Project

FiftyNifty

MIT Media Lab/Viral Communications

This is a grassroots challenge to get friends to participate in democracy by making calls to congresspeople in all 50 states. Live phone calls are the best way to directly express your opinion on an issue to your elected officials. Your mission is to pass message this along to friends who will make calls and also pass the message/link along to others who will do the same. It's a social chain letter and a call to action for a better participatory democracy.  We help you make your call and you pass on an invitation for your friends to do the same. Your invite can stress your opinion on a given issue. 

The winners are the first ten chains to reach 50 states and accumulate the most challenge points. You get 250 points for making a call, 125 points for a call that your friend makes, 65 points for the call their friend makes, on and on. Everyone on the chain earns points. Points count for your first call to each of your two senators and your representative. You get a bonus for a "grand slam"—a network that reaches all 435 representatives and 100 senators.

There is a leaderboard and a network view so you can track how you are doing. You can also see how much of the country your chain is covering.