What Is The #p2 Tag?
#p2 is a "hashtag," or a marker that identifies a text message posted on social media networks such as Twitter.com, Identi.ca, Facebook, and others. Click here for an introduction to hashtags.
The #p2 tag is a multi-organizational effort to standardize on a single clearinghouse "umbrella tag" which will be used to generally signify messages aimed at the progressive community at large. That community currently consists of various subcommunities, many of which have been using their own tags (e.g. #rebelLeft, #fem2, #race, etc..)
The #p2 tag is conceived to both augment and unify these tags, preventing a balkanization of the progressive community. With its widespread acceptance and usage, all of these tags can enjoy their own unique focus and community, while relying on the #p2 tag to 1) feed them more general information and notices from the broad progressive community at large, and 2) tie their own messages back to that meta community.
There is now a simple directory of progressives associated with the #p2 tag. Join it here by clicking here.
Background
The p2pt0 community, dedicated to "Diversity and Empowerment," originally used the #p2 tag in its Twitter updates. Over time, the use of of #p2 grew to be used as a general marker tag for all sorts of messages to and from the progressive community on Twitter. It was short, memorable, and quickly gained widespread awareness. On April 30th, after much discussion (some of it contentious, and even hostile), and a public chat, it was decided that (as @shoq and @karoli advocated), the #p2 tag would maintain its current diversity mission, while transcending that original purpose, and becoming a larger, generic and broadly defined "umbrella" clearinghouse tag for the progressive community on Twitter–or any other social network that wished to embrace it.
Typical of a fragmented contention that can befall anything political, a few of the original P2 founders, enamored of their position and previous focus, sought to cast this effort to enlarge the mission (and improve the effort) as somehow making a "power grab," thus leading to the two core proponents of it to end their formal involvement with this particular group. They decided to just avoid conflict, and seek entirely non-competitive and complimentary efforts to promote the use of the p2 tag itself, without regard to any one group's agenda.
The new, "federated" tag should soon give rise to many tools that will help people find, use, and promote any constituent persons and services that want to be better visible to the progressive community via the #p2 tag.
Who Can Use The #p2 Tag?
Anyone who feels their information or view is important to the broad progressive community at large, may use the #p2 tag. It can be used alone, or be combined with any other tags such as #fem2, #rebelLeft, etc..
To Use The #p2 Tag
Just include it in any Twitter, Facebook, Identi.ca, other social networking updates. Unless your message is specifically related to the community or mission of another tag, we urge you to not use those tags randomly, but post only to #p2 instead. People from those other tags will only naturally assimilate items related to their interest areas.
To Follow News and Information About The #p2 Tag
@shoq – Author of this page, and a promoter of #p2