 million supporters, members, donors, activists, and fans all around the world.
PRESS RELEASE: Heritage Action Powers Online Advocacy with POPVOX

by annalee on July 11, 2011

July 11, 2011, WASHINGTON, DC― HERITAGE ACTION, the sister organization to the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, today launched a campaign to get supporters’ messages to Congress using the powerful POPVOX advocacy tool.

The mission of Heritage Action is to ensure that Members of Congress hear directly from their constituents, including over 710,000 members of The Heritage Foundation and millions of others around the country who share their conservative vision of America’s future.

“Ease of communication is essential in today’s fast-paced and high-stakes environment,” Heritage Action's political director Russ Vought said. “We’re excited by the increased usability that POPVOX will bring to our site.”

The POPVOX Write Congress widget allows individuals to send a custom message to Congress without leaving the Heritage Action website. Since the tool is powered by POPVOX, constituent information is veriﬁed for Congressional offices, messages are aggregated publicly on POPVOX.com to show quantiﬁed grassroots power and individuals can track delivery of their message to their legislators oﬃces.

Link to POPVOX widget on the Heritage Action site: http://heritageaction.com/nat-gas-act

About POPVOX

POPVOX is a neutral, nonpartisan advocacy platform that meshes legislative data with individuals’ personal stories and sentiment. POPVOX delivers public input to Congress in a format tailored to actionable policy decisions and empowers users to leverage their expertise and numbers. POPVOX provides a legislative dashboard for Congress and government aﬀairs professionals with bill status information, customized tracking, bill-speciﬁc advocacy information, and real-time constituent sentiment and comments. For more information, visit: www.popvox.com

About Heritage Action

Heritage Action is a grassroots organization that promotes conservative policies in Congress. Their DC-based staff ampliﬁes local activists’ voices, allowing Americans to break through the establishment in Washington, ensuring Members of Congress get the message.
Harness the power of POPVOX with widgets!

by rachna on June 6, 2011

I’m excited to share with you POPVOX’s newest advocacy tool (drum roll, please): POPVOX's Write Congress widget . (And did I mention it's free to use?)

The “Write Congress” widget embeds POPVOX’s powerful advocacy tool onto your own website. By using our widget, your site visitors send a message to their own Members of Congress in the comfort of your website.

And since it's powered by POPVOX:

-- Constituent information is verified for Congressional offices.

-- Support (or opposition) messages from activists are aggregated to show quantified grassroots power.

-- Users are assured that their messages are delivered to Congress—and receive a confirmation when their messages are sent.

How it Works

The POPVOX widgets are easy to load onto any site that allows you to paste html code and embed iframes, including WordPress. Simply complete the customization form and copy and paste the HTML code onto your own website!

Get started at www.popvox.com/services/widgets .

Interested in Customizing the Widget?

Organizations interested in fully customized widgets with your own colors and style or inserting your own talking points as suggestions for comments to Congress should consider upgrading to the PRO version. (And your organization can be the first to try out our upcoming analytics dashboard and CRM integration.)

Please contact me directly at rachna@popvox.com for details. We look forward to working with you to harness the power of POPVOX on your site!