California Crowdsourcing

Political use of social media has dramatically increased since the 2008 US Presidential election.  Barrack Obama’s use of this tool has set the bar for how future elections, campaigns, and debates are participated in.  Since this election, more and more political figures have turned to using these tools for feedback on solving problems.  One such figure is California’s Governor – Arnold  Schwarzenegger.

Mr. Schwarzenegger has turned to his near one million Twitter followers for ideas on addressing California’s budget/deficit problem.  One suggestion was to sell excess items from the state warehouse via auction on Craigslist and eBay.  The suggestion went even further to suggest that the actor turned governor autograph the items.  This is exactly what the state is doing.

Early figures show that $1.5 Million was raised.  It will be interesting to see how the “Great California Garage Sale” impacts the economy of the state beyond the initial sales.    Regardless, the effort is an example of how social media allows the community at large to pitch in, ask questions, receive answers, and hopefully contribute to the conversation and the issues at large.

For fun, what would you have bought at the “Garage Sale”?  I think I would have  bid on one of those old “CHiPs” motorbikes, although a surfboard would probably have me on the waves again.