#TECH: Facebook Timeline Rolled Out-Nonprofits Roll In
Last week a much-anticipated feature was released by Facebook’s developers. No, not the stock IPO (Initial Public Offer), but the Timeline feature/app that can turn one’s activities online into, well, a timeline. In one sense, one’s posts and posts of one’s friends (including organizations) created a proto-timeline. What the new feature offers is the opportunity for one’s activities outside Facebook to be brought into one’s Timeline, a development of what the folks at FB call ‘The Open Graph’.
The paradigm, and the opportunity to develop applications to link your nonprofit/business/media conglomerate/reading circle/music application…, was first presented in mid-January and now some 80+ such organizations have developed apps (the numbers shift periodically as more organizations make such apps, but some are blocked after being reviewed by Facebook). The numbers of nonprofits taking advantage of Timeline are not yet huge, but many are discussing how they might in the near future.
Popularity: 1% | Category Advertising, Branding, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Measurement, Media Review, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Storytelling, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#SM4NP: Beware Not Of SM But Of SM Snake Oil & Silver Bullets
Should you? Must you?
If we aren’t careful, we might be entranced to believe social-media networking platforms have been around for quite a while. I mean, if Facebook is valued at $5 billion in its Initial Public Auction, then surely it’s a tried-and-true company that still has room to grow. Right?
Before you jump over to your E*Trade account, you might ask yourself “What has Facebook (or Twitter, for that matter) done for me?” That query, if you are a nonprofit or a small business, can be tricky to answer, unless you started with a plan and with some measurable goals that can be stood next to what you have in fact done. And sometimes, what you want done can get a nice push from social media but social media won’t necessarily do the heavy hauling. And that’s ok!
Popularity: 1% | Category Advice, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community Gardens, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Site Administration, Social Media, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Technology for Nonprofits, Tweets, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#FUNDRAISING: Impact Of Mobile Donations To Haiti Two Years On?
Two years ago this month, Haitians endured a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that destroyed much of the infrastructure in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed over 300,000 people. The outpouring of support from numerous nations inspired faith that rebuilding after the tragedy would bring notable improvements to the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.
Unfortunately, two years on, much of the news concerns not the rebuilding of the island nation but the challenge of simply finding where the promised money and resources went. Much of it simply has not shown up as countries have given less (some news sources state as much as half) than first promised. But of what has arrived has often been diverted to non-Haitian companies or to corrupt local officials who overcharge for minimal services.
And yet we also have the data to show how much non-governmental was raised ($43 million) and how.
Popularity: 1% | Category Case Study, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Publications, Research, Resource, Social Media, Study, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Tech: Apple’s Reputation Gets Pulped – Deservedly So?
Oops...
Tweets often move faster than facts. True, the Apple web store was down for a bit yesterday, but when it came back up, no new iPad or iPhone 5. Indeed, the only notable difference I could see was the prominence of Apple’s report on ‘Supplier Responsibility‘ for 2012.
Which proved to be a ‘fortuitous’ move, given the fact that yesterday The New York Times published a scathing and in-depth report about workers’ conditions at technology-suppliers Foxconn in China. A significant portion of Foxconn’s factory in Chengdu exploded in May 2011, killing four workers. Which slowed output of iPad 2s, which caught peoples’ attention. Which inspired investigations into what was going on at Foxconn. Which are now coming to light and showing the terribly rough conditions at the factory/city. For which Apple is taking most of the heat. Is that fair?
Popularity: 1% | Category Apple, Branding, Campaigns, Civics, Communications, Environment, iDevice, iPad/Tablet, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Public Relations, Technology | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Communications: Postal Rates Raised Last Week – Not For Nonprofits
The United States Postal Service has been struggling financially for the last few years. The Bush Administration saddled the service with pre-paying its future retiree benefits for a decade (2006-2016), a demand uniquely imposed on the USPS. Bush’s policy meant the service went from profits in the $1.4 billion range in 2005 to one that has laid off thousands of works, closed numerous branches, and still needs to raise postal rates in an effort just to stay open. So what he did to the postal service he did to the country.
This past Monday many postal rates changed. For example, first-class mail went up by a penny and its guaranteed one-day delivery (depending on distance) was removed. Or perhaps you didn’t notice?
Popularity: 1% | Category Advice, Campaigns, Civics, Communications, Community, Direct Mail, E-Mail, Fundraising, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Marketing Skills, Measurement, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newsletter, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Politics, Publications, Strategic Marketing, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Communication: Six Tips To Expand Readership On Your Nonprofit’s Blog
We thank you for reading our blog, and we hope to provide relevant, timely, and interesting material for you for 2012. Producing a timely and engaging blog (at least we hope so!) requires some effort. But the opportunities and results they can produce are well worth the investment. If your nonprofit organization has a blog, you want to ensure regular production of high-quality. And if it doesn’t, you’re missing great opportunities to tell your stories, to turn your passive followers into active volunteers and donors, and to benefit from the multiplier effects of readers sharing, tweeting, and faving your nonprofit’s good work.
Plenty of advice about how to raise your blog’s readership exists in the same blogosphere your organization is already working in. A recent post by Jeff Ogden at SocialMediaToday.com particularly caught our eye because he keeps the advice clear and simple and because he stresses quality over quantity. And let’s face it: the internet largely encourages the latter over the former. So what is on his short list?
Popularity: 1% | Category Advice, Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Media Review, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Reviews, Social Media, Storytelling, Twitter, Web and Print, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Tech: CES 2012 Shows Off The Flat Entertainment Coming Post-Recession
Each mid-January, while much of the country is struggling to get through wintery weather and get kids back on a school-day schedule, the brash, bold, and bright world of near-future technology is shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not the back end of the financial crisis/Great Recession, not the fact that Apple has not attended in over a decade, or that Microsoft is attending this year for the ‘last’ time could stop the show from breaking attendance records at over 153,000.
Yet those 153,000 did not include the consumer, per se. The show is invitation-only and those are sent to hardware and software companies, to news agencies, to retail-chain buyers, and to tech reviewers. Alas, despite the strong numbers and expansive and loyal readership of the MKCREATIVEmedia blog, we did not seem to warrant an invitation this year. Or it got lost in the mail. Thankfully, the names we trust to write about technology were there to help.
Popularity: 1% | Category Campaigns, Communications, Design, Event Review, Events, Hardware Review, iPad/Tablet, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Public Relations, Reviews, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Education, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Communication: SOPA & PIPA Bills Are Dying, But Not Dead
Yesterday, a couple of the most used and best-known websites on the internet willingly shut themselves down: Wikipedia and Reddit. Google, you likely noticed, ‘redacted’ its daily Google Doodle. These efforts were to call attention to and protest against the Congressional debates over the ‘Stop Internet Piracy Act’ (SOPA) in the House and the ‘Protect Internet Protocols Act’ (PIPA) in the Senate. And they seem to have worked, as support for either bill has drained away: ”We can find a solution that will protect lawful content. But this bill is flawed & that’s why I’m withdrawing my support. #SOPA #PIPA,” Republican Sen. Roy Blunt wrote on his official Twitter page. (Quote from CNN Tech report earlier this morning).
But the concern over online piracy of entertainment and software remains, and SOPA’s political supporters promise to refine new legislative efforts.
Popularity: 2% | Category Blogs, Civics, Communications, Community, Copyrighting, Marketing, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Media, Technology | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
#Interview: Allison Fine, Author & Analyst — Examines Intersection of Social Media & Social Change
Allison Fine researches and writes about the intersection of social media and social change. She is the co-author (with Beth Kanter) of the bestselling book, The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change
MKC: You’ve researched and written about social media and how it could impact democracy in the 21st century. Is the Occupy Wall Street movement along the lines of what you were envisioning?
ALLISON: Occupy Wall Street is absolutely part of the same DNA of social protests that we’ve seen for about the last ten years or so. They are widely distributed – meaning there’s no centralized organizing person or organization. They are fueled, but not caused, by social media – the ability to share messages, share photos, share videos, which are very powerful, is part of what’s stirring the pot and helping to organize the events. Occupy Wall Street has some of the drawbacks of this kind of mobilizing as well: the lack of a centralized message and the lack of goals. Whether or not those ultimately stop the momentum for these self-organized efforts locally will be interesting to watch.
Popularity: 1% | Category Blogs, Book Review, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Development, Direct Mail, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Perspectives, Perspectives, Resource, Reviews, Social Media, Sponsorship, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools, Twitter | | 1 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#ProAging: CES Highlights Tech For Boomers On-The-Move
This past 10 through 13 January saw the annual International Consumer Electronics Show present some of the up-and-coming technologies for the next year(s). The CES “is owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $186 billion U.S. consumer technology industry.” Most of the news pertains to the latest smartphone or smart TV, but for the past three years the CES has also supported the ‘Silver Summit.’ This exhibition-within-an-exhibition focusses on technology for older citizens. It also awards ‘Silver Choice Awards,’ a couple of which we wanted to relay to our readers – along with video access to a round-table on the future of technology for retiring Baby Boomers.
Popularity: 3% | Category Aging, Apple, Boomers, Community, Design, Events, Health, iDevice, Independent Living, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Nonprofit, Reviews, Seniors Life, Software Review, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Aging | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner
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