BrandToBeDetermined

Netsquared Mashup Challenge Posted

The folks at Netsquared hosted a great conference call last week on the Netsquared Mashup Challenge, which is the theme for the 2008 Net2 conference. As one of the Netsquared Houston Meetup organizers I thought it was cool they were including us (also on the call are my partners in crime with Houston net2 Katie and Jason.)

So... I have been waiting to see this posted on the Netsquared site, and now here is the skinny:

Get Ready for The NetSquared Mashup Challenge!

Do you have an idea for how a mashup that could be a tool for social change?

Do you look at all of the data available online, and imagine ways to combine and connect it to increase awareness about an issue?

Do you see projects like MAPLight.org or chicagocrime.org and think, I've got an idea for something like that, I just need a little help getting it off the ground?

If you answered yes, then join the NetSquared Mashup Challenge!  We've created the Challenge because we believe you have great ideas for how data can create insight, and we want to create a platform to facilitate those kinds of mashups being built. Plus, we've got cash prizes to award to the folks who come up with the most innovative mashups for social change.

There are three parts to the Challenge:

1. Applications
Individuals working to create change will share with the NetSquared Community what change they are trying to make, as well as the information/data sources they believe can be married to help create that change. Applications will be available online February 1 and accepted until March 14, 2008.

(KEEP READING HERE)

The big take away is that you can submit starting on Friday. I know I'll be pestering some of our past Netsquared speakers to submit their organizations. I suggest YOU do the same!

Careful with the word "research" Mr. Tabin

No, a conversation is NOT considered "research" Mr. Tabin. To state otherwise is wrong.

My original plan was to ignore this erroneous tweet - specifically the part I highlighted in yellow above. I saw it after my presentation at GotSocialMedia last Thursday. Unfortunately a number of people believed Josh and have asked me if I was working with him! Thus I feel it needs to be corrected openly on behalf of the community as the original comment was made in a public forum.

Let me be clear. Josh Tabin has not in the past, and will not in the future, collaborate with me on "research". He most definitely was NOT a part of research on the 3 Motivations of People article. Period.

Social Media for Non Profits Presentation

Presentation from today at GotSocialMedia. Thanks again Erica and Kelsey for having me as a speaker! And now here is the deck.

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Resource Links - The 3 Motivations framework comes from years of research of sociology and psychology. It is *not* revolutionary or new, rather it is a simplification of academic research into an actionable framework. I like simple. You know, something you can do by folding a paper in thirds. If I get credit for writing it, well, to be fair I'd like to also post the bibliography from the original article on schipul.com.

Non Profits and Social Media Research

Research links for my talk at GotSocialMedia tomorrow. Just some interesting notes on social media and non profits from recent events. As usual the primary trouble maker in the middle of it all is Beth.

1. Metrics and evaluation of social media - Beth Kanter
2. Evaluating the value of network causes - Allison Fine Blog
3. Mobile phone credits in Kenya as part of activism - apophenia
4. Social Media Outreach - Rising Voices
5. fundraisers need to be worried about a pending financial disaster in the global economy
6. Nonprofits Outpacing Business in Use of Social Media
7. ROI: Can You Quantify the Untangible? You Can't Quantify Love

On quote worth extracting is from the interview of Eric Mattson on netsquared:

We found that in general, charities and nonprofits are very familiar with social media. If memory serves, blogging was the technology they're most familiar with, and that certainly makes sense when you look at the growth and the popularity of social media. Social networking is very popular, but it's certainly skewed towards the younger generation, whereas blogs seem to have spread across all sorts of places, including major media outlets, really coming along as the one technology that people are most familiar with.

Themes from the above links and from other reading:

1. Non profits have adopted social media very quickly. Some argue faster than for profit businesses.
2. Reading is as important as writing. Be a part of the community. Link out. Pay attention.
3. Metrics only partially measure ROI. Dual non profit bottom lines compound the "reporting" problem but does not take away from actual changes resulting from the use of social media.
4. Microfundraising has huge potential (Kanter, FrozenPeaFund examples)
5. Video - the adoption rate of video isn't quite there yet, but it will be.
6. Mashups Rule - programmableweb mashups for example.
7. Crisis forms communities. Communities exist after crises subside, yet aren't leveraged typically.

What seems to be missing from the dialog on non profits, social change and social software

1. Discussion of brands, both NGO brands and personal brands that we are all developing
2. A break down of audiences by motivation type (obviously an interest of mine)
3. Clear delineation of web apps versus mobile phone applications.
4. Retention and renewal of "membership" isn't discussed (for Associations this is a big deal, so to see the topic of audience engagement and a concerted effort for "renewal" not discussed seems odd to me. Possibly for lack of a material motive given most SNs are free? Hmmm.)
5. Little talk of the current recession in the US (with some exceptions)
6. Little talk about "public relations" in the sector (but this is not a new trend, Red Cross comes to mind)

The deck from GotSocialMedia isn't as comprehensive as the links and thoughts above. But I'll slidedeck post it either right before or the day after the talk. Gnite y'all.

Got Social Media Conference - 2 More Days!

Two more days until the Got Social Media conference in Houston. Whoooooop! And of course as a speaker I am biased, but I hope to see y'all there!

Also - a huge shout out to Erica and Kelsey for all of their work planning the conference. Job well done y'all!

The details:

Got Social Media: A Conference about communication. on Thu 24-Jan-08 9:00 AM

At the Houston Technology Center

Houston Technology Center
410 Pierce St.
Houston, TX 77002

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Advanced Social Engineering Debate

Following the debate Advanced Social Engineering I then found the link to this Derren Brown video. Buying things with blank paper. Quite scary what a con artist can pull of. So does that make a PR professional a conman?

@deneyterrio's new Social Media Video

@deneyterrio has a somewhat retro take on social media below. And on the subject of social media, are you attending GotSocialMedia next week in Houston? Please JOIN us!

So here is the video:

Web Marketing Deck from Rice Advertising Lecture

From my guest lecture for the Advertising Class at Rice University yesterday, here is the slide deck.

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Jack Rabbit Slim, the Tortoise and the 2008 Economy

  Jack Rabbit 
  Originally uploaded by eschipul

The 2008 Economy reminds me of a story.

There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.

Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"

Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."

Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.
The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare.

Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line.

After that, Hare always reminded himself, "Don't brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!"

2007 was a truly awesome year for us. But I find myself thinking that 2008 will be more about the tortoise than the hare. Good luck everyone - the race is ON!

Posted: The 3 Motivations of People, Material, Social and Ideological

Finally posted the article "The 3 Motivations of People, Material, Social and Ideological" on the schipul.com site. I have been working on drafts of that article for, oh, say 6 months? Please do provide feedback and tell me how to improve it? Excerpt below.

The 3 Motivations of People, Material, Social and Ideological

.... In the process of this need for persuasion, I propose it is helpful to develop a balanced three pronged approach to persuading people aligned with their motivations. Specifically the goal of this article is to put forth an easy-to-use motivational framework –an actionable framework to design a persuasive system for people.

...People are motivated in three ways: material, social and ideological.

When designing a persuasive system such as a political cause, seeking employment or just a shopping trip, it is helpful to do two steps:

1. Define the audience.
2. Build a balanced persuasive system across two, or maybe all three, of our foundation stones of material, social and ideological motivations.

Read the rest of the 3 Motivations of People article here and feel free to comment at either location.