IPDI's "Online Influentials" Article

Upon reading the IPDI article on "online influential," I felt like I was reading about my life for the past few years. (Many of my friends and family would respond that this means that I need to get a life, but that's another story.) I'm sure everyone in our class qualifies as an online influential. I had one question, though: if the checklist of activities was developed after "influentials" were identified, then how were they identified? They mention a method developed by NOP World, but I'd like more detail (unless, of course, it's proprietary.)

Also, calling talk radio shows is mentioned as a good thing, but is this really what candidates and parties should want people to do? For example, do the Dems really want liberals to call Rush Limbaugh & be ridiculed and hung up on?

Finally, I'm really uncomfortable with asking people to supply names & contact information about friends and family to the campaign. I'm even more uncomfortable with giving them the names of neighbors whose political leanings are unkown, asking them to, essentially, be spies for the campaign. I prefer that websites just let you open an e-mail on your own e-mail system (so you can take advantage of auto-completion of saved e-mail addresses, and don't have to share them) and spread information that way.