For the Social Good

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to attend the Mashable Media Summit in NYC with Jessy Yancey. During the conference there was definitely a lot of talk of using social media for the social good. There was one particular company that I wanted to highlight:

EDWARD NORTON'S CROWDRISE.COM

Norton observed:
• Organizations were not effectively using contemporary web-based social networking tools to enhance their fundraising efforts in a meaningful way or to engage people who were supporting them.
• Organizations were not using dynamic, cutting-edge technology to reach a new generation of people in a productive way. Younger people were adopting these tools, but struggling to find a way to use them productively.

So he and a group of other partners created Crowdrise. The basic goals of Crowdrise:
• To provide a platform that works in complementary ways in multiple directions
• To develop a way to create team efforts in fund-raising for corporations and organizations involved in social responsibility

"Our conviction is that a lot of social networking is in essence about personal narrative ... people take pride in what they are doing, their personal narrative matters, and they want to share it with other people. Our extension of that is simply to encourage people to plant a flag, raise a fist, take pride in what they care about, what they are engaged in and engage other people in it."

– Edward Norton

What makes Crowdrise a great solution? They have found a way to incorporate the things that people love about social media ... the connection, the competition, the fun, the humor ... into a way to help support a good cause. Better yet, into a way to help support a lot of good causes. And according to Norton ... it only takes about 15 minutes to setup a project.

I definitely encourage you to take a look at the site and learn more about it.

3 Things I Learned at the Mashable Media Summit

I was fortunate enough to attend the Mashable Media Summit in New York last week, which they put on in partnership with CNN. It was filled with great takeaways, cool resources and even plain old funny content (what else can you expect when the speaker roster includes representatives of The Onion, College Humor and URDB?), but here are the top 3 things I feel were most important with applications to content developers like myself, small businesses and anyone who uses social media:

1. People want content that comes to them.
Both sportscaster Len Berman and Motorola representative Christy Wyatt each voiced this message in different ways. Len was referring to the 2008 presidential election and hearing young people say they don't turn to the news anymore, but rather the news now comes to them – especially through Facebook and Twitter feeds. "There's no faster way to get the news and information than on Twitter," he said. "It's on Twitter before it's anywhere else." Keep in mind this is coming from someone who grew to fame using traditional media, but has since expanded his horizons and opened professional doors using the web as his primary voice. He adds that the instant two-way conversation is the best thing about new media.

Christy, who was hawking the platform Motoblur (successfully, I might add – every attendee received a free smartphone!), was talking about the rise of mobile web. "People don't want to go to data – they want data to come to them," she said, comparing the time-consuming, battery-draining installation process (such as mobile apps, an obvious criticism of the iPhone) to the ease of directly connecting (mobile web). With more and more people using their phones as mini computers, users want mobile-friendly websites that use push notifications – almost like a text message – rather than pull notifications reserved for your desktop computer. Again, the user doesn't have to actively seek out information – their phone (or the social connections within their phone) sends it right to their pocket.

2. Foursquare is the next big thing. (Probably.)
I've said it before, and so have my colleagues – businesses shouldn't ignore Foursquare. But even though some may blast it (Time magazine calls it "the next generation of creepy social networking"), enough early adopters – including major brands – are supporting it that Mashable and others are calling it the next Twitter. As one moderator said, "The whole experience of checking in is still foreign to people, but you can compare that to the two years Twitter spent explaining why they were tweeting."

And more than 1.5 million users are checking in, and often. But what's so refreshing about founder Dennis Crowley (as compared to the lack of privacy concerns of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg) is this quote:

People that get most concerned about privacy are not the ones that have used [Foursquare]. I'm not a fan of the passive check-in model.

This means that as "creepy" as Time considers this new social application, the founder has spoken out against what I personally consider the creepier versions of location-based social networking, those that use your GPS to track where you are and automatically check in for you. No thanks. I like Foursquare for the same reason I like the e-newsletters I receive – they're opt-in, and it's my decision to actively check in/sign up.

The Foursquare discussion gave some insight into their business model. They've gone from six employees to 25 employees in the past year. They just had their developers take two weeks off from developing new features to focus on fixing functionality problems. (Don't we wish we all had time to focus solely on fixing problems?) And though they did develop an iPhone app, they didn't develop apps for the Android or Blackberry operating systems. Instead, they spent time developing their API (essentially, the interface that programmers use to create third-party applications – like Facebook Connect or TweetDeck) in hopes that someone else would develop the apps for them. And it worked.

Of course, we're not all that lucky, having developers knocking at our doors to create applications for us. But there's more in the works for Foursquare, including the idea of rewarding frequent visitors other than the mayor, so I highly recommend checking out what Foursquare can do for your business. Need an example? Listen to what Robert Smith Hotel has done with social media – and how well it's worked.

3. Content is still king – but find your niche.
My professional title has the word "content" in it, and so does my company's logo: Custom Media, Custom Content. So it's refreshing to hear these speakers constantly say things like, "Great content is a terrible thing to waste."

That quote comes from Chris Bruzzo with Starbucks, and he had a plethora of social media success stories. But throughout this conference, no matter who was speaking, content remained at the forefront of conversation. Mashable talked about how their team posts 25+ new pieces of content per day. College Humor's CEO discussed their success with branded content. CNN covered user-generated content. Even Foursquare was called "socially filtered location content."

In fact, I found the discussion between CNN and Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore (swoon) to be probably the best out of all of the great sessions. I liked it because they didn't always see eye to eye, provoking some of the best conversations. Television content is broad and general, web content is passion-based. CNN spent two years developing an iPhone app, while Mashable instantly offered up an iPad app that has since undergone six revisions. Even as user-generated content soars, CNN says it will never rely entirely on iReporters for a story: "If we let it go to purely user-generated content, it would be the lowest-common denominator," Sanjay Gupta said.

Two of the commonly used, relatively unknown (to me) phrases I heard were "curating" and "niche verticals". Mashable does both. They curate content, rather than aggregate it – select relevant news from throughout the web while giving it their own spin. As far as their niche, social media, they don't just confine themselves to that subject; rather, they will examine it from all angles, thoroughly and purposefully. A wide range of mini-topics all spin off from the central, core subject – causing what they and others called a niche vertical.

At the end of the day, your site is only as good as your content is. If you sell apples, I don't expect you to tell me how to grow oranges. But I do expect you to tell me how to grow apples, offer apple recipes, tell me the difference between a Granny Smith and a Red Delicious, and let me know how to reach you to buy apples – or just to ask a question. As the era of social media expands, remember: It's all about making connections.

Want more? Check out Mashable's recap of the Media Summit – includes complete video of all major speakers.

Vanity URLs for Facebook

Do you admin a page in Facebook and have at least 25 fans (i.e. 25 people that have liked your page)? If so, this qualifies your page for a custom or vanity URL. This can be helpful for marketing purposes or even just in those situations when you find yourself in a "real-life" conversation with someone who's interested in liking your page but neither of you have a computer handy. Just let them know your custom URL, and that person can easily find your page by adding it after the slash in their address bar when logged into Facebook.

For example: www.facebook.com/returntoharmony

Obtaining a vanity URL is super easy. Just go here (www.facebook.com/username) and click on Set a User Name for Your Page. (This is also where you would go to set up a user name for your personal profile.) A drop down menu will appear; select the page you want to create the URL for then type in your desired name. Once you select a name for your page, it cannot be changed, so be certain of the following:

• That you love the name and can live with it as long as your page exists.

• That it makes sense for the people who like or are fans of your page.

• That it contains key words that make it easily searchable.

• That everything is spelled and capitalized correctly.

Then click the Check Availability button. You will then receive confirmation that your URL was accepted, or notification that the URL is no longer available. If it's no longer available, try changing the position of the words, shortening words, or using similar words and try again. Chances are there will be something that does the trick.

Associated Press Stylebook and Social Media

I woke up this morning, went to my desk and slouched down in a my chair with a hot cup of coffee (black, please). One of my first stops is always the Social Media guide website, Mashable. Blurry-eyed I read the trending headline, "AP Stylebook Adds 42 New Guidelines for Social Media."

Not sure what the AP Stylebook is? Here's the abridged version: The AP Stylebook is typically used by reporters and editors as a guide for grammar, punctuation, usage and some general best practices tidbits tossed in there for good measure.

Okay, so now that that we're all on the same page, what are the 42 new guidelines?

A lot of them are basic acronyms that almost all of us have used at least once in our lives. The list was not without a few surprises though:

• POS - Parent over shoulder. Used by teenagers and children to indicate, in an IM (Instant Message) conversation, that a parent is approaching.
• 
  
• LOL - Laugh out loud or Laughing out loud. Use to indicate that the sender has found something funny. See also ROFL.
• 
  
• ROFL - Rolling on the floor laughing. One step beyond LOL.

Up until recently I've had another definition for POS and I've always wondered if LOL and ROFL were equals or not. Thanks AP Stylebook for clearing all of that up for me!

A few definitions also slipped their way into the book:

• 
  
• Microsite - a tightly focused group of Web pages typically dedicated to a single topic, product or service.
• 
  
• Website - a location on the World Wide Web that maintains one or more pages at a specific address.

I think it's great that AP has finally adapted to the rest of the world by accepting website as one word instead of two (Web site). I can't help but wonder why all of the other 'web' words are still two words - Web page, Web feed ... but I digress.

So what does all of this mean for me? What does this mean for you?

Regardless of who you are and what you do, you're going to have some exposure to the print media and you're going to be seeing these new rules and guidelines very soon if not already.

Some of the things laid out in the guidebook are great, but there are a few things that make me raise an eyebrow.

I'm scared to see the day that the front page of the newspaper is written like a Twitter post.

"Thx 4 the retweet. LOL."

*The words in bold are in fact included among the new 42 entries.

I'm sure many will see these changes as progressive and necessary and are championing the decision makers that voted to adopt these entries. And to those people, I say, "Good riddance."

Don't get me wrong, I strongly believe that these acronyms and rules have their place (see also: Urban Dictionary) - I just don't believe that that place is in the AP Stylebook.

This is Journalism that we're talking about. Instead of raising the bar and holding society to a higher standard, the AP Stylebook has lowered the bar by adopting these rules.

G2G.

. m

Five Reasons To Start Paying Attention to Foursquare

Like Facebook and Twitter before it, Foursquare is the newest social media tool riding a wave of buzz these days.

Foursquare, Gowalla and MyTown are part of the growing trend of location-based mobile applications.

Generally speaking, these services work by allowing you to "check in" on your smart phone wherever you go -- information that is then shared with your circle of friends.

The idea is that when you see others are doing and they see what you're doing, you'll be more likely to meet up and explore new places in your city. The apps also allow user to earn points and unlock badges for discovering new places, doing new things and meeting new people.

It's fun -- and growing. Foursquare now tops 1.2 million people who have "checked in" 40 million times. But why should businesses be paying attention to these services? Here are a few reasons.

1. They create free advertising opportunities to people already in your area


At its most basic, Foursquare is really all about businesses in your area. Where are you going to eat, drink or shop? Where are your friends going? This creates huge opportunities for businesses to increase their reach.
Nashville-based Tasti-D-Lite was a Foursquare early adopter. When you are near their West End Ave. location and log in to Foursquare, the app alerts you to deals like the one at left. What a simple, great way to spread the word!

2. They're catching on with big brands...
It's hard to ignore a trend that every major company from Starbucks to Domino's to the Wall Street Journal to Bravo is embracing. These brands and many more are buying into the geolocation craze early, siting the possibilities for content marketing, brand loyalty and more.

3. ...but smaller businesses have their own advantages
In my Nashville neighborhood, I'm more likely to hang out at a local restaurant than a chain like Starbucks. For people like me, Foursquare is a welcome reminder of all the sometimes-overlooked eateries and shops that don't have the big advertising budgets to catch my attention on a daily basis. Wherever I go, I can search Foursquare for unique, off-the-beaten-path places, even checking for tips left by others who've been there before.

4. They allow customers to advertise their loyalty
Pretty much all these applications build in rewards for loyal customers. In Foursquare, competition is often fierce among users to become the "Mayor" of a venue--a feat achieved by checking in at a place more often than anyone else using the service. As the service becomes more well-known, more businesses are catching on and providing perks to Mayors and other frequent visitors, thus generating more good word-of-mouth for the small price of a free soft drink or dessert. It's the online equivalent of a loyalty card, with added cache.

5. They turn users into viral marketers for the places they like


Not only do location-based applications provide a platform for businesses to market to customers, they also turn users into influential voices for the places they discover or frequent. Foursquare features include tips and "to-do" lists any user can create, which serve to champion local businesses.
Foursquare is also open to partnering with entities to create complete city tours with their own specialty badges--something the city of Chicago spearheaded and a model that's now being followed by other cities and states.


To learn more
To get started learning more, a good first step is to simply go to Foursquare and find out if your business is listed and what customers are saying there.
When you're ready to go further, here's a great primer on using Foursquare to promote a business.

UPDATE: The blog Brand Builder just posted a great, comprehensive guide to Foursquare for businesses.

Asheville Filmmaker Plans Social-Media Themed Comedy in Her Hometown

Last Sunday, I caught about 20 minutes of You've Got Mail and giggled when I saw Meg Ryan waiting for her dial-up modem to connect to the Internet so she could log her into AOL account, so she then could see whether Tom Hanks had sent her another message.

Remember the sound of dial-up?

Then I wondered, "When are we going to have a new wave of blockbusters that correspond to our newer forms of social networking, featuring things like Tweetups, not-so-chance-meetings because of Foursquare, or perhaps something along the lines of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist but with a blip.fm twist?"

Film production companies have been marketing movies on MySpace and Facebook for a while, and many A-list celebrities have been shouting from their laptops into the Twitterverse almost as long. However, I'm surprised that we've not seen any big productions – yet – that heavily interweave everyday social media channels into the plot, other than the Facebook movie, The Social Network, that is supposed to be released in October.

I'll follow that statement with a disclaimer: I don't go to movies much, so it's likely I may have missed something. Along the same line, I have terrible cable channel options, as I haven't had enough room in my heart for cable ever since MTV made a marked shift away from actually playing music.

Remember the first video on MTV, The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star?

So maybe the Facebook movie will be the first, but I also saw a tweet this morning that interests me even more than Justin Timberlake playing the role of Facebook Founding President Sean Parker. According to @AskAsheville via @GSocialMedia not only is another film of this type on its way, but it will also be marketed largely through social media channels, and it will be filmed in one of JCI's communities, Asheville, N.C., for which we produce Asheville Travel Guide, Asheville magazine, imagesasheville.com and feature on Livability.com.

The movie is being created by Asheville filmmaker, writer and comedienne Angela Shelton, a name you may know from the 1999 film Tumbleweeds, which she co-wrote (it has an awesome soundtrack, by the way). More recently, Shelton has gained a higher profile through her documentary and book by the same name, Searching for Angela Shelton, for which she drove around the country, seeking out all of the other Angela Sheltons she could find. She thought this concept would yield mostly funny stories, but through her interviews she also discovered that most of them shared something else with her besides a name: Seventy percent of these women had also been abused at some point in their lives.

As friends and supporters promoted the film and book via Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, Shelton saw the power of social media. That power, combined with her desire to switch gears to focus more on her comedic skills, inspired this new movie, a romantic comedy titled Online Dating for Food. Yes, there already is an OnlineDatingForFood facebook page for the film, but here's another disclaimer: Be aware that if you "like" it, people may just think you're into the act of online dating for food and not the film. I'm not making any judgment one way or the other on online dating, you just may not want to advertise that you're doing it for food. That could ruin your whole plan!

A movie involving food in Asheville makes perfect sense, of course. Shelton knows her hometown of Foodtopia. The social media aspects will make it only more interesting.

Will it be as big as You've Got Mail or The Social Network? That remains to be seen, but stay tuned to your favorite social media channels to watch it develop.

In the meantime, you can learn more about Angela Shelton and her latest project at Angela Shelton's website, and here is the link to the interview with @AskAsheville about Online Dating for Food and why she's hoping to do this film (and two others) in Asheville.

Social Media As News: Following the Nashville Flood

Here in Nashville we have been glued to the coverage of the devastating flood that struck our community this past weekend. But keeping abreast of breaking news no longer means tuning into your local news channel. Sure, that's part of it, and I praise our Nashville meteorologists and news sources for excellent reporting keeping us up to date. But some of the most relevant flood information I found during this disaster came from social media outlets, both traditional and new media sources.

Twitter
Back in January, Nashville had its first major snowstorm in years, which became known on Twitter as the hashtag #thesituation2010. As the rain poured down on Saturday, someone jokingly tweeted this should be known as #OtherSituation2010. And the name stuck. On Monday, some of the Nashville twitterati pointed out that using such a vague descriptor probably contributed to a lack of national coverage. (Though personally, I did have a laugh over #thesaturation2010.)

Using an application such as TweetDeck, it's easy to create a new column using a hashtag and follow along on your desktop computer or your smartphone. I've used these two columns to follow up-to-the-minute information on everything from tornado warnings and flood reports to details on how to help flood relief efforts and water conservation tips.

Think of Twitter as a news distribution source – a way to get people from one place to another. Many people used Twitter to share links to photos and videos of the devastation. One local business even used Twitter to show the damage it received.

Due to SEVERE flooding, Bates Nursery will be CLOSED until May 6, 2010...cleanup underway... http://twitpic.com/1khf6e

No matter how small, businesses can easily use Twitter to distribute their news, whether needing to tell customers that you're closed in a situation beyond your control – or, on the brighter side of things, using it to advertise discounts, sales and giveaways. In fact, it's often Twitter or Facebook that businesses use during situations such as this – it's faster, simpler and sometimes even has more reach than posting the same content on their website.

Facebook
Just as tweets about the Nashville flood were trickling in, my Facebook news feed was predominantly photos of my Tennessee friends' roads and yards that had become rivers and lakes. People used their phones to upload photos straight to Facebook even when they didn't have electricity:

When we all thought this was just a one-day thing, someone created this Facebook Page. This quickly became my go-to source for photos of the flood as it was happening.

Facebook also became a way for Tennesseans, both those out of town for the weekend and those who now live elsewhere, to stay updated on what was happening. And Facebook also helped those of us here reach out to our friends in other states and countries, who at first (given the other news of the weekend) had no idea of the severity of the flood.

YouTube
YouTube is the second-largest search engine, and video often speaks louder than words – and spreads virally to other social networks. A video of a classroom disintegrating on Interstate 24 first appeared on a local news station. I searched for it on YouTube to show some out-of-town family members – and I wasn't the only one. Soon, it showed up on my Facebook news feed multiple times, and I-24 became a trending topic on Twitter.

On Monday, the social media news site Mashable posted a video in a post titled "Tennessee Flooding Inspires Stunning YouTube Video." This – "Flooding Inspires" – soon became a trending topic because Mashable has such a wide reach, one post on their site spreads instantaneously.

As they say:

You don’t see YouTube videos like this very often, and as one commenter put it: “This video so captured the heart of this story… if it doesn’t move someone, they should check their pulse.” While most on-the-ground videos covering disasters and other world events are hurried and low-quality, this one is beautiful and professional-looking.

Blogs
The Nashville blogging community combined all of these social media resources to spread the word quickly and efficiently. They compiled news sources, shelter information, ways to help flood victims, videos, photos and more. They used their large followings to help prevent misinformation. They even blogged about each other's blogs – showing not just each other but Nashville, Tennessee and beyond just how social media spreads news – and the sense of community.

All of these are great examples of social media as news at work, even during an unfathomable disaster. Did you turn to social media during this or another major news event? What sources did you find most helpful?