I was honored last night to be invited to share some social media perspective on PBS’ NewsHour. You can watch my comments here.

Invisible Children’s #Kony2012 campaign has a lot of people talking. After three days on YouTube, the video had 40 million views.  Now, a few hours later, it has 52.5 and every time I refresh the page, the number grows. It has been a worldwide trending topic on Twitter for days. At the peak on Wednesday afternoon, there were 4,000 mentions a minute on Twitter related to the campaign. I don’t know of another video that has gone so big so quickly.

Now compare that to when the earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, stunning the world with devastating images and a rapidly increasing death toll, some of the world’s top celebrities gathered to re-make the We are the World video. After two days, that video had half a million views. Today, two years later, that video has 98 million views and is one of YouTube’s top 10 all-time viewed videos.

So now the big question: What’s the point?

We know that the biggest demographic sharing this video and talking about it is girls in the U.S. ages 13-17.

The call to action on the campaign is to “make Kony famous” so that the pressure and visibility to eventually capture him and bring him to justice this year. The campaign launched with the support of A-list celebrities like George Clooney and quickly gained new celebrity supporters like Justin Bieber when it became a trending topic worldwide on Twitter in a matter of hours. Invisible Children’s Facebook page went from ~400k fans to 2 million in 2-days’ time!

But while this campaign has already made Kony more famous than anyone ever expected it could, what can come out of it?

In Egypt and Tunisia, social media helped to bring down dictators. In Haiti, social media helped to raise millions. Can social media sweep through the jungles of Uganda to find Joseph Kony?

That is the question on everyone’s minds. And frankly the criticism of the campaign –how Invisible Children spends their money, whether capturing Kony will have any impact, whether this is the right issue to pour so much attention into–is only fanning the flames of this viral fire.

My big question in all this is: How much will Invisible Children raise through this campaign? I think that’s going to break another record. And I hope they put it to good – to healing those children whose childhood was stolen from them and from helping Uganda, the DRC and other countries torn apart by war to have a fresh start and a new beginning.

At the end of the day, isn’t there value in the simple fact that we are getting teenage girls in the U.S. to use their texting thumbs to spread awareness of an issue that couldn’t be farther from their backyard?

Watch the video and tell me what you think:

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I had the pleasure of speaking last night at an event organized by DC Web Women and I Heart Social Media DC and thought I would share my remarks with you all. I’d love to hear your feedback! Have you converted any social media non-believers? What was your strategy?

When people resist social media it is usually for 3 key reasons:

1. They are scared of what their community really has to say about them.
2. They are intimidated by new technology and feel overwhelmed.
3. They are happy with the way things are.

So when you are trying to convert the social media non believers you want to make sure your argument addresses each of those concerns.

1. I’m scared of what my community has to say.

You can’t hide from social media.

And the irony is, in many cases, the organizations that try to hide are the ones that get the biggest blowback from their community online.

We have seen many examples over the years of this issue coming to the fore in terms of customer service. Whether it is someone complaining about poor Comcast reception, the quality of their Virgin Atlantic in-flight meal, or their Dell laptop battery, The truth of the matter is, just because an organization isn’t active in social media, it doesn’t mean there isn’t already an active community on social media talking about you. All of those examples I gave were cases when someone voiced a concern in the social media space. But they are all also happy endings—each of those brands recognized the importance of engaging with those unsatisfied customers and using social media as a way to let them know they were valued.

2. New technology is intimidating/overwhelming

The best way to address this concern is to simply avoid tech speak. Don’t be like these guys.

Never start a sentence with Twitter.

Don’t talk tactics.

Excite them with possibilities. Instead say, “IMAGINE if a dozen highly influential people told all their friends about our service/product/cause and got a bunch of those people to tell all of their friends? Well I think we can make that happen!”

Rememer, there is never a one-size-fits all solution, so make sure you have the right approach.

Make sure the message is coming from the right person. You need to be a trusted advisor.

And show what it can do for their business.

And then if they are interested in the nuts and bolts you can explain that there is already an active group of people on Twitter talking about your issue/service/product and that by reaching out to those folks in an open, transparent way, you just might be able to incorporate some of your key message points in their conversations.

3. I’m happy with the way things are.

Resistance to change is a tough nut to crack. It is usually based in fear of the unknown mixed in with a little bit of conformity and unwillingness to push boundaries.

Again, your best approach here is to avoid focusing on the platform you want to join. If you think they don’t want to change in the beginning, just wait until you start peppering the conversation with talk of QR Codes, crowdsourcing, and hashtags.

Talk about the results you expect to bring because of the campaign, how social media integrates with your overall marketing strategy. And bring in solid stats on the ways your target audience is already active in social media, what they are already talking about and where.

And if that doesn’t work, show them what your competitors are already doing in the space and how it is making a difference for them.

The only thing that is certain is change.

If you want to be relevant to your stakeholders, certainly you need to be able to address changes in the marketplace — whether it is social media or earned media, everything is changing on a continuous basis. It is all about relevancy.

As much as some of your bosses/clients/coworkers/etc may try to ignore it, social media is not going anywhere fast, and if you don’t embrace it as a new communication tool, you are likely to become obsolete. Fast.

I’d love to hear what you think.

And be sure to check out the two who joined me speaking at this event: Deborah Ager (whose presentation is here) and Brian Chambers (who said that in coming to DC from NY he felt he was descending on a “swampland.” Hmmmm.)

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I am seeking men and women ages 25-35 in Washington, D.C. who spend at least one hour per week using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to participate in hour-long focus groups. The research study is for a graduate thesis on what motivates adults to donate to charitable causes through social media.

All participants will be entered in a raffle to win a brand-new iPod Nano with video playback and 8 GB of capacity. The iPod comes with Apple earphones, USB cable and a dock adapter. Snacks and drinks will also be provided.

The focus groups will be held in the evening or on weekends at the Johns Hopkins University campus near Dupont Circle at 1717 Massachusetts Ave NW.

Contact Dawn Arteaga at dawn.arteaga@jhu.edu if you are interested in participating. You will then receive a consent letter, and meeting and contact information.

Thanks so much for your help with this project.

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Hope you enjoy this presentation of a digital communications strategy I did for a nonprofit organization in St. Louis, MO: EnTeam Organization.

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It’s been a while since I posted to this blog. If you’ll allow me to make excuses, I do think I have a couple of good ones. I’ve been madly working to finish my master’s degree at Johns Hopkins in digital communication while working full time. On top of it all, I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant! I’m now in the final stages of two of these three all-consuming activities (being pregnant and completing my master’s) and I’m hoping I can get your help on the latter. (If you want to help me with my pregnancy, donations of caramel apples are warmly welcomed…that’s all I crave these days.)

Over the next several weeks I will be writing a thesis on social networking fundraising strategies. I’ll conduct several focus groups with people who are plugged into social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Yes, I’m looking at YOU.

I want to know what makes donors feel motivated to give to social causes of all sorts, and when, if ever, that motivation has started with a recommendation from a connection online.

For all you academics, my working research question is: What factors motivate people to donate to a charity through social media?

But before I even start recruiting for my focus groups, I’d love your help.

Do you think traditional best practices in fundraising apply to social media?

We know that organizations such as Charity:Water have been able to use networking on Facebook and YouTube to raise millions. The Red Cross credits their outreach on Twitter and other key social media networks to bring in $5 million in donations via text message following the earthquake in Haiti.

But what makes these effective appeals different from traditional fundraising? Anything?

Do you interact differently with charities because of social networking? If you see a friend’s recommendation for you to “like” a non-profit on Facebook, what makes you want to click?

In sum, does social media push you any closer to clicking that famous “DonateNow” button? And why?

Ok, now your turn. Let me have it…

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Sometimes the best video comes from authentic voices, not fancy equipment.

Video is one of the fastest-growing attractions on the Web. It brings new viewers to your site and can engage potential donors in new ways. So how can non-profits make the most of this valuable medium? I was really struck by Avaaz.org’s use of video to demand action. The example is not a new one, but it teaches some evergreen lessons to non-profits everywhere. Namely:

1. Great video doesn’t require expensive equipment.
   Sometimes the most compelling videos are the ones shot with Web cams in someone’s basement. The message is what is important, not what is used to take the video. I think with non-profits this is especially relevant. Often if it looks like you’ve spent too much money on the production of the video, people will discount the cause as frivolous. When you have low-grade but very compelling video, you’re making the case that your effort is going toward the important stuff-not the administration and overhead.
2. The way you send out your videos to the world makes a big difference.
   The e-mail Avaaz.org sent to petition videos (below) is compelling because it is clear, it leads with a problem we can all understand, and it gives readers clear, and very doable, action steps. It is also short.
   Here’s the e-mail, thanks to Autoscopia:

The world food crisis is skyrocketing – steadily rising prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots from Bangladesh to South Africa. Aid agencies say 100 million people are facing starvation.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/5.php?cl=94029425

In response, the United Nations is convening an emergency summit of world leaders in Rome this week. There is a real danger that rich country leaders will push half measures and band-aid solutions – we need a huge global outcry to demand rapid, massive, coordinated action.

The head of the UN, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, will receive our petition at the summit at 9:30AM on Wednesday morning. This is a huge opportunity for our voice to reach our leaders directly, but we need half a million voices in the next 60 hours.

Click below to sign the petition, and then tell your friends and family: http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/5.php?cl=94029425

Too often non-profit organizations try to fit too much information in e-mails and press releases. It is much better to follow the model of Avaaz.org . Explain the problem clearly, and then give people a way to make a difference.

If your audience wants to learn more about what you do, they’ll figure it out on the rest of your Web site.

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In most cases I try to keep the content on this blog pretty tightly concentrated around my observations on innovative digital media. However, in this case, I’m going to have to go off topic. I think you’ll agree it’s a worthy topic. This is an example of how grassroots movements begin at the most simple levels.

Huge caveat: This example is from my mom’s first grade class. I’m biased because I think she is a brilliant teacher. Read on and you’ll see what I mean. Everything here was completely driven by her 6 and 7 year olds. These truly are our country’s future leaders…

We Have A Hairy Idea!

What we love about being first grade teachers is you never know what you are going to learn when you start the day! You never know what direction one idea will take you! On Tuesday, as we were lining up after lunch, we had a first grader share a discussion that he and his family had concerning the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. All the first graders were very concerned about what they could do.

We made a list of ideas on how to raise money in support of the cleanup efforts needed. It was a great list made up totally by first graders! Some ideas include: reading to younger children $1, machine sale $0.50, bird walks $0.05 a mile, and toy sale $ 2.00. Making shell jewelry $1, readers’ theater productions $0.50 and selling tickets to our bird shadow puppet show at $0.75– just to name a few. We thought these were some good ideas but things didn’t end there.

The next day the same first grader had a presentation with more information on how the oil spill happened, why the oil was still coming out into the ocean and what the scientist were trying to do to stop the oil from coming out. From that presentation more and more questions were asked. Does the pipe that is in the ocean go straight to the gas stations or does it go up on the platform? Have they tried putting a lid on the pipe? How do you get the pipe into the ocean and how deep does the pipe go? We had to find out the answers to questions so we contacted our very own Upper School math teacher, Jim Moser, who is a trained engineer and worked on an oil rig based in Texas. He used to drill for oil so, of course, he was able to explain how they drill for oil, how the pipes are put in the ground and how they find out where the oil is.

Meanwhile, we had been experimenting with cups of water and some of our home-cooking oil. We placed some feathers into our water cups and saw the differences between feathers when in water with oil and when in water without oil.

Now that we had all this information we were still thinking what we could do to help!

Then we read about a group that had an easy way that is really helping the people that live by the coast. They found out that hair put into nylon bags creates a stopgap between the coast line and the oil that is coming in. The first graders decided that this is something we can do right away. We have asked a local salon to give us their hair and if any first grader or family and friends are getting a haircut, just send in the hair to us!

We will be sending the hair twice– once on Monday May 10th and the second time the following Thursday May 20th.

You are also welcome to send in old nylons. (The hair will be stuffed into the nylons and fishermen are placing the floating nylons to serve as a barrier reef.) It’s fine if they have small runs. We all thought that getting haircuts or just a simple trim and collecting the hair was something we all could do and would be easy! Also, as a family, if you want to you can also go online and buy Dawn dishwashing liquid and $1.00 of the purchase will go to help the oil spill cleanup.

We have all had a great time with our spontaneous learning! We loved finding experts to come in and doing our own research on this world topic. We have learned where in the world the oil is and who in the world it could effect. We have learned about the impact it could have on our oceans and why we want to help clean it up. We have learned how scientists solve problems. We have learned how an engineer finds oil and how they drill and put the pipes in the ground. So much learning! Now you can see why it’s so exciting to be a first grade teacher!

If you want to support this ingenious first grade effort, you can reach them at Principia Lower School, First Grade, 13201 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO, 63131

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“NOOOO!” I heard myself issue a blood-curdling scream as the realization sunk in: Someone had just stolen my iPhone. The young punk ripped my lifeline out of my hands and ran through the closing metro doors before I could do anything. I leaped to my feet, banging on the doors to no avail. As the train gradually eased from the station I turned to my fellow passengers in utter desperation. “I WAS JUST ROBBED! HE STOLE MY PHONE!” A few lazily looked over in my direction. One woman unsympathetically muttered, “mmm hmmm, they do that.”

Didn’t they realize that I had just lost my connection to the world? What was I supposed to do without my iPhone? I was heading to the airport. How on earth would I survive a flight? What if someone sent me an e-mail? What if I got lost? My world slowed to a halt.

Despite herculean efforts on my part…from yanking the emergency brake to stop the train (in case anyone from the DC Metro is reading this, you might want to look into those bad boys. Both of the brakes on my car were loose in their sockets)…soliciting the help of a slightly over-eager DC policeman to track down a similar-looking guy and frisk him…getting the metro police to agree to review the tapes from the station to try to match our suspect to the theft…nothing worked. To make matters worse, I nearly missed my flight.

Here I am, two weeks later, still using a $20 Nokia phone with one ring tone, no games and of course no data access. It has been an interesting process. Some would probably say that I needed the cleansing. I disagree. I’m trying to hold out until the new iPhone comes out this summer. Until then, I’ll have to resign myself to the following lessons learned:

Without an iPhone, a lot of time is wasted

In the morning before I was ready to get out of bed, I used to lie in bed reading my favorite blogs and posting the best entries to Twitter. I would clean out the junk e-mails from my work account and skim the others to see what I needed to work on right away.

Now, I just lie there.

On the way to work, I’d have any form of entertainment my heart desired–from the day’s sudoku to the day’s news, to audio books, to a real book, to mindless entertainment like Ms. Pac Man.

Now, I sit and look around for punks eying my stuff.

Waiting ANYWHERE I’d have the instant ability to let my office know where I was or catch up on responding to e-mail.

Now, I wait.

There are a few benefits, though, to not being constantly plugged in

For one, I have a great excuse not to respond to work e-mails after hours. “Shoot, I don’t have an iPhone…sorry I missed that!” I shrug and move on with my life.

But, the biggest lesson I’ve taken from this is that it’s not good to get too plugged in. When my phone was stolen, I was so lost in my own world that I had no idea of my surroundings. For better or worse, it’s important to look up every now and then. And now that my phone commands far less attention, I have a lot more time to do that.

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There’s a trend for Facebook users to present an almost irritatingly cheery image of life. The standard “news feed” of friends’ activities is littered with news of the latest engagements, babies’ first steps, graduations, etc.

Meanwhile, our friends in the professional news business (especially local TV news) seem to have the opposite approach to life. “Could your new kitten kill your children? Find out at ten!”

Why the contradiction? Why is it that when we write our own headlines we spin everything toward the positive, while the most popular news outlets do the opposite?

Does Facebook bring out the inner PR agent in each of us?

We carefully weed out only the best, most complimentary photos of ourselves and our family, share the high peaks of life, and minimize the low ones. Our grumpiest moments are converted into cryptic messages that only the closest friends can decipher: “Jane Doe is done.” But across the board, it seems that if something really great happens, you’ll see a photo album dedicated to its celebration.

All of this positive spin on our own lives made me wonder what would happen if skimming headlines of major news outlets read more like a Facebook news feed? Would anyone read the news? Or is cheery news only interesting when it comes from people we care about (along with those people from High School who we think we remember and can’t bring ourselves to “ignore”).

What would the alternate universe look like? Which approach do you prefer?

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Buzz often starts with a great story. When Americans heard about the tragic 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, there was a lot of buzz. And one group that did an excellent job of turning that buzz into bucks was Hope for Haiti. They used social networking sites to encourage chatter, they brought together major celebrities for a benefit concert, and they presented transparency on their Web site, by assuring potential donors that their 100% of their money will be spent on the relief effort.

In sum, they followed seven keys to inspiring word of mouth:

1. They had an excellent story–it was a tragic event of historic proportions. And everyone was talking about it, and how they wanted to help.
2. Their supporters could show their involvement in a visible way–by donating and then asking their friends to do the same.
3. They offered something new to talk about–more than 100 world-famous celebrities gathered for a star-studded benefit concert.
4. They let their supporters be creative by donating through any possible medium–text message, tweet, Facebook causes, and more. They asked for people’s involvement and organized volunteers interested in rolling up their sleeves and helping in Haiti.
5. Anyone could participate.
6. In return, donors were given thanks and could feel that they became part of an unprecedented donation drive.
7. They made it clear how to spread the word–every badge, button and highlight on the Web site leads visitors to either donate or encourage others to do so.

In all, the power of the buzz brought in $57 million in donations, which will be used to help a nation recover from a disaster that left more than 230,000 dead, 1 million homeless, 380,000 orphaned, and 63 million tones of rubble in its wake.

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