BigBark: Community-Driven Political Site Debuts

Last week, a friend sent a URL to a new site called bigbark.net, whose tagline states its mission: "Elevating the Political Debate." The site "seeks to make sense of the complicated, spin-driven world of political news."

Sort of a Digg.com for politics.

(That site just announced it's expanding from its technology base to include new categories such as World and Business, Entertainment, Science and Gaming.)

Folks who want to join the debate at BigBark register at the site, and then post news stories, blogs and essays and vote for their favorite postings, based on their interests. The articles that receive the most votes rise to the top of the page.

After week one, my friendly BigBark newsletter reports that members posted 278 articles and "barked" (commented) more than 800 times.

Favorite stories, according to the newsletter, included an in-depth piece on Iraqi terrorist Zarqawi. The story discussed his 800-year-old role model, the former king Nur ad-Din Zanki.

As candidates begin to primp and posture for another election cycle, this looks to be one to watch.