This is fine. But I can’t help but offer up a thought… What if we paid as much attention to:
Following Twitter’s news has a place in our life–but there are so many different aspects to life outside of the Internet and technology. I feel it’s okay to follow the hype–but let’s not get caught up in it. I say this as much as a reminder to myself, as I do to my fellow bloggers and readers. Where we place our time and attention, influences our thoughts. And our thoughts can become our actions.
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
So I ask you: What are your thoughts?
If you click on that little link, you are directed to “hope140.org” with a personal note from @ev and @biz, the founders of Twitter. They share that in this space, they will highlight social movements that deserve our attention. Currently, the site features Haiti efforts and efforts for World Malaria Day. A stream called the “Ecosystem of Hope” also provides tweets provided by nonprofits. On individual cause pages, Twitter provides a variety of action-oriented ways to get involved:
It’ll be interesting to see how this space evolves–how Twitter will choose what to highlight and how nonprofits react. In a way, it reminds me of BlogCatalog’s “BloggersUnite” initiative. For those wanting to be featured, Twitter refers you to its case studies to learn best practices. To be officially considered for what Twitter is calling its “Twitter for Good” program, they provide a contact form.
What are your thoughts–how should Twitter use its leverage for good?
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What about you? What good info have you read lately? Please provide the link in the comments so we can all check it out. Also–if you’re in love with your Google Reader like me, here’s my public profile. Let’s connect.
flickr credit: Benimoto
]]>Once a month–using the Twitter account @read4change and the hashtag #read4change–do gooders, social changers, nonprofiteers and the like gather around the last Wednesday of the month and read a social change-themed book–chosen by the community. The hope is to have authors or experts join us in the conversation as a unique opportunity to have meaningful conversations in a meaningful way.
Everyday–Be on the lookout for #read4change challenges where we identify ways where you or I’s reading can have a direct impact into a positive change. It might not be everyday, but we’ll do our best. If you or your organization has an action you want highlighted, just shoot me an email or direct message.
Bonus–Any funds raised through our online bookshelf (run through Amazon’s Associates program) will be donated to a charity of the group’s choice at the end of the year.
All Stars–Shoot me an email if you want to be a #read4change All Star list. This means you plan to partake in at least 3 of our 11 chats this year, and you will also be also given some link-love.
Look forward to a great year. Open to ideas. Feel free to suggest a book or topic in the comments!
]]>A Social Shout-out
Not only are good news items coming up, but I’ve also expanded my RSS reader with some blogs I encourage you to get to know:
Social Herder: If you don’t know Will Robinson, you might want to. Will writes on all things social entrepreneurship, non-profits and general do-goodery. You can catch Will at his blog, on Twitter, or at his current gig with Ogilvy PR.
Justice for All: If you are interested in a mash-up of human rights, social enterprise, democracy and law, then you’ll appreciate the enthusiasm of Northwestern senior Akhila Koliset. Not only do I share an interest in advocating human rights with Akhila, but I continue to be inspired by her passion and the voice with which she writes. You can tell she loves to be inspired as much as she is inspiring–just check out her reading list!
What We Give: You’ve probably heard of this one, but if not, you should. Larry Blumenthal is the director of social media strategy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and adds much value back to the marketplace through both his blog and on his Twitter stream where he talks about how social media is changing philanthropy.
What about you? Any newly discovered blogs or colleagues you’d like to give a social shout-out to?
PS: Often, these “nuggets” are shared sooner through my Twitter account. If you’re on Twitter, let’s connect @socialbttrfly.
]]>I have an idea.
But it slightly depends on you.
So one question: Like books?
I just had one of those freakish “ah-ha” moments. Bare with me while I explain…
The idea started forming when my mom told me I should add a page to my blog that talks about the books I read and recommend.
Then, my mom emailed me saying her book club wanted to get a package of books for my fiance and I as a wedding present. Ever since, I’ve spotted more books I’d like to read.
And better yet, many of you SB readers have been recommending some fascinating titles.
Here’s the list of books for us to consider for the first pow-wow, based on some recent recommendations I’ve received myself:
Vote on which book we’ll discuss first and I’ll announce it in a about a week what YOU chose for us all to read and chat about. In the meantime, feel free to also email me book suggestions: socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com. I’ll work on getting that page up that my mom told me about. Thanks mom. (I know she’s reading.)
flickr credit: Chocolate Geek
Book Images: Courtesy of Amazon
Buzz has been building for a while now as delegates, organizers and presenters make their final preparations for next week’s National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media. Hosted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Marketing and the Office in Enterprise Communications, the conference is packed with discussion about health marketing, health disparities, new frontiers in technology, and collaboration.
iQ Solutions’ own VP of Health Communications, Jennifer Isenberg Blacker, will also be presenting on behalf of the National Institute on Drug Abuse about the use of new technologies to engage youth. Senior VP of Communications and Social Marketing, Kim Callinan, and myself will also be there to cheer her on and gain insights from other presenters, as well as share in community with other health evangelists.
As the iQ team preps for our journey down to Atlanta, I’ve identified five ways to prepare for this year’s CDC Conference:
1. Network. Nedra Weinreich has set up a community on NING, a social network that lets you create your own social community. Already boasting 60+ members, this public platform enables us to network before, during, and after the conference, and is how I learned that the CDC program book was available for download.
2. Follow the conversation. Whether you are signed up for Twitter or not, you can still follow the conversations that are happening there. Using the tool Twitter Search, type in the hashtag “#NCHCMM09” to see what people are saying about the conference. I will also be live-tweeting certain presentations and added insights through IQ Solutions’ new Twitter handle, @iQSolutions.
3. Create your own conference dashboard. If you want to be a real superstar like Chris Brogan or Christopher Penn, you can even create your own conference dashboard using iGoogle, Netvibes, or PageFlakes. The dashboard, Brogan explains, is a one-stop online location “to see the elements you might want to know about at a conference…and you can get a fast scan of a lot of data that might prove useful during the event.” Example information may include adding some Twitter search strings to your dashboard, integrating a local map, local clock, local weather information, and much more. See an example below.
4. Meet-Up and Tweet-Up. They say at conferences that some of the best insights and conversations are those you have with colleagues in the hallways or over a great meal. Don’t miss out on these nuggets of opportunity for sharing. Already, CDC’s Justin Williams has organized a Tweet-up for Wednesday, August 12th from 7:30-10:30pm at STATS. This is one more opportunity to gather and meet with colleagues. Already attending are Craig Lefebvre, Andre Blackman, Susannah Fox and myself. Join us.
5. Study. It’s always good to know what you’re getting yourself into. Thus, I recommend checking out the conference’s Web site, seeing who’s who, as well as downloading and reading through the program book. Studying may be overkill, but as I mentioned earlier, this conference is packed with powerful presentations-so much so, that if you’re like me, you’re going to have to prioritize what you can attend. It’s not possible to see every single presenter, even though you’ll want to! (This is another good reason Tip #2 and Tip #3 come in handy-you can catch what you may be missing during concurrent presentations.)
Your Turn: What other tips might you offer to prep for this year’s conference?
]]>This post grabbed the attention of friend and respected colleague Geoff Livingston, including his colleagues at ChildFund International who, at the time, were in the midst of such a campaign. Graciously, through conversations via email and Twitter, Geoff and I agreed that it’d be great to have ChildFund International share its experience and thoughts as they develop @ChildFund on Twitter, and establish their rejuvenated brand online. Therefore, I invite you to hear from David Hylton (pictured below), the voice behind @ChildFund’s Twitter, in the following interview. Geoff contributed some insights as well.
Alex: What are past Twitter-Follow initiatives that changemakers might look-up to gain insights about how to conduct their own strategy?
Geoff: The one we looked at for @ChildFund was the UNEP tree for a follow campaign. We thought that it was a great strategy to incentivize followers. With that campaign, we (UNEP) had set an ambitious end goal of 10,000 followers, which in retrospect, we think was not realistic given the re-branding of UNEP, our lack of a community manager, and that we were national.
Further, we wanted to give folks something to 1) strive for and 2) to report back to them on so they can see the program in action. So, with UNEP, it was to get us 10k followers. For @ChildFund, we wanted to raise our visibility because as part of our strategy, we had a new name, and we wanted people to know about us and that if they followed us, we would show them specifically what we’re doing with the gifts donated by a donor, especially for Twitter followers. It’s a commitment.
Alex: Using @ChildFund’s latest Twitter strategy as an example, what were your initial objectives and how did the use of Twitter help you meet them?
David: Our primary goal is to 1) launch the ChildFund brand on the Internet and 2) drive awareness of our activity among new stakeholders. We think we’re successfully doing that. Keep in mind that in addition to the opt-in follower,s tens of thousands of people are seeing the ChildFund International brand online.
3) In addition, the changeblogger space has noted that we are online. This was also a critical aspect of our effort. We see other nonprofit bloggers as vital community members that we want to develop relationships with, and we hope we can help some of them in their efforts, too. So from that standpoint, it’s been a successful effort.
4) Lastly, but not the least, we want to develop an international community of people online that care about the well-being (I know it’s not much different, but as part of our new brand, we must be positive) of children. This is the beginning, and really, people are giving us an opportunity to start a conversation with them, but have not yet necessarily committed to that community. We hope to be worthwhile additions to their Twitter experience and to evolve that experience into something more meaningful and rewarding.
Alex: How did @ChildFund go about promoting its Twitter-follow initiative?
David: We hired CRT/Tananka to develop the strategy, and then used Geoff Livingston to be an initial voice for us. Given a very limited budget, we thought getting someone who was established with an existing community, and some experience dealing with bloggers was the best way to go. And Geoff did a lot with a very limited amount of time and resources available to him.
Alex: We know it’s only been a few days, but what are some initial results of the @ChildFund campaign on Twitter? Overall?
David: We’ll probably have helped out six or seven African communities and their children by week’s end. By the end of the campaign we expect it will be in the neighborhood of ten communities. That in itself is great. We want to be up front that the items will be mailed at the end of the campaign. And once the items are received, we’re going to post about how the items impact the recipients lives. We want you to see how the money is used and how just a little goes a long way. More importantly, is the new community members we are developing, all the awareness of the new mission and brand name and ChildFund’s work with children. Plus, people will get to see our work in action AND participate even further as other elements of our social media effort continues, including the hire of our community manager. This was exactly the right start to something we see as an ongoing activity.
Alex: In my initial post, I listed “7 Tips” for changemakers to consider if they want to create their own Twitter-follow strategy for their organization. I recognize different organizations have different needs, roadblocks, etc., but what additional tips might you recommend others consider?
David: The seventh follow-up tip is critical. We’re not just trying to get a number count for Twitter followers, we’re trying to build something – a relationship. In that regard, we have a long-term plan in mind.
The other thing we’d add is to put a real voice behind the Twitter account. Who wants to follow someone and the only communication they receive is asks for donations and links? Even organizations have people working for them. Make sure a real person is working there and that they can interact with their followers freely.
And for those who are following and supporting us as sponsors or donors and decide they want to engage further with others, we’ve created a section on the ChildFund Web site that provides that opportunity.
Alex: Twitter is Twitter. How can changemakers increase awareness of their efforts outside of Twitter?
David: One of the things you’ll notice is that we’ll start referring to our blog, or our Facebook page, or videos to report back to the community. Real stakeholders who care about us will want more information and have deeper dialogue. That’s where the real social media effort begins, and we look forward to having those conversations with our core stakeholders. And from there, they can get even further involved if they choose to.
The key is if “they choose to.” By providing opportunities to opt in and permission to engage further via links to other media, a true relationship is forged. And that’s how you get beyond 140 characters.
Alex: Thank you David and ChildFund for your willingness to share with us fellow changemakers. I wish you the best in your endeavours and will be sure to stay posted as I can see just from a quick scan of the new Web site (ps-I highly recommend checking it out based on design alone) that you have many more great initiatives, stories and real change programs in the works. Props to Geoff as well for coordinating and recommending such a great idea!
]]>From my own observations of these initiatives, here’s what I have to offer to your organization if you’re working on a “follow-and-fundraise” plan:
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to participate in these campaigns. After all, it’s at low cost to me, the end-consumer. My main point is that I just want these initiatives to be better and the experience to be greater–and overall, I’m wondering why, if it is a low cost, does it seem to not always work?
flickr photo credit: crjr2003
]]>Have you seen this video of the events in Iran set to the music of Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Care About Us” yet? What are your thoughts?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm-FUQUKoXM
(One more tip: Jocelyn Harmon, in her latest post, also talks about how the Sierra Club recently leveraged ‘timeliness’ in one of its new initiatives as well.)
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