I like the idea, at the time, but wasn’t quite ready to do it. Now, thanks to the #dontgo Movement and the new News Platoon website, I think it’s time to get this off the ground.

As you might have already noticed, the #dontgo Movement has aggressively launched the Tennessee News Platoon, The Social Media Platoon, and the #diggcons Project.

All three of these blogs are in beta, but between the three we have enjoyed more than 1,300 unique visits in just the last two days. We have no doubt that this site will be enjoying large scale traffic within a six month timeframe.

Also, we’re currently redesigning the homepage of NewsPlatoon.com so that it promotes any and all content throughout the News Platoon network.

On top of that, we have the weight of the entire #dontgo Movement (News Platoon is a project of #dontgo) to help market and promote the content here at News Platoon.

Our goal is to, by the 4th of July, be running about 20 blogs and news sites here at News Platoon. All of this content will be fed in to the homepage at NewsPlatoon.com, which will function like a sexy, much more attractive Drudge style aggregator (meaning, an actual theme design and not just a bunch of links.)

Right Girls will be our “ladies hangout” here at News Platoon. Here bloggers can talk about shopping, deals, design, life, motherhood, politics, anything that comes to mind! The site will function like a group blog, and we’ll do what we can to promote each blogger and her online profile (see Social Media Platoon for example)

Great, how do I sign up as a blogger and what are the requirements?
It’s simple, really. You have to believe in free-markets and limited government, of course. And you’ll need to pledge to post once per week.

That’s it!

If this is you, and you want to be a part of this exciting new venture, go contact us here and let us know ASAP!

2010 is just around the corner… we’ve got a LOT to do so let’s get it done!

-Eric Odom

Yes, the News Platoon portion of our network is still under development (actually we’re beta testing the Tennessee site now), but that doesn’t mean you won’t find any action on our site. In fact, the opposite could be argued.

Keep reading…

News Platoon Announces Social Media Platoon

For far too long the free-market movement online has been categorized as “behind online”. This notion, in my opinion, has always been inaccurate. The free-market movement has never been behind online with regards to social media, technology, and an understanding of the two; Rather, we’ve just lacked the immediate need for mass collaboration in an online environment. Or at least, there was the perception that the need was not imminent.

Well, we love to be the bearer of good news, so let me be the first to officially announce the new Social Media Platoon.

What is the Social Media Platoon?
The Social Media Platoon is a group blog run by a solid lineup of free-market minded eActivists. Each of our share a strong desire to promote accountable representation and a more transparent government via the internet, and the group has a very sound understanding of the online environment.

The purpose of the group is to become a sort of “Mashable.com for conservatives and libertarians” (thanks Allen Fuller for the great quote!). On the site we’ll host the latest social media industry news, updates on tools and technology, helpful guides and “how to’s”, top lists for different social media resources, and much more!

Some of this content will be syndicated through our 50 state News Platoon Network, and all of it will be published via an upcoming feature over at our parent site, the #dontgo Movement.

Our current Platoon of bloggers includes myself (Eric Odom, Allen Fuller, Aaron Marks, Chris Faulkner, Ali Akbar, Michael Martin, Mitch Canter, Ken Marrero, Bill Hobbs, Bradley Hankins, Brian Horn, and a group coming over from the Smart Girls Politics social network.

This is a blog that any social media junkie, or anyone who spends a lot of time in Facebook or Twitter, will want to stay glued to. You can snag the RSS Feed here, or you can sign up for it via the Social Media Platoon blog. We also have the new Google Friend Connect gadget running on our blog, so be sure to join there as well (see lower left sidebar).

And finally, since I know some might be asking, we’re still accepting new authors. If you thrive in the social media realm, watch the tools and technology like a hawk, and want to get in on this, drop us a line here. All you need to do is commit to at least one post per week, and be of a free-market mind/ideology.

Contact us here with any questions

-Eric Odom

Monday, December 8th, 2008: Tennessee News Platoon

Monday, January 5th, 2008: Georgia News Platoon

Monday, January 5th, 2008: Florida News Platoon

Monday, January 5th, 2009: Virginia and Arizona News Platoon

So let me be the first to say… welcome to NewsPlatoon.com!

What is the purpose of this blog?
The News Platoon Status Blog is here to provide updates and information with regards to the News Platoon network, a project of the #dontgo Movement.

This blog will provide information such as site enhancements, added features, system status, upgrades, major site announcements, editor information, and much more. You’ll definitely want to grab the RSS feed and come back often.

-Eric Odom