HubPages is a great site for people who love to discuss politics.

Not only can you share your thoughts and opinions with the world in the form of "hubs" (short, multimedia articles or essays), you can make money for doing so! HubPages also offers a lot of great social networking features that offer other ways to discuss politics and connect with people whose views you share or respect.

In this hub I'll give you a brief introduction to HubPages and introduce you to a few of the best features for politics fans and political activists.

You're reading one right now!

A hub is basically a short (350-1000 words), multimedia article or essay. HubPages makes it really easy to create hubs with the use of different types of "capsules" such as Text Capsules (this is a Text Capsule), Photo Capsules, and Poll Capsules.

Another type of capsule, the Comments Capsule, is especially important for political hubs because it allows readers to comment and share their own views once your hub is published. (You can moderate comments to prevent trolls and flame attacks.) Scroll down to see the comments capsule in action.

Capsules can be arranged however you want. Here are some tips on how to create an attractive and easy-to-read hub design.

Yes, I did.

HubPages allows you to earn revenue on your hubs from Adsense, Amazon, ebay, and Kontera. You must have Adsense and affiliate accounts in order to earn money at HubPages, but these are relatively easy to acquire, especially if you write a few hubs first. (The HubPages FAQ offers detailed instructions about how to sign up.)

Once these accounts are set up, revenue from ads and affiliates will be split with you on a 60/40 split with Hubpages. For a detailed guide to maximizing your earnings on HubPages, check out the hub Improving Your HubPages Earnings.

You can also earn money by referring other people to HubPages. When you sign up with HubPages, you are automatically assigned a referral tracker and when somebody signs up for HubPages using your referral tracker, you'll earn 10% of their ad and affiliate revenue forever (taken from HubPages's 40%, not their 60%). It's a win-win-win situation: a new user for HubPages, a new source of income for them, and a completely passive source of income for you!

In addition to writing hubs and having discussions in comments, you can also join the HubPages forums. When you join HubPages, you automatically get posting access in the forums, where you can join the lively debates on topics such as Politics, Religion, Science, and Finance.

HubPages also has some great social networking features. When you find someone whose ideas you like, you can become their fan to be notified (through a feature called Hubtivity) when they post a new hub, comment on someone else's hub, or make a post in the forums. You can also leave Fan Mail on their profile.

Finally, don't forget that HubPages isn't only for sharing your thoughts and opinions about politics. You can share writing of nearly every sort here, and people do. Product reviews, how to articles, recipes, poetry, even short stories! You name it, it's here, with only a few exceptions. (Adult content, hate speech, and blatant spam among them.) Check out the Hot Hubs page to see some of the variety.