Blogger relations!

It appears the more I understand about the topic of pitching bloggers, there are many who seem to be labeled as grass roots journalists, the more amazed I am that people tend to overlook that blog operators have a job to do. In the case of pitching ideas or stories to bloggers, it is abundantly clear that the easier you can make your story for your target...the better! In reference to press releases; people attempting to raise awareness about an issue or in support of a cause are more likely to get these items printed if they are personalized. Ideally, many of the press releases received will be in response to a story or feature recently featured on the blog site. Additionally it is essential that you are certain that the material you are offering to bloggers, fits within their niche or website focus. In researching blogger relations outside of class material, I often encounter the C's of blogger relations:

• Concept: What's the compelling plan


• Context: Why is it relevant to them


• Consumption: Create a package that makes it easy for bloggers to write their story


• Credibility: What makes you credible? Become the expert


• Community: Join it, participate without expectations


• Conversation: You are not invited to the conversation as a marketer. This is about people so be articulate, responsive, and resourceful

My internship with NC State media relations

The lecture by Dr. Waters on media relations caused me to reflect back on my time as a media relations intern with NC State athletics my senior year. As part of the Communication program, all students had to partake in an internship project their last semester. I was fortunate to land an opportunity with an organization that I deeply supported and loved working with. Media relations personnel are stretched so thin due to the incredible responsibilities placed on this function. From covering all sporting events to relay stories to fans, to representing the university with the local and national media, and producing essentially all publications of the sports teams. I was lucky to work hands on and interact with the media and basketball team all season long; including writing articles for the official website, gopack.com As an observer now, I can defend many of the criticisms levied against the NC State media relations department. However, there does appear to exist a serious problem with correcting misinformation and proactively diffusing media stories before they achieve the intended negative impact. The media can report situations in which their perceptions may eventually become reality especially when the target remains quiet based on the stance that they will not justify such nonsense with an answer. Three areas the media relations department fail at are: getting ahead of the story, diffusing opposition arguments, and advancing their agenda. The good deeds done by the athletic teams and student athletes rarely is headline news or even reported news, but the negative stories are front page with large photos. In this area the media relations efforts must improve in order to present the university in the best light possible!

Growing organizational emphasis on web analytics!

The Web Analytics Association (WAA) recently released their second annual web analytics outlook survey for 2009. The WAA was able to gain participation from over 650 web analytics practitioners, that included diverse respondents from all around the world. There was overwhelming agreement on three company fronts: budgets are tight, training and best practices consulting are important, and we are still trying to get the message through to top management. Other key highlights from the report include the following:

• Over 96% of respondents indicated they either plan to maintain current spending levels or increase spending on web analytics in 2010.


• 65% of participants revealed a demand to focus more business decisions and implementation of initiates based on web analytics in the coming year.


• Almost 81% of respondents plan to invest in consulting and staffing efforts pertaining to maximizing existing analytics tools.

Please comment and offer any insights you have on web analytics! Please feel free to visit the WAA official site and read the entire report and other valuable content.

http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/

Is your social media staying clean?

While recently helping some graduate school peers find participants for a research study, I realized that some of my contacts on Facebook are people I have not interacted with in many years. I do not view their profiles or really gain any benefit from maintaining these links other than just having them included on my friend list. I started thinking about all the people that I include on Facebook, Twitter, and other applications and how few are actually the users who I get information from and post comments with. It became clear that an essential part of social media use is to make sure you clean it up from time to time; getting rid of the useless blog subscriptions, followers, and friends. It is important to avoid becoming complacent and hoard needless companies, people, blogs, etc. that do not generate usefulness. At the same time, users should also search for new applications to participate in that potentially has more valuable content. Here are some quick tips to better organize and improve efficiency:

• Identify your most important contacts


• Unsubscribe from blogs you do not read and search for some new material you may be missing out on


• Unfollow those pages that produce little usefulness


• Maintain a good balance between personal and valuable professional connections

Please comment, I think we are all guilty of continually adding to our social media but I imagine we do not pay much attention to subtracting the clutter!

How social media can be helpful in the job market!

I thought I would follow the excellent online lecture by Dr. Waters on social media and finding a job by providing some of my own key points to consider. I am a firm believer in the old saying that jobs are all about networking, this applies in person and online. Here are a few quick tidbits to consider in your online job search.

• Know the website before using it: It is probably a good idea to survey the online tool to gain better insights on the most effective way to use each medium. Twitter is limited space, so be interesting or entertaining. Facebook is more socially oriented and expressive, which may discourage the desire to connect with a boss or colleagues. LinkedIn's purpose may be better suited for strict professional use of networking.


• Detailed profile: A user's profile should produce descriptions similar to a resume just not as formal. Include relevant accomplishments and work experiences, keep in mind the qualities a recruiter would look for. Link to any other appropriate personal social media profiles that may provide additional information.


• Do not sell, share: Utilize the sites more for offering help and advice to other users that you meet from a contact or mutual friend. Generally, self-promotion is not as appreciated compared with a friendly interaction.


• Publish proper content: Social networking use with an emphasis on finding a job is not the appropriate place to divulge weekend party plans, political views, and any other type of behavior that may be viewed as offensive. Prospective companies are watching and you can quickly eliminate yourself from consideration.


• Participate: Make an effort to engage other people in discussions relative to your field of interest, stay in contact, and use features available to get noticed (LinkedIn question & answers).

Social media in organizations: It will not work, if you don't know what is being said!

Social media monitoring is integral to the ultimate success and impact on organizational use of this medium. Company use of social media to perform public relations efforts requires evaluation of the material, the responses from the audiences, and the effectiveness of persuasion in the message set. It is critical to survey the online landscape and monitor what people are saying about your product so that the company can implement responsive and proactive strategies to address criticisms and concerns. Obviously this will require a commitment of time and resources, in addition to knowledge of the proper Internet sites that should be incorporated into monitoring efforts to increase efficiency in the process. Monitoring is a strong tool in examining the persuasive messages utilized by the company and determine both the positive areas of impact and ways to critique social media offerings.

• Is the message reaching the intended audience?


• What are the misconceptions being generated?


• How can we now shape the message to combat misinformation?


• Are we achieving positive message sharing and growth?


• What potential target audience is the company unaware of?

Perhaps my best advice is to be ready to accept the positive and negative topics you will encounter. Do not enter into this process if you cannot check your ego at the door, open your mind, and learn from comments you may not appreciate but have the potential to improve your brand. Please comment, what kind of advice or experience do you have with monitoring?

Social media use, make it essential but do not overly rely on it!

Every organization, non-profit, social movement, etc. should consider social media applications imperative to their success. These mediums are effective and efficient at expressing opinions, promoting organizational ideology, connecting with friends, and serving seemingly any needs or purposes imaginable that is intended to reach an audience. The uses of social media is so specific to the goals and needs to each individual site operator, but there do exist some concerns for organizations that could experience negative consequences from an overly abundant use. These institutions may find that they will become limited and only capable of accomplishing goals that can be achieved through online participation and action. The following concerns have to be critically evaluated for many organizations prior and during implementation.

• Negative impact on grassroots efforts


• Alienating portions of your support base


• Limiting the cultural knowledge of an organization


• Failing to learn and obtain from shared experiences


• Creating an environment that values convenience over commitment


• Leadership initiatives and policies that may lack transparency


• Evaluations that suffer from insufficient feedback and variety

This post is not intended to downplay the importance of social media application, but rather to illustrate the problems associated from heavy dependence on online mediums when it is detrimental to the original organizational mission. Please comment, what are some tips you would offer pertaining to social media use?

Nestle's Social Media Crisis

It is interesting to watch the recent events unfold pertaining to the negative claims made against Nestle. I recently blogged about the Greenpeace organization and their effective use of social media applications. This blog is now being reaffirmed by the tremendous attention and mass displays of online support for the organization's calls to action against Nestle. Nestle is being accused of using palm oil in their products that are purchased from a company that may destroy rain forests in southeast Asia. Greenpeace encouraged members to bombard the Nestle Twitter and Facebook accounts with criticisms and pleas for a new purchasing policy. What ensued was a successful takeover of these pages. Unfortunately for Nestle, they have engaged in very little dialogue with the social media comments nor has the organization proactively addressed the current problems and future plans to resolve the conflict. For certain, many outsiders are curiously awaiting responses, statements, and actions from Nestle that will in the short-term determine product viability. I would encourage Nestle to take advantage of this new, exponentially larger Internet following and attempt to take steps towards winning public opinion back and divert disaster into a positive. Nestle should act swiftly and consistently to update audiences on their efforts in discontinuing business practices harmful to the environment and the reparations the company will undertake to restore their image. Please comment, what actions do you recommend? What is the best way to use the Nestle social media accounts to address the conflict?

Social media in social movements!

Equipped with the insights obtained through Dr. Waters lecture material on social networking sites, I wanted to examine a social movement group that I am studying in another class. Greenpeace USA is an environmental organization that was founded in 1971. Greenpeace aims to achieve big things; instead of moving one company to improve their environmental record, the organization works to change the entire industry. Greenpeace has grown from a small group of dedicated activists, to an international organization with offices in more than 30 countries. It is important to remember that Greenpeace does not solicit contributions from government or corporations, nor endorse political candidates. There are currently 250,000 members in the United States and 2.8 million worldwide that provide virtually all of the funding through individual contributions. So with this in mind, what do we know about Greenpeace's use of social media?

Greenpeace does an exceptional job of effectively utilizing social media to communicate with members in attempts to coordinate efforts, promote organizational accomplishments, gain support and attract new target publics (the youth). Greenpeace operates Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linked-in and Myspace accounts. Greenpeace also operates an organizational blog on their official website that details activities, responds to political policies/news, and shares personal insights from a variety of Greenpeace members. This use of social media has maximized efficiency and helped build Greenpeace's $9 million grassroots program and their cutting edge online to on-the-ground organizing, a robust student organizing and training program, and the national street and door-to-door canvass program.

Greenpeace social media:

http://facebook.com/greenpeaceusa

http://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa

http://myspace.com/gpus

http://youtube.com/profile?user=greenpeaceusa

The need for responsible texting practices!

Taking advantage of text message service is an effective and efficient way for organizations to maximize efforts towards reaching publics. In my opinion, those companies that advertise or provide information through different mediums that offer text services are valuable in allowing the consumer the option to text them first. This is the ideal way for gaining new subscribers and it transforms publics into target publics. In this way it is similar to podcasts because the organization now knows that the participants are interested in the product. It is critical that the company utilizing this method is every bit as responsible as they would be with any other type of message sending. One method should be an easy to use and find opt-out setting. Most text message services usually suggest for users to send a "stop" or "remove" text to the number in order to discontinue the service. This is a great step, but there is another concern that should be addressed. Texting while driving has emerged as a major issue that is increasingly facing legislation to make this practice unlawful. The organizations that use texting should always include reminders to be responsible when texting and abide by the individual's state laws. Much like alcohol accidents do not usually reflect on the actual drink maker, these companies still spend money on ads that promote designated drivers and not driving while impaired. Any organization that heavily relies on text interactions would be wise to do the same, accidents will not usually reflect on the organization but giving the perception that you care about conducting interactions ethically and safely will only increase organizational appeal. Consider the following about texting while driving:

• Texting while driving is about 6 times more likely to result in accidents than drunk driving


• People who text while driving are 23% more likely to be involved in an accident


• Almost 50% of all drivers 18-24 are texting while driving

Please comment. What do you think about organizational use of texting?

Rantings of a graduate student!

I just had to get some things off my chest and this blog post will serve that purpose. I hope that everyone else is having a productive and successful project experience so far. My group has done some really interesting things and is working hard to make our research informative and unique. As some you may know, we are examining stewardship in the NFL. We finally got IRB approval (it's like pulling teeth) for our survey that will accompany our content analysis. With this problem behind us, I thought we would have clear sailing in posting our survey to the message boards on the official team pages we selected to study. As it turns out, the NFL is not real big on message board posters freedom to perform research! I was personally banned from two team sites for spamming, SPAMMING? I never realized that academic inquiries into the NFL and some of its teams was considered spamming. After all the hard work, not to mention cost, on the survey and now this road block. Thankfully, the group has been able to develop other effective mediums for posting the survey on and I am happy to report we are obtaining a good start on participant submissions. I was just frustrated and needed to get that all out so thanks for providing the audience. Please comment and let me know how your projects are coming along!

Customer service networks may be more important than you think!

I recently read an article that is quite dated but is relevant to the weekly material on customer service networks. Ideally, I would like to research a little more current research to examine correlations to the ideas advanced from this past study. The article, The interaction of advertising and evidence by J. Deighton, is in the Journal of Consumer Research and touches on costumer service networks just well before the development of social media. This article details the study of advertising persuasion and the accompanying effects on consumer expectations and how these beliefs are confirmed. The research hypothesis investigates what inferences are suggested through the persuasive messages that the consumer draws from to accept product favor ability. Researches propose that advertisement persuasion occurs in two steps; first being expectations are initially created but is weak due to knowledge of presenter bias, the second step occurring from confirmation of expectations based on additional exposure to material. The study utilized quantitative analysis reported from participants that were introduced to Ford advertisements depicting the company attempting to improve product quality, then some sample groups were given additional persuasive material as a means to confirm the expectations generated from the original message. Clearly, this is where customer service networks could have the most impact. The assumption being that consumers understand bias in advertising and thus seek additional evidence before purchase. This process essentially describes the entire set-up of these networks; illustrating their worth to those that rate, those that review, and for the organizations to monitor. Customer service networks can be beneficial for all parties and provide good direction towards the best products based on personal experiences. Please comment! Do you use customer service networks? What have your experiences been?

Major advantages trending towards the podcast medium!

Podcasting is positioning itself to gain serious momentum on the traditional television and radio media avenues for advertisements. I would argue that there exist a significant and mutually beneficial link between advertising and public relations; this makes the following data important to track and monitor for continued evolution. Consider the following from a recent podcast consumer attitudes study:

• Podcast fans are significantly more affluent than general population
• Podcast fans are rapidly turning away from traditional media advertising models, generally regarded as "interruptions"
• 37% of video podcast users and 31% of audio podcast users say they enjoy advertising in podcasts. By comparison, only 6% say same of TV and radio.
• Podcasts confer on their advertisers and sponsors positive reviews for advertisers that sponsor shows they like.
• Over 70% of active podcast listeners are receptive to sponsorship messages in podcasts.

I can understand why podcast audiences are generally more receptive to advertising. Listeners are already subjecting themselves to the target audience demographic by simply choosing to download or subscribe to the preferred podcast. This commitment demonstrates a personal interest in programming topics, this audience is no longer a prospective one but rather a vested one. Podcasts are portable which enables the user to have mobility that is just not afforded with the stationery mediums of television or confinement to your automobile. It is apparent that the audience is engaged with the content, now it comes down to having the proper direction to clients. Please comment, what are your experiences or preferences with podcasting?

Organizations not using video sharing that should be!

This will be a bit of an abbreviated blog posting due to an overwhelming amount of midterms and papers due shortly! One of the main things that struck me today from Dr. Waters's lecture on video sharing sites was the slide on the Pope and his use of Youtube to reach out to the congregation. I immediately thought of the nonprofit organizations that fail to utilize this medium to effectively attract prospective donors and engage existing ones. One of the most familiar lines said to telephone nonprofit solicitors, if they even get that far, is..."send me your information and I would be happy to look over it." If a nonprofit representative gets to this point, chances are you have greatly reduced your chance to enlist a new donor. Video sharing would be a nice alternative that could provide an inside look at the organization to current stakeholders, allowing them to see their money or time in action. Prospective contributors could gain a feel for services, staff, and mission of the organization. A video sharing site could also include links to other social media pages and the official website; increasing visibility of the organization and ease in which one can donate if a link is available on all sites. Perhaps most importantly, the solicitations may be easier and attract more attention. Even if you are getting cut off on the phone, a quick way to leave an impression is to simply say..."just check us out on Youtube!" Please share your comments. What other organizations would you recommend use video sharing sites? Want a great example, check out this Youtube nonprofit: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmRedCross

Windows 7 making use of Groundswell!

Want to witness Groundswell in action, look no further than the highly competitive market of computer programming to find a great example. Microsoft and Windows have been promoting the concept of embracing the customer's needs and ideas in conjunction with the launch of the new Windows 7 for PC. Popular opinion, word of mouth, and even advertising appeal has all been in favor of the Mac systems recently and the sales differentials corroborate this development; even with Mac having a substantially higher price tag. To combat this trend, Microsoft has launched a new user friendly campaign that is driven by...you guessed it, the ideas and suggestions of the consumers. The new ads are spreading across television and many of the social media sites in an effort to appeal to a diverse range of potential consumers. The overarching theme of the new commercials is to have people of all demographics explaining how they sent their ideas to Microsoft and the resulting feedback is what created the new Windows 7. The message being this new software is for consumers, made by consumers. Essentially, Microsoft has generated considerable new buzz and positive reviews by simply highlighting the fact that many of the new functions were produced by listening to the user! Maybe they read Groundswell too! Please feel free to comment, have you seen the new commercials? Do you think it is striking a chord with users? Is Microsoft effectively blending social media with the book's concepts?

Etiquette includes making it easy to leave!

I wanted to take this opportunity to branch off of some of the topics Dr. Waters covered in the class material. I thought of an extra consideration when attempting to provide the best etiquette possible. This idea was also formulated while listening to the radio this morning and hearing one of the hosts complain about how he signed up for CNN news texts to his phone but had since decided he no longer wanted to participate. The issue was that he could not figure out how to discontinue the service and had become quite frustrated and turned off from CNN in its entirety. A crucial lesson for all who interact with and promote through social media applications is to keep in mind that not everyone who follows an organization or is interested in accessing information on the website is technologically savvy. Companies should strive to make any mediums they utilize as user friendly as possible, this includes offering tutorials to help viewers efficiently navigate the material. Perhaps a forgotten aspect of etiquette is to ensure that when an audience or follower would like to opt out, the process is easy to figure out, convenient, and implemented in a timely fashion. This should alleviate frustrations and ease the fears of prospective users that they are engaging in something that they cannot get out of. Please feel free to comment and share any similar problems you have encountered or etiquette advice you would like to promote!

Photo sharing, what's your take?

I must admit to not being very familiar with photo sharing websites, I do not view them nor do I currently operate any accounts. I had a hard time coming up with a topic to discuss so I asked some friends and family for their opinions on photo sharing. Almost universally, everyone I talked to was not a fan of this type of social media, outside of my sister-in-law. She finds photo sharing websites, especially Snapfish, to be a good alternative to sending out pictures to fiends and family. Instead of emailing each picture, she can just send a link that will open entire albums with tags and descriptions. She also enjoys the extra benefits of uploading the pictures to the site and then having the capability to create albums, mouse pads, calendars, etc out of these pictures and then having the site mail to her the finished product. However, a lot of people felt that it was too inconvenient to click additional links and then wait for photos to load. It appears many of the concerns were related to personal photo sharing accounts instead of organizational. In general it appears photos would have to contain subjects of personal interest or a high human interest topic for viewers to remain engaged with individual photo sharing sites. Organizational photo sharing is essential for effectively managing photographs and keeping target publics informed and connected. Organizations produce greater volume of photographs from everyday business operations, company products, company events, etc. In this area, photo sharing is an organized, efficient medium to nurture relationships and offer additional legitimacy to the organization's efforts and goals. Please share your opinions on photo sharing; I enjoy reading a variety of insights and learning something from your comments!

Toyota, tweeting through the crisis

John Jantsch's Using Twitter for Business article gave some great insights into the value of organizational use of Twitter. I was intrigued reading about the success Dell had found through this media and immediately turned my attention to Toyota, who is probably suffering through one of the worse public relations problems in quite some time. Certainly, Twitter would have to provide some advantages against the persistent media coverage that could allow the company to speak to people more directly? It turns out that Toyota has done just that, the company has taken to Twitter and issued a variety of statements, apologies, information, and updates. Toyota is really utilizing the site to effectively communicate with the masses, although it is almost entirely impossible to directly answer the overwhelming questions and concerns constantly flooding their page. The company is using Tweetdeck to track what is being said and to address and engage with as many issues as possible. It appears that Toyota is doing a more efficient job with their social media use than their pr image nurturing when you considering that Toyota's president took far too long to make an official statement. As a Toyota owner, I am somewhat comforted by the efforts I read about on their Twitter page, information that is not available through the media sensationalizing. Just to illustrate how much is being tweeted about the company; in the span of time it took me to write this blog (roughly 15-20 mins), Toyota has been tweeted to or about 319 times! Please share your thoughts, comments, and opinions. How do you think Toyota is doing? Is it possible they could use Twitter more effectively? What other companies do you think could benefit from better Twitter usage?

Take it to the masses with social media!

This vlog was generated based on some great insights from Dr. Waters lecture and Ch.5 in Groundswell. I had tweeted this epiphany I had while watching the class material and this is the end result. You may not always be able to win in the court of law but sometimes, the court of public opinion may be equally effective to obtaining your goals. Please share your thoughts, questions, and opinions!

1960 in 2010 but still no social media?

A popular topic that is "trending" today based on my research of Twitter and Yahoo (#2), is the 1960 Greensboro, NC sit-in that was a historic part of the civil rights movement. Certainly this is not unexpected with today not only representing the 50th anniversary of the event but it is also the opening of the new International Civil Rights Center and Museum, located at the site of the sit-in. With all of this interest and attention, I thought it only appropriate to survey the official site and use some of the class lecture ideas on blogging. Well to make a long story short...to my surprise there is no blog or any type of social media associated with the site. Social media represents such a popular, inexpensive, and far reaching medium to target audiences, share information, and promote a cause. I find it unbelievable that the museum would not want to capture the current momentum and start engaging people through social media, especially a blog. This blog could serve as a means to report on the opening day activities and continue to build a following that would benefit the center and other interested visitors and parties. The website does a very effective job at providing information, story sharing, and soliciting donations. However, the absence of links to social media pages and a blog causes concern for me that once the initial attention goes away, will they be able to generate their own? Please share your thoughts and comments! Here is the site, http://www.sitinmovement.org/ Let me know your opinions!

Competition, good for social media and the consumer!

Many ideas resonated with me as I watched the lectures for this week's social media class material. However, one topic really struck a chord with me that I find to be a tremendous strength within the social media medium. There clearly exists major competition and in this competition there is a large variety among the many different types of social media available to users. Whether you utilize social bookmarking, social networking, blogs, etc; you are certain to find something to your liking and userability level. This competition is a great thing, after all competition breeds innovation which greatly benefits users of the technology. The competition has transformed the process of favoriting websites on individual computers to the development of sites dedicated to bookmarking and tags that enable people to share in higher volume and with better organization; providing access to greater numbers of people with similar interests and the convenience of bookmarked information on any computer. Hopefully the trend of creating more efficient uses of social media will continue to evolve, certainly the current competition will be the driving force behind this and play a major role in what breakthrough will be developed next. How do you view the competition? Can such a wide variety of product continue or will mergers start to become common? Please share your opinions and insights!

Ethical considerations for social media

Dr. Waters addressed some intriguing topics related to social media ethics. He posed four different ethical questions that I now would like to address from my personal perspective.

*Is it OK to set up a company persona in Facebook or Twitter? Yes I think this is an ethical choice under a few conditions. The person running the account should have the full consent of the company and keep them appraised of topics and ideas that will be addressed by the social site. The information shared with the digital community should be factual and in accordance with the values of the organization. Questions and inquiries should be answered either by the proper personal within the company, which requires multiple individuals to have access to the medium, or from the site author after consultation with the proper department that can provide accurate communication.

*Is it OK for brand personas to proactively follow/friend people in order to get a reciprocal response? Again, I think this is ethical and good business sense. Nothing wrong with mass appeal and attempting to reach as many interested parties with organizational information. It would be imperative that the information available from the brand pertain to brand characteristics and content. There should be no attempt to abuse the relationship with followers through spamming and using follower information for the sole benefit of the brand that could result in the organizational behavior being viewed as deceiving by the follower/friend.

*Do you think it is OK to use misleading ad copy to get people on your site? I do not believe this is ethical. This is an obvious and intentional attempt to trick interested parties into viewing your site while failing to deliver the proper information. This type of behavior is bad for business and a good way to quickly alienate current and prospective stakeholders, consumers, etc. People will certainly be reading about your company but probably on blogs and sites that label your ad copy as a scam!

*Is it OK to buy domain names similar to your competitors names or typos that are closely related to competitors? I think this is perfectly ethical but I fail to recognize the benefit to the organization. Readers will not be impressed by the link switching and if anything will become annoyed that you have violated their convenience. Consumers are generally aware of what they are searching for and many obtain a brand loyalty, certainly some may stick around to view the company site but I would think the risk outweighs the reward in this scenario.

Please feel free to share your own thoughts and critiques. Is business ethics a losing cause? What does your ethical compass answer to these questions?

Digital explosion, feel free to join anytime

I was watching a recent lecture from my social media professor detailing the digital explosion and all of the advantages that are available through use of the Internet. This information has to be common sense, right? I am sure most organizations are using these mediums to their fullest capabilities, right? This inspired me to check-up on a project I was involved in over the summer session with a non-profit organization, in which I developed an E-philanthropy plan for implementation. I had worked with this same organization 6 years prior on an undergraduate assignment and was well rehearsed in company facts and figures. My first hint of trouble should have reasonated when I compared more recent data to that of the prior data and discovered over the last 6 years; volunteers, volunteer hours, and donations had decreased, while the number of paid staff had grown exponentially. This organization had done very little to embrace social media or become more involved with websites that could greatly benefit company goals. I made sure to expand on the plan with very precise instructions and explanations as to what the sites were and how the organization should personalize the set-up. I essentially treated this non-profit as if I were explaining to my 2 year old how the Internet works. To my utter amazement, 8 months have passed and not a single effort has been put forth to join the digital explosion. This means there exist very minimal maintenance of relationships, no conservation of visitors, limited stewardship, and zero informational spread on the cause of organization or ways to donate. This represents wasted opportunities that is a result of stubborn and incompetent leadership. However, those that are truly penalized are the ones that need the help the most.

Embracing Innovation

My first reaction to the announcement that part of our social media class assignments was to "tweet", I instantly was defiant. I had no use for Twitter, I do not care what celebrities are doing nor am I interesting enough to have followers. I had already canceled my Myspace account and occasionally used Facebook but had never considered tweeting. However, I started reading and researching the disaster in Haiti realizing that so much good was being done through social mediums. The relief and donations from digital media and social mediums are providing a huge surge to the efforts to help in during this tragedy. As I texted my donation to the Red Cross last night, I decided to embrace new innovations and technology before passing judgement as a useless product that decreases personal, meaningful communication. Without the tweeters, Facebook accounts, and countless other mediums the spread of goodwill and social conscience would not be as global and would ultimately fail to meet the needs of those suffering.