Setting Up Various Facebook Pages – Know The Types!
By the summer of 2009, Facebook came with a few new profiles: personal pages, community pages, and public profiles. The three are distinct, and even within the public profiles, one has a number of choices about the kind of public profile one wishes to establish. There were some issues (surprise!) when the features were first added, but by now many of the kinks have been smoothed out. A little research before you start clicking can go a long way though, because if you start your page in a ‘wrong’ category, all you can do is delete that page and start over, an unpleasant prospect. But please read on and hopefully we can clarify some of the jargon.
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, Education: Technology, Marketing, Media Review, Nonprofit, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
The Keyword is “Social” – The Medium is Just the Means
From the study by Boyd and Ellison
We continue our week-long series on Facebook with a brief look at what ‘social media’ means. We make no claims of thoroughness in but one blog post. Indeed, some have taken entire academic semesters to explore the field. What we hope to present here are some common sense approaches to envisioning and contextualizing the social-media phenomenon of the last 4-5 years. In fact, a quick timeline will help put some perspective on the topic: The first widely accepted social-networking site was ‘SixDegrees.com,’ which was founded in 1998 and closed its site in 2000 during the Dot Com Bust. Though similar sites allowing the posting of personal profiles and the searching and liking of others via one’s profile percolated up in the intervening 2-3 years, it was only in 2003 that services like Last.FM, LinkedIn.com, and MySpace.com took off and the so-called ‘Social Media Revolution’ took off. Twitter was still three years away at that time! In other words, we are all new to this medium, and what sites will survive with which services is still an open question. (Time line taken from the scholarly study “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship,” by Danah M. Boyd, School of Information,University of California-Berkeley; and Nicole B. Ellison, Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University. Humans wrote on clay and stone for thousands of years before parchment replaced it for many centuries before paper replaced that some 700 years ago. Social media are still in the zygote stage, by comparison, which makes predicting their mature characteristics almost impossible.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Marketing, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Facebook Has 500 Million Users, Not 500 Million Fans
Yesterday we saw some of the early history of Facebook and how that history might be pumped up by the movie “The Social Network,” due out this fall. The CEO and one of the inventors of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, seems comfortably nonplussed about the movie’s sexy spin on his and his friends’ efforts. But other concerns about the future surely do weigh on the young man who recently watched his website and company surpass 500 million subscribers. In fact, one of the awkward facts about Facebook is that it is by far the most used social-networking site, yet it is also the most griped about. Most recently: changes in privacy settings left users requiring to comb back through settings to opt out of new modes of sharing and even opt back out of what they had previously established as hidden information. Numerous consumer advocacy groups have cried ‘foul!’ and are challenging the practice. The movie might only sour further an already jaded relationship between users and the company.
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
For The Week: Social Media Focus On Facebook
Are you one of the 500 million?
A purely alpha-betic writing established itself in the eastern Mediterranean about 3300 years ago, which marked a seminal shift away from ‘pre-history’ and towards documentation, institutional memory, and social media. We will not be tracing the evolution of writing from proto-Sinaic carvings or Phoenician tablets to Adobe’s Creative Suite 5, but we would like to look at the evolution (or what many might call a ‘revolution’) of the social-media behemoth that is Facebook. Though not the first social medium (Don’t forget Napster, especially in its pre/extra-legal days!), it has become the king of the hill with its profiles and searches and synergies with so many other networks (like Twitter). Facebook recently broke 500 million subscribers, and it brags that over 50% of those subscribers are on Facebook at any given time. Impressive numbers and a market teeming with customers, clients, donors, and ad-hoc NGOs.
But Facebook has had growing pains as well. Security and privacy concerns for its users, a plethora of competitors (admittedly, many bubble up and fall away at a speed surprising even in the age of the 24-hour news cycle), and even the possibility that the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zukerberg does not even own Facebook. All this week we shall be looking at the Facebook phenomenon, as well as offering some tips and caveats for those considering using the social network as part of their personal and/or professional lives. We begin our saga with the recent media frenzy concerning the Facebook biopic/movie, and the allegations of Facebook having been stolen and/or sold away by Zuckerberg.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Social Media Offers Reception, Not Just Dissemination, of Ideas
Social Media Is For Reading, Too
How many of us, individuals, organizations, and small businesses, have shied away from getting involved with social media because we were not sure we had much to say? How many of us have quietly sublimated a sense of distrust of what we could contribute into an unwillingness to learn about social media? I have, for one. The open seas of social media can seem vast, rough, and uncharted (if not ‘unchartable’!), and from the seashore it can seem safer not wade in. Nevertheless, we have often posted on this blog ideas about how to dip a toe, then a leg, etc., into the ocean – get acclimated, then get writing with what you are comfortable sharing with a wide audience that can become wider still with some patience. But a recent blog posting from Neil Vidyarthi on SocialTimes.com cleverly points out that social media can, and should, be as much about reading/learning as it is about writing/teaching.
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Media Review, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Perspectives: Don Akchin, Director of Don Akchin Strategic Communications
Don Akchin
Don Akchin, Charm City resident for twenty-five years (“I’m still a newcomer”), has turned his reporter’s training and love of writing into a successful enterprise of marketing mission-based and community-development groups like St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, The Baltimore Collegetown Network, and the Bon Secours Spiritual Center. Beginning his professional career writing for The St.Petersburg Times newspaper, he still considers himself “a recovering journalist.” After leaving the paper in the mid-1970s to pursue a job with the 13-30 Corporation (which later became Whittle Communications), he worked with print magazines and made TV-news format videos for high-school and college kids. During his tenure at 13-30 Corporation, he realized that he was moving accidentally into marketing. Since 2006, he’s kept a lively and information blog, “The Accidental Marketer.”
“I started out as a writer and I am here to help [nonprofits] with communications. But along the way I realized that in fact I was talking about marketing. So to me it was ‘accidental.’ I think that many of the people in marketing positions in nonprofits are there ‘accidentally.’ They were promoted from being the assistant to the president or they were in HR but were called upon to do fourteen other things, and one of those was communications, or PR, or marketing.” He sees numerous intersections between writing, fund-raising, marketing, and communications. “You don’t need a Ph.D. to do this.” Marketing is about story-telling.”
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Web and Print, interview | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Don’t Forget The Nickels And Dimes of (Micro)Donations
These can add up to big support
We are all sensitive to the economic plight that faces our country and the world: the banking crash and bailout and the unemployment that has grown close to 10% and could linger for some time. The beating the economy has taken shows its bruises first-and-foremost on those bodies least equipped to handle it: the working poor, the ill, the disadvantaged, and the organizations trying to help them out. Donations, as we have often noted on the blog, have taken a real hit since late 2008 (even though the US remains the most generous nation on earth in this regard). Nonprofits and charities are often temped to seek out the biggest donors to help balance the books and keep the good work going. Though that strategy has many merits, we would encourage these groups to remember the microdonations that became part of the donor landscape about eighteen months ago and continues to make a positive impact for their recipients (and for the folks who can spare even a few dollars to their favorite causes).
Popularity: unranked | Category Grants and Funding, Marketing, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Followup On Friday’s Post About BP’s And Apple’s PR Problems
On Friday we reviewed the ways BP tried/failed to control the messaging about the explosion and blowout of their/Transocean’s/Halliburton’s ‘Deepwater Horizon’ platform. Numerous pundits, as we noted, believed that BP was fighting a losing battle anyway, and should have coordinated a contingency PR strategy. Perhaps one that stated the facts without suggesting either optimism or hubris – and kept the figureheads out of the limelight whenever possible. In that posting, we compared BPs terrible gaffes with Apple’s efforts to get ahead of ‘Antennagate,’ a reference to reception/antenna problems on their latest iPhone 4. Over the weekend, we found a bit more material that bears thinking about concerning these two ongoing public-relations struggles. We stress again: the two issues are entirely different (BP still should be held accountable for the deaths of eleven workers – iPhone users are occasionally dropping calls when inadvertently using the so-called ‘Death Grip‘ of the antenna), but watching two superpowers in their industries wrangle with their public images is informative for the mission-based organization also wanting to present a forthright and optimistic message to the public.
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
BP/Haliburton/Transocean Blowout Recapped – What About The PR Blowout?
The explosion on 20 April killed eleven workers
BP’s third effort to cap the destroyed Deepwater Horizon well seems to have been successful, as pressure tests have not done further damage to the emergency mechanisms. As of posting (the afternoon of 16 July), the BP Global website stresses the cleanup of the Gulf without immediate mention of the successful capping done yesterday. Discussion of the cap is found via the link “Gulf of Mexico Response Homepage.” Such an improvement in the situation might deserve mention on each and every page of BP Global’s site, but this post is not going to question BP’s website design. Nevertheless, the successful capping of the well (touch wood), serves as a telling moment to skim some of the thoughts that have been shared about BP’s myriad PR blowouts since the disaster happened. Perhaps the best known of those is @BPGlobalPR as led by @BPTerry and Leroy Stick. We have often encouraged our readers to follow them through this disaster, at least to enjoy some black humor (and offer donations) through the crisis. But many in the communications and media arena have responded to the ways BP has tried to marshal the PR gaffes and crises it keeps finding itself in – the most recent of which are allegations that BP influenced the British Government to allow the only Lockerbie Bomber held in Britain to return to Libya in an effort to secure an off-shore drilling contract with Quadafi. What ‘lessons’ can be learned from these fiascoes?
Popularity: unranked | Category Climate Change, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
The Asia Foundation Discusses Major Fundraising Via Facebook
The social impact of Facebook is beyond doubt. Almost 57 million Americans used it as of March 2009, and that number has since doubled. Facebook itself claims that over half its members are engaged with their 100-plus friends at any given moment of the day. The largest growth is seen among women over forty, and women use Facebook in greater percentages in all age groups (a topic we shall explore soon). They also tend to give more often to charities. The juggernaut has changed our language and our understanding of social networking, and this blog has often discussed its impact and uses.
But when it comes to using Facebook to raise money, charities often see a disconnect between action on their site and income through their calls to donate – especially for smaller charities. How do the heavy hitters leverage their Facebook presence into charitable activity? Sometimes they work around their Facebook pages, rather than on them, as John Karr, digital-media director for the Asia Foundation in San Leandro, CA discusses in a guest blog post at The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The AF’s “Books For Asia” program recently raised $10,000 and send thousands of copies of The Tales of Peter Rabit to children in Mongolia studying English. How did Asia Foundation turn its Facebook presence into big bucks?
Popularity: unranked | Category Nonprofit, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Can An Animation Animate Donors To Help ‘Tarla’ Get An Education?
“A Girl Story is a unique donation-based film that brings to life the experience of many underprivileged girls in India. This particular story is told through the eyes of Tarla, a young girl who simply wants to go to school and receive an education. Our project’s goals are to raise awareness about the challenges that girls like Tarla face, and to drive donations for the nonprofit group Project Nanhi Kali.”
Not only is the effort unique, it has caused a bit of a stir among both the online non-profit and blogging communities, as well as among web/video designers. The idea is that as donations flow to the Nanhi Kali project to encourage education among poor girls of India, the video(s) change to relate the story of the composite character, Tarla. The question at hand is some form of “Will it work?”
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: General, Marketing, Nonprofit, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
States Key To Speeding Up Citizens’ On-Line Connectivity
Welcome back from the Independence-Day Weekend. We hope yours was a festive and safe one to celebrate the birth of a new nation striving for ‘a more perfect union.’ Not perfect, but ever striving. This week, we will look at a few of the ways we might be heading toward ‘more perfect union’ and ways we might be letting ourselves down. Today: High-Speed Internet
“The Pew Center on the States” has recently published a report on how states might be the most important lynch-pins to build a ‘national’ high-speed internet network. The report can be found at the website FoundationCenter.org. The report begins by pointing out the problem to be solved, despite the fact that the sheer numbers seems impressive. “Today, broadband is available to about 95 percent of Americans. But that figure masks wide geographic, economic and demographic disparities, and many experts say both the quality and speed of service in the united States need to be improved to keep pace with other nations. and only 65 percent of Americans actually have broadband at home. The remainder— approximately 100 million Americans—say they cannot afford it, do not know how to use it or believe it is irrelevant to their lives, among other factors.” We would suggest that ‘irrelevant to their lives’ is the thorniest of possible issues, as it suggests people believe they need not access information. Imagine, in another context, 45% percent of people in the 1910s not seeing why newspapers might be relevant?
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: Technology, News and Current Affairs, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Twitter Continues To Set World Cup Records, And Now Sets Places
Twitter's World Cup Home Page
It should no revelation that we have been following the World Cup in South Africa here at MKCREATIVE. But we also have been following the ways social media have had an impact on the event – at least the sharing of news about the event – as an example of how the strategic use of social media could benefit your organization. Well, the global influence that is football (er, ‘soccer’) can now be seen in the use of Twitter as well. We reported about two weeks ago that the biggest blast of tweets came after the US vs. England match (tied 1-1), though was quickly followed and beaten by the Lakers’ 7th-game victory over the Celtics in the NBA championship. A conclusion to be drawn from these back-to-back record breakers was the intense Ameri-centric use of Twitter. But no more…
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Marketing, Software Review, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Tweet This: USA! USA!
Landon Donvan sends the US to the next round of the World Cup
For the first time since 1930 the US national soccer/football team won its World Cup qualifying group with a dramatic, last-minute, 1-0 win over Algeria. Soccer skeptics might immediately assume yet another yawning 1-0 match. But if those skeptics are also baseball fans, they might assume a great pitchers’ duel. In this instance, we had a great goalkeepers’ duel as Tim Howard of the US and Faouzi Chaouchi of Algeria were both kept busy with shots against the posts and breakaways. Indeed, it was as exciting and flowing match as could be hoped for. And as we predicted, social media kept the excitement flowing to ever widening audiences.
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, News and Current Affairs, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Toshiba Reinvents Tablet To Tweak The Portable Market
We discussed the Apple iPad a couple of months ago as the product that could transform expectations of the tablet/portable/cloud computing world. Well, eighty days into the product launch, and 3 million iPads later, the market is soon to get another competitor: the Toshiba Libretto. Neither is/will be the first into the market, but Apple’s iPad has proven itself the game-changer many expected. What are some of the early reports on the Libretto?
Popularity: unranked | Category Hardware Review, Software Review, Technology, iDevice | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
The Costs (Possibly Real) Of Advertising Via Facebook
A recent report from the Reuters and Socialbeat believes that revenues at Facebook topped $800 million in 2009, well over the (high-end) estimates of $700 million. Facebook is a privately owned company that need not report its precise numbers to shareholders, but Reuters talked with sources within the company who said the income far surpassed the mid-year estimates stated by Facebook board member Marc Andreessen. With some 500 million members (by far the most popular social network site in the US, and with ever-growing allegiances through much of the world), Facebook makes most of its income via advertising. The question is: how much are advertisers willing to pay to reach those millions via their Facebook accounts?
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Media Review, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Foursquare: Yet Another Social Network, Yet Another Fundraising Tool
The means to communicate quickly online and establish networks of like-minded folks come thick and fast these days: MySpace superseded by Facebook (still king), challenged by Twitter, who has had to contend with Google Buzz!, Socialvibe, Zooppa, and a myriad of others that (mostly) cater to fairly specific communities. We have reported about how a North Carolina charity established a ‘Twitter Table’ to help broaden the outreach of its annual fundraising luncheon. Now a comparatively new social network is causing a bit more stir among the e-connected, and it too is the subject of an online discussion next week about how to use it as a resource for fundraising.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Marketing, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Social Media: Introductions and Perseverance Can Bring (Little) Victories
Social media create a counter-intuitive tension. On the one hand, we use social media to create relationships with family, friends, clients, and like-minded peoples of our hobby/political party/aesthetic choices/etc. Relationships take time and are sometimes built on what, at the moment, feels like a rushed introduction or awkward interaction. On the other hand, modern media encourages us to think of news – indeed, of all information – as being reinvented every twenty-four hours. So when I get a ‘Friend’ request or retweet a great article I feel somewhat dislodged from the very information I am trying to disseminate. If one has that sense of disconnect, it might be worth remembering the differences in scale that might exist between one’s social-media persona and one’s self. Then let time work its magic through that scale, even if the social relationships seem few.
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, Education: Technology, Marketing, Nonprofit, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Five More Ways (of 10) To Make Make Your Blog Work Best For Your Organization
The Social Signal group of Vancouver, CA
As promised, we continue today with the second half of a great compendium drawn up by Jon Cottingham at Socialbright.com. He has been teaching us about how to make a company’s blog a pleasurable experience for the audience (and for the writers!) and how to make such a blog a productive marketing tool. Indeed, to refresh memories from yesterday’s entry, the first point raised was to put the ‘Investment’ in ROI. Today we turn to the back five on our way to the clubhouse and some well-deserved drinks.
6. Firefighting – Crisis communications
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Education: Technology, Marketing, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Five of Ten Ways To Make Your Blog Work For You And Your Organization
Last week the good folks at SocialSignal.com posted a fabulous 10-step program to help nonprofits and small businesses use their blogs to create interest, educate clients, and develop brand loyalty. The downloadable PDF is the culmination of a series of blog entries (of course) by Rob Cottingham and is entitled “10 Ways Your Blog Can Provide Real Value To You, Your Organization, and Your Brand.” The guidance in the e-book is fabulous, and the materials so rich that we wanted to dedicate a couple of entries to it this week. So, without further ado:
“1. Put the I[nvestment] in R[eturn] O[n] I[nvestment] – Showing your organization’s human face”
Popularity: 1% | Category Education: Technology, Marketing, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
You Tube Is Five Years Old And Reaching To Nonprofits
Numerous media outlets, including the subject of this posting, celebrated the Fifth Birthday of the YouTube website. The first 17-second video shot by Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo has become an on-line phenomenon again. In the online world, though, history repeats itself first as miracle, then as retro-quaint. YouTube’s meteoric rise has been challenged by such subgenre sites as Vimeo and Hulu, but that rise continues: YouTube boasts some 2 billion separate views per day. Nowadays, the site hosts everything from snippets of movies and concert videos (excerpts that often circulate in-and-out of view, and in-and-out of the grew legal status of online copyright infringement), to corporate commercials, to the repository of news and commentary disputing those commercials.
The Last Shall Be First
YouTube, now owned by Google, might be one of the more perfect repositories of anarchic democracy on the web. So where is the video site hoping to go over the next five years? In a twist of irony, the leadership at YouTube/Google would like to expand the lengths of its offerings, allowing more serious and extended presentations.
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Nonprofit, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
iPad Indeed Inspires Nonprofit Community
Just before Apple’s iPad first launched in early April, the MKCREATIVE blog presented a two-part discussion of how the device specifically and the advent of a truly functioning tablet market/community generally should be taken seriously by the nonprofit community. The iPad’s convenience as a communications tool, we argued, meant that nonprofits and mission-based companies could, and should, take steps to ramp up their social-media presence in an effort to reach out to early adapters. And the simplicity and robustness of Apple design (both hardware and software), we believed, guaranteed that early adapters would be able to convince even those not quite sure they were ready to make the jump to a touch-screen/in-the-purse-or-bookbag experience. Well, just 28 days and, oh, one million iPads later, folks across the aforementioned community are making use of the opportunities the technology presents.
Popularity: unranked | Category Apple, Nonprofit, Software Review, iDevice | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Ten Steps On The Road To ‘Presentation Zen’
The business/education/PR presentation got a boost in the ’90s when Microsoft PowerPoint gave us the opportunity to turn the staid lecture (from Lectio, ‘to read’) into a multi-media extravaganza of bullet points and pie charts and popping 15-point stars. And many of us have been suffering through them ever since. Perhaps the greatest problem with Powerpoint or Apple’s Keynote is just how easy it is to bring something together that seems pretty catchy to the person who has to give the presentation. Ease-of-use is hardly a drawback to software, but it can be a drawback to those in your audience 15 rows back who does not share the same enthusiasm for the small yellow print on the blue background.
To be sure, some presenters are masters of the technology – which is to say, masters as presenting their materials, with Keynote or Powerpoint adding enough to keep the mind focused, not flogged. And watching some great presenters is a wonderful way to pick up the skills required to prepare your own materials (Please Note: I have yet to say ‘prepare your Powerpoint/Keynote’). Though, as at least one cheeky academic posted, sometimes seeing the greats present their materials makes us mere mortals too ‘stupid’ to deal with the less-than-stellar business report or academic paper.
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: General, Marketing, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Social Media Strategies And Pitfalls: Motives And Metrics
One of the services we try to provide on this blog is to connect our readers to great communicators with expertise on their topics. Today’s communicators have been developing strategies to make social media work for them and their clients. Jay Baer has been been a PR consultant, brand developer, public speaker, and entrepreneur in his own right. His blog at ConvinceAndConvert.com includes a seven-step program to get involved with social media (Hint: fairly late in the development of a brand!) in order to expand clientele. He, like many others and even us on this blog, points out the value of metrics to get a picture of your brand’s audience and how to reach it. Shabbir Imber Safdar and Shayna Englin at Network for Good have recently posted some of their rather surprising findings based on the metrics they accrued at UNICEF USA over the last year.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Marketing, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
(Some) Social Media Grow, As Might
Specialization Among Them
Use of social media over the last three years
We have had many entries on this blog about the use, best practices, and (occasional) abuse of social media. We have done so with the effort to inform our audience about user trends, technology developments, and the marketing impact social media have had. The Neilsen ratings organization ‘NeilsenWire.com’ has recently posted a three-year survey of how some of the major social-media sites (Read: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, and ClassmatesOnline). As can be seen by the chart to the right, use of Facebook continues to expand at a phenomenal rate, as does Twitter (from a smaller starting base). But so too are a couple of notable reversals, LinkedIn and ClassmatesOnline. The reasons for their shrinkage might not be related, except for the logical possibility that they are losing ‘face time’ to Facebook. For example, Classmates.com offers a great opportunity to catch up with lost high school friends. But once the contact has been made, statistics suggest that both parties have Facebook accounts, or one encourages the other to join, and thus the continuing conversation (if there is one) takes place there.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Nonprofit, Site Administration, Sustainability, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Social Networks and Social Media: Let The Latter
Tap Into The Former
The TED (Technology, Education, Design) website has recently posted Nicholas Christakis’s talk entitled “The Hidden Influence of Social Networks,” which we repost here for your consideration. His research began with the topic of obesity, but he has developed a model of social connectivity that affects our political and emotional behavior as much as our eating habits.
How might social media tap into and/or develop such social networks?
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Media Review, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
BP’s Oil Spill in Gulf Looks Like Déjà Vu All Over Again
Cleaning Efforts in the
Gulf of Mexico
No, we are not referring to the many other oil spills and cleanup operations that have happened in recent memory. We are talking about the dance the BP Corporation is leading to get around being blamed for the spill, and the righteous indignation Congress people are getting themselves lathered up to look like they will make BP suffer the consequences. Just as they did a week ago when Chairman Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs was the whipping boy as Congress people needed to look like they were going to do something about their contributors’ greed. Did we mention it is a midterm election year?
Popularity: unranked | Category National/International, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Younger Donors And Social Media Savvy
Sure, we all know that the young seem hard-wired to ‘get’ new technologies (oh, but their time will come!). We know they text as often as talk with their phones. We know they seem impatient if not downright sloppy with their casual conversations. But do we know that the average twenty-something donates about $340 a year to philanthropic causes (Admission: I did not give that much)? That 57%+ twenty-somethings have volunteered on a charity project in the last year? (Disclosure: I can take some comfort for belonging to that statistic)? That 37% of them joined their charity’s social network in the last MONTH (Alright, such social networking was not an option when I was twenty-something)? These statistics are from the Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s summation of recent reports sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Edge Research and Sea Change Strategies, and by Johnson Grossnickel Associates. Is your organization ready to reach out to them? Are your people ready to be reached BY them?
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: Technology, Nonprofit, Tweets, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Roundup Of Some Social Media Developments
(Part 2 of 2): The Experts
Yesterday we outlined some success stories of philanthropic and social-action groups who have been able to leverage social media to help with fundraising. As promised, today we look at the backside of some social media developments, and it is not always pretty. The truth of the matter is, many have built up claims to be social-media experts, but most of them are promoters of self, not strategists who can help your organization move through the wealth of opportunity (and desultory time-wasting) made possible by the technology. The self-appointed Expert receives a good deal of roasting in any profession, but the grilling of the social-media guru can be pretty hot. And why not? She/he is being called out by the very producers of content (and the consumers) who he/she claims to be able to help.
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: Technology, Media Review, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Roundup Of Some Social Media Developments
(Part 1 of 2)
Facebook has gotten most of the press lately, and the MKCREATIVE blog discussed some of that buzz earlier this week. Facebook’s staff seek to build and weave together the new ‘Social Graphs’ of one’s “Friends” with the use of the already nearly-ubiquitous “Like” button. But another site is under development by Chris Hugues (one of the founding developers of Facebook) that seems to have similar ambitions within the world of mission-based businesses and philanthropy groups. That site is Jumo.com, a name meant to convey ‘working together.’ Though not the first site to try to bring together these constituencies, the knowhow of Mr. Hugues and his colleagues in the area of social networking might give Jumo a big jump once it is presented some time this fall. One can register an email online to get updates (and, of course, to register one’s ‘Like’ of the site) as they progress.
How has social networking fared as a qualitative and quantitative part of the philanthropic and mission-based communities?
Popularity: unranked | Category Media Review, Nonprofit, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Folks Like Facebook And Facebook Links the Likes
Back in March we posted access to a wonderful video sendup of the Fox News/Glen Beck phenomenon – a video that can, if you allow it, tap into your Facebook information to have you stand at the center of the conspiracy working to bring Communism to the United States. After the cackles died down (and the secret handshakes of the Illuminati were shared), we at MKCREATIVE wondered about the privacy implications of such a video. One short-term point we made, and one that bears repeating, is that by enjoying the video with our own mugs and friends-as-co-conspirators we are simply drawing from information we have already chosen to make public about ourselves. But the possibility of our semi-private (pseudo-private?) information running away from our control has been further heightened by Facebook’s latest move to have us link our likes around the net – what CEO Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook calls the ‘Social Graph‘: “We’re building toward a web where the default is social. Every application and product will be redesigned from the ground up to use a person’s real identity and friends.” Who will vouch for that ‘real identity’ and what will be bought and sold with the information linked are but two questions worth asking.
Popularity: unranked | Category Education: Technology, Software Review, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Upcoming Greening Events in Baltimore To Highlight Sustainability Successes
On our entry for 25 March we touted some notable greening projects in New York City, including Annie Novak’s rooftop farm. We also noted opportunities for Baltimore’s citizens to get involved in similar projects. Today we follow on with that call-to-action to draw your attention to a couple of festivals and conferences meant to inspire and educate the Baltimore community to strive for environmental and economic sustainability. We also want to offer kudos to Towson University’s students, staff, and faculty who recycled 140 tons of materials in the fourth annual “RecycleMania” competition held among Maryland’s institutions of higher learning. They far exceeded their goal of 120 tons, itself an expansion over the 114 tons recycled last year. And they did so despite those crippling blizzards in February smack dab in the middle of the competition. (Cue sappy music) Of course, Maryland’s citizenry and environment are the big winners, as schools across the state competed in the 10-week competition.
Popularity: unranked | Category Automobiles, Climate Change, Community, Conference/Congress, Education: General, Greening, Local/Maryland, Nonprofit, Politics, Sustainability | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
A (Giga)Bit More on Net Neutrality Debate In Wake of Appeals Court Ruling
The decision from the Federal Appeals Court continues to reverberate within the news cycle, as debate continues about the viability (or mythology) of neutrality in the marketplace and how sternly the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should oversee the industry. For those of you wanting to hear a lively discussion of the issue, a bit of its history, and proponents from both sides of the decision, may we recommend today’s one-hour discussion on The Diane Rhem Show?
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Conference/Congress, Marketing, National/International, Opinion, Politics, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Net Neutrality Loses (First?) Appeal
The MKCREATIVE blog has posted on issues of net neutrality, network infrastructures, and the impending Google gigabit network for some fortunate community in these United States. So our antennae were twitching as the decision/appeal concerning the FCC’s statute of ‘net neutrality.’ And the court has decided that the FCC’s statutes are unconstitutional. Here is a nice introduction from The Wall Street Journal (including the fact that the pundits interviewed do not expect the Obama Administration to spend political capital appealing the appeal:
Of course, the issue is not resolved (any more than health care is ‘resolved’).
Popularity: 1% | Category National/International, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
iPad is Released, And Mobile Computing Grows That Bit More Important
Apple's iPad Launches April 2, 2010
A few weeks ago we posted a two-part preview on Apple’s latest device, the iPad, and (perhaps more importantly) how such a device will move the computing world towards portable devices and ‘cloud computing.’ Well, the day has arrived, and the iPad is on the launching pad. Stores will be presenting it Saturday, so get in line early.
The MKCREATIVE team have not had the honor of receiving a prototype (although we will be testing it at our local Apple store in Towson, Maryland on launch day), and we will make no claims about the device beyond what the reviewers have to say. Our two go-to reviewers are David Pogue at The New York Times, and Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal, but other professional tech reviewers have weighed in with their own experiences. But one reviewer whose more – shall we say “humanist”? – approach might provide a key to how the nonprofit community should embrace this technology.
Popularity: 1% | Category Apple, Education: Technology, Hardware Review, Reviews, Technology, iDevice | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Thirteen Nonprofits Worth Following/Emulating on Twitter (+ 1 More)
The good folks at Socialbrite.org have recently posted a list of what they consider to be a ‘Top-Twelve List’ of social organizations and nonprofits that we all should follow on Twitter. The introduction gives you links to Twitter and how to become a ‘Follower’ of these organizations. It also includes links to individuals who might be worth following as well. It is worth noting that, though the number of ‘Followers’ for each of them is listed, the list is based on the work the groups do and the qualitative use of their Twitter presence, not merely their race to get X numbers on their lists (a quantitative benchmark that seems much more important to celebrities than to community organizations).
Popularity: 1% | Category Community, Education: Technology, Nonprofit, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Saving Money, Reducing CO2, and Getting Profitable IS That Easy
Shut down your machine!
The Ford Motor Company did not require the same sorts of bailouts that the General Motors conglomerate did last year. Its family-run structure likely kept its owners, managers, and designers on their toes because they had their own ‘skins-in-the-game.’ Now TreeHugger.com posts a story about how the company went ahead and saved another cool $1.2 million by, uh, turning off the computers at its headquarters at night and on weekends. The decision is rewarded thusly, according to TreeHugger: “By centrally controlling the power settings on the company’s computers, they are saving an estimated $1.2 million annually and keeping between 16,000 and 25,000 metric tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.”
Popularity: unranked | Category Automobiles, Climate Change, Community, Conference/Congress, Greening, News and Current Affairs, Site Administration, Sustainability, Technology, Urban Farming | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Baltimore And Its Home-Seekers Want 1Gigabit Network
Gus G. Sentementes, tech guru at The Baltimore Sun, has recently reported on the efforts of the Greater Baltimore Committee (with the help of Under Armour, Inc.) to lure Google to bring its one-gigabyte-per-second network to Charm City. We reported on Google’s announcement and Request for Proposals about six weeks ago, and our fair city is now in the hunt. The MKCREATIVE blog reported on the many pluses of the project, though one of limited population scope. But here’s hoping… The faster network could help home shoppers find the houses of their dreams that nanosecond as well. If they are savvy about how to search…
Popularity: unranked | Category Affordable Housing, Community, Local/Maryland, Politics, Revitalization, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
More Seminars Coming Our Way
- Image by new economics foundation via Flickr
We have gotten still more notices about various seminars in the region pertinent to the greening and mission-based sectors of the economy, so we wanted to continue to share the details on some of the news. The Big Picture remains the opportunity to build networks and gain new skills while the economy might be slowing your daily internal projects.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Conference/Congress, Local/Maryland, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Politics, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Recent Developments in Website Design – Part III:
The Finished Product
The homepage of 'Dogtrust.org.uk' - Clear contrasts, distinct boxes of information, and cuddly puppies!
We have discussed the developments of CSS3 and some of the quick and easy ways to make websites accessible to the visually impaired. The technologies and evolution of code outlined these last couple of postings are meant to introduce you to some of the considerations your organization should have as you decide to refresh or redo your online presence. Indeed, as we are teased with signs of spring (at least in the Chesapeake Bay region), why not enjoy some clean and spritely websites that follow some of the best practices outlined here?
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Media Review, Site Administration, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Recent Developments in Website Design – Part II: Accessibility
Yesterday we outlined how the new protocols for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS3) will open up a whole world of font to allow organizations and outreach groups opportunity to provide consistent font faces across print and web publication. But having the text presented by fonts, rather than by images of words (Try selecting the logo or the tagline at the very top of Clipart4you.com), does more than open up a treasure trove of toys for your design staff. It also opens up your organization’s work to the growing numbers of visually impaired users of the net.
Popularity: unranked | Category Marketing, Media Review, Site Administration, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Recent Developments in Website Design – Part I: Fonts
Expanding Available Web Fonts with CSS3
We start this week with a consideration of recent developments in website design for charities and nonprofits. This blog (along with, well, most every design blog out there) has often commented on the need for nonprofits, charities, and mission-based businesses to extend their web presence wherever possible. Much of the point of social networking applications (think: Facebook, Twitter, Buzz!, etc.) is to promote timely information in a quick and concise manner. The presentation of that information is largely dictated by the servers and software that run the various applications and sites (though some basic modification and theme installation is available). Visually, what much of the audience is looking for when plugging into these sites is pretty standardized – which is especially true for those looking at sites presented by businesses and charities, rather by 20-somethings and their friends’ bands. But when people are looking for the dedicated website of their favorite causes or projects, their expectations are higher, and organization needs to raise their presentation game accordingly.
Popularity: 1% | Category Site Administration, Software Review, Technology, Web and Print | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Low-Cost to Free Technologies for Nonprofits
Applicant Manager Overview from WizeHive on Vimeo.
In these tough economic times, we are all looking for ways to lower costs while keeping up productivity. The trick is to do so without getting into a state of confusion over cut corners or depending on sticky notes all over the wall. One great way to keep the nonprofit office organized while not shelling out too much for the privilege is with the fabulous application & grant management system by Wizehive. For as little as $75 a month your organization can keep up with 200 applications among up to 10 reviewers & writers. Land the big grant, expand the package rate, and have up to 1000 applications to share, comment upon, and store with an unlimited staff. It is a project-management system inexpensive to use and ready to expand with your organization. But wait (as a famous CEO says every year or so), there’s just one more thing.
Popularity: unranked | Category Community, Nonprofit, Reviews, Software Review, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Nonprofits To Expand In 2010 If They Communicate Clearly
March is upon us, although the madness for many of us thus far still comes from lingering snows and icepacks along sides of road – not our college hoops teams falling out of our office pool. With the turning of the month’s calendar, we find some reports about the previous year’s nonprofit community, as well as predictions as to what the rest of this year might look like for it. Spring means a chance to clean house, or at least update some features and fixtures, as well. It is never to early to start the processes (Indeed, what have you been doing these last two months to get the year off right?), so let’s consider some ways forward in 2010.
Popularity: unranked | Category Conference/Congress, Marketing, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Google’s portfolio now to include electricity distribution
Wow. Whether it was the boom & bust of Buzz! (and probable resurrection), the Request For Proposal to establish a gigabit fiberoptic network (NPR news story), or the latest move for Google to purchase and resell electricity, the search giant has been inspiring tweets and blogs of all stripes the last few weeks. Our blog has reported some of these developments, and the most recent Googlegrowth deserves mention as well. What might the distribution by Google mean for the non-profit and mission-based sector of the economy?
Popularity: 1% | Category Greening, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Politics, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Alex Steffen’s ‘Seattle Model’ for Wealthy, Green, Cities
Late last November Alex Steffen gave a two-night presentation at Seattle’s city hall concerning the climatic crises the planet faces, and how single towns and cities can change the direction we are heading. The videos have recently been posted at his group’s website, worldchanging.com, and we think they are well worth a watch.
The talks are about 90 minutes each, and your time is rewarded with an entertaining survey of existent green technologies and a shocking review of the environmental and economic problems we face. But what distinguishes Mr. Steffen’s ideas within the environmental movement is his enthusiasm for growth and prosperity.
Popularity: 1% | Category Climate Change, Community, Greening, Sustainability, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Google’s Experimental Fiberoptic Network: Coming to Your Community?
Google, makers of Android, Chrome, GMail & GMaps (merely touching the surface), has announced plans for a 1 GB/sec fiberoptic network, and the company has petitioned for communities to present Requests for Information (RFI) by 26 March. According to Google’s press release, the company has been working with federal agencies since last summer to channel ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act) monies into developing fiberoptic cable, and are now striking out on their own to develop a test-case. Could your community be that beneficiary? Town and city governments are encouraged to apply, of course, but the site also points out that individuals can nominate their communities as well:
Popularity: unranked | Category Hardware Review, News and Current Affairs, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Fossil-Fuel Producers as Fossil-Fuel Deniers
This report might fit under the rubric of John Cleese’s famous rejoinder, “Well, aren’t you Master of the Bleeding Obvious?!” But we must remind ourselves that all is not as it may seem. A report by Jonathan Owen and Paul Bignell in the British newspaper The Independent outlines many of the links between multi-national oil & fossil-fuel producers and think tanks who argue against global-warming or argue against the notion that human activity is causing it. As an example that Owen and Bignell cite, “ExxonMobil is a key player behind the scenes, having donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past few years to climate change sceptics. The Atlas Foundation, created by the late Sir Anthony Fisher (founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs), received more than $100,000 in 2008 from ExxonMobil, according to the oil company’s reports.” (more…)
Popularity: unranked | Category Climate Change, Community, National/International, Politics, Technology | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D
Audi’s ‘Green Police’ Ad: Not Just Another Pot Shot at the Green Movement
Repost of original article by Leo Hickman, Feb 8, 2010, guardian.co.uk
Mmm, I wonder if Will Ferrell and his comedy compatriots at Funnyordie.com saw Audi’s Super Bowl ad (Sunday)? If they did, then they might have recognised the ad’s satirical vision of a world patrolled by the “green police”.
The reason being that they made virtually the same joke – scoring far more laughs in the process – in their Green Team video a couple of years ago. (more…)
Popularity: unranked | Category Automobiles, Climate Change, Greening, Marketing, Media Review, Sustainability | | View Comments
Written by: Marco K.
A review of iPad reviews (Pt. 2)
Yesterday we saw some of the challenges, criticisms, and bawdy jokes tossed at the iPad. Today we turn to some of the reviews and ideas that could well make the iPad the kind of ‘game-changer’ that even Windows users expect of Apple. (more…)
Popularity: 1% | Category Apple, Community, Hardware Review, Software Review | | View Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, Ph. D