Code, Camera, Action

Stories, software and strategies to help nonprofits do the social web
Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson

Startup thinking for the social sector.
Code for action.
Plus photography.
(And reading aloud.)

I'm the founder of el-studio.com, a web development firm that helps nonprofits and associations connect to the social web.

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Email as social platform - GigaOm

Gmail is the most viable launch pad for new Google services. From Google Talk to Google Buzz and now to Google Voice, Gmail has a mass audience and the momentum qualities to turn a new feature into a must-have service.  There are about 173 million Gmail accounts, while Yahoo Mail has 284 million and Hotmail has 360 million.

It’s part of my long-standing belief that inherently unsocial companies like Google should be using email as a way to become more social.

via gigaom.com

But does this extend to mobile? With widespread adoption of Google Voice, it could.

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Social Media Tech for Marketers

Earlier this spring, I gave a talk on nonprofit social media to the DC chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Now, I'm a tech guy, so it was a little intimidating -- and fun -- to speak to a houseful of marketing folks. (I'm still not sure I was their first choice... :)) 

But it was a great crowd, and Em Hall provided counterpoint from the messaging perspective. We were even asked to present again at at #DCWeek a month later, which we happily did.

The slides from that talk are worth sharing because they start from a point that is too often overlooked as nonprofits scramble onto Facebook or Twitter or what-have-you. 

There are lots of examples here of high-impact campaigns. Some, like Pepsi Refresh, take lots of money. Some, like, invisiblepeople.tv, run mostly on passion. 

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Got npskillz? Tools & tactics for nonprofit social media

Em Hall and I presented to a great crowd at Digital Capital Week's nonprofit day today. Thanks, everybody for turning out — and thanks for the super questions. Check them on Twitter #npskillz.

My favorite, "Focus on brand or issues for NPO social media?" 

Humungous thanks to @emilyhaha for the kickoff idea and wisdom as always!

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Facebook privacy: Limit what your friends can share about you

If your friend uses an application that you do not use, you can control what types of information the application can access. Please note that applications will always be able to access your publicly available information (Name, Profile Picture, Gender, Current City, Networks, Friend List, and Pages) and information that is visible to Everyone.

  • Personal info (activities, interests, etc.)
  • Status updates
  • Online presence
  • Website
  • Family and relationship status
  • Relationship details (significant other, looking for, etc.)
  • Education and work
  • My videos
  • My links
  • My notes
  • My photos
  • Photos and videos I'm tagged in
  • About me
  • My birthday
  • My hometown
  • My religious and political views
via facebook.com

What can your friends share about you? Lots of info.

Facebook now checks most of these boxes by default, meaning that applications your friends install can access much of your profile. Whether or not you have also installed the app.

I prefer a little less sharing, thank you.

Hat tip to Peter Feld for inspiring me to look into this. http://peterfeld.tumblr.com/post/540720403/a-quick-facebook-privacy-cleanse-n...

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Fred Wilson: Software Is Media

And like media, the most important measurement for software today is the number of engaged users. The more engaged users a piece of software has, the more impactful it can be.
Fred Wilson, via avc.com
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"Organizations don't need 'social media' strategies, they need social strategies" - Umair Haque

What's social media good for? Umair Haque says it's not just for marketing. Social tools have the power to connect firms with their customers in ways that turn business upside down -- and create much greater value. He lists seven social strategies, examples of how social helps businesses create.

Social strategies are about reinventing tomorrow. Their goal is nothing less than changing the DNA of an organization, ecosystem, or industry. Want to get radical? Stop applying 20th century principles (“product,” “buzz,” “loyalty”) to 21st century media. The fundamental change of scale and pace that social tools introduce into human affairs — their great tectonic shift — is the promise of more meaningful work, stuff, and organization. Start with “the meaning is the message” instead.

via blogs.hbr.org
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Beth Kanter: Should We Just Blow Up Nonprofit "Vote for Me" Social Good Contests ?

Great discussion going on now about Beth Kanter's post on vote-for-me nonprofit fundraising. Beth turns up some disturbing facts about the Pepsi Refresh competition, and questions this sort of philanthropy in general. There's lots of criticism from the sector over the way that marketing data is used by Pepsi.

In the discussion on Facebook, I shared an idea about one way that nonprofits could turn these sorts of competitions to the greater good -- 

I agree that aspects of the Pepsi challenge seem not so well thought out. Particularly what Beth points out in her post -- it's not too difficult to limit that kind of gaming by bots in rules or in code. (But I'm biased: We've done that kind of thing for smaller grant competitions at the Case Foundation.)

But Pepsi has at least put large amounts of $$ at stake for their contest. Each organization has to answer for itself if that money and potential exposure makes it worthwhile.

One thing that might influence how these contests are done would be for nonprofits to pool their applications -- and their appeals to voters. Why not a "Homelessness" project that uses the expertise of a number of organizations in the field?

Beth, do I remember a post calling for competition rules that might encourage pooling of effort? Even without these, I'd be surprised if Pepsi's rules prohibited a team approach.

Of course teamwork is hard... It's also hard in the funder/corporate world.

Will be interesting to see if we're nearing the end of these sorts of competitions (because everybody's doing it) or just the beginning (because Gen Y does less TV).

via facebook.com

Thanks, @cdegger for tweeted about this and prompting me to share.

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Web Traffic Trends for the New Year: "Brevity" and "Relevancy"

Hitwise's Sandra Hanchard reviews last year's web traffic trends. "The year of the status update," she calls it.

So if I had one standout message for marketers in 2010: ‘Brevity’ and ‘Relevancy’ of communications will be the earmarks of success for engaging with the 24/7 connected consumer.

via hitwise.com

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