Friday, December 5, 2008

British surgeon amputates teenage boy's shoulder in Congo with instructions texted from a friend in London http://ping.fm/2zANq

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

RT @CareFlash: Fitch Revises Outlook for Not-for-Profit Hospital Sector...DOWN http://ping.fm/PdGxK

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

RE: Social Ntwkg to Drive Physical Activity and Raise $$

Check this out – this is a great idea. Let’s think of ways AHA could do something similar. Fit for Start! – a modification to current Start! online really…

http://www.plus3network.com... This new fitness-based social network allows exercise buffs to do good while getting in shape. After signing up, site members get to choose the cause they would like to support, upon which Plus 3 then pairs them with a corporate sponsor who makes donations according to the amount of activity miles completed.

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Monday, November 17, 2008

My Nomination for Marketing Blunder of the Year

Last weekend McNeil PPC, maker of Motrin, launched a new ad campaign online that was designed to be highly targeted. In this first installment, they targeted moms who "wear" their babies.

If it wasn't obvious to you why that video created a firestorm that led McNeil to replace their video with an apology from the VP in charge of Marketing Motrin, do not try to target new parents ever. That segment would be perfect for a viral push, in fact this went viral real fast, and it is still going, but not in the way McNeil or their agency want.

The next step McNeil's advertiser took was to create a persona to match the ad on Twitter. http://twitter.com/motrinmoms was supposed to be "just a mom who likes her motrin. lol" This voice was so disengenuous that it was already defending itself by the third post, telling a baby ewaring blogger to "take a chill pill" for posting her outrage.

Finally, McNeill took over 24 hours to respond here, even though they had someone on twitter and people monitoring blogs who should have been able to do that for them as the bruhaha was building. ComputerWorld has a good article about all this, including expert opinion.

While many now are arguing that the outrage was unfounded and the mom's were whiney and humorless, and others are blaming McNeill PPC for the way they responded. I would rather look at where they responded.

They crafted this campaign carefully considering several angles, the one they missed was their audience. They were obviously prepared for an audience having fun but when they got the opposite they shut it all down, took down the website for 12 hours and then brought it back up without the video and with a poorly crafted letter from the vp of marketing on the home page of motrin.com. They disappeared for 12 hours while the outrage and honestly, shadenfreude, worked its way through the social networks. Why didn't @motrinmoms stay? Why did she decide to stick with defensive, when she could have turned it around and made it fun. What if she had turned on her own ad, "yeah, see what happens when a bunch of ad men come up with a 'sympathetic' appeal to new moms" include fewer lolz and more rollzeyes or something? Why not dump the campaign with that voice instead of just dumping the campaign? It would be no less risky, but you would have kept the voice for Twitter and other future campaigns.

Youth Prefer to Receive Email Ads vs. thru Social Ntwkg.

Youth Prefer to Receive Email Ads vs. thru Social Ntwkg.

Despite growing popularity of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, young adults (age 18-34) are more likely to be influenced by email and direct-mail marketing than by ads or marketing messages on social networks… “It is too easy to assume that the media consumers who choose for their own news, information and entertainment are by default the best media to use for marketing messages,” said Mike Bloxham, CMD’s director of Insight and Research. “This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences.”

http://tinyurl.com/6g7nf8

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Friday, November 14, 2008

Twitter rank may not have stolen pwords, but still...http://ping.fm/eg0Zy

Thursday, November 13, 2008

UnitedHealth HEROES Service-Learning Grants for youth-led community ed projects to fight childhood obesity http://ping.fm/ck9Sm

Can Crowdfunding Help Save the Journalism Business? http://ping.fm/96CVq

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

IBM working on 'Blue Spruce,' which aims to create a fully browser-based application development platform http://ping.fm/ef6by

Monday, November 10, 2008

Phase II trial of experimental anti-coagulant reports safety and outcomes data. Phase III to begin in Dec http://ping.fm/FxT6i #ss-08

Go Green even in your chest cavity! Heart’s surplus energy may help power pacemakers, defibrillators http://ping.fm/9N8M0

AHA President Gardner calls for involvement as ‘citizen leaders’ http://ping.fm/Uk5tG If you are reading this, you can help. #ss-08

The first ever online media room for Scientific Sessions http://ping.fm/YzNiX #ss-08

Yesterday's videos and the upcoming schedule can be found here http://ping.fm/rS0kL #ss-08

Late Breaking Clinical Trials II news conference live now. Sign up to view here http://ping.fm/TfcUR

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Great blog post from Dr. Melissa Walton-Shirley "Will a nation...pay much attn to our upcoming AHA mtg developments?" http://is.gd/6rnA #ss-08

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

RT @HIMSS: For those of you interested in state HIEs, you can see a list of initiatives compiled by state at http://plurl.me/213

Friday, October 24, 2008

I am a little uncomfortable passing along a campaign oriented tool, but this is a great example of sousveillance, http://ping.fm/OoZZq

Check out this post by @socialBttrfly from two days ago. http://snurl.com/4nx6j Thanks to her I've stopped working on my version...for now.

From the world of Marketing - Week of 10/24/2008

Enjoy! Remember, if you have anything to contribute, please let me know as I try to send these out weekly. I always like to share information with anyone who will listen!

Gaming:

Using online games to help educate and evaluate adults around traditionally boring behavior is getting more and more prevalent. Check out this new game from Allstate, where “beginning in Pennsylvania—home to the fifth largest population of Allstate customers aged 50 to 75,—Allstate is offering the program free to more than 100,000 drivers in that age group to test the impact of cognitive training on driving safety. The program uses InSight, a video software package from Posit Science that's designed to reverse age-related cognitive decline and improve the visual-processing skills needed for safe driving. Five games make up InSight, including Jewel Diver, which tests the ability to keep track of multiple moving objects at one time. Among the results of using the software, Posit says, are a reduction of dangerous driving maneuvers by up to 40 percent, an improvement in stopping distance by an average of 22 feet when traveling at 55 miles per hour and a reduction in crash risk of up to 50 percent. In the Pennsylvania tests, which will run through March, Allstate will encourage participating older drivers to devote at least 10 hours to the training exercises. It will then track accident rates for the groups that did and didn't use the software. If the results validate Posit Science's claims, Allstate says it hopes to offer discounts to older drivers nationwide who use the software.”

See more information about the game here - http://media.allstate.com/releases/4461-allstate-examines-brain-fitness

I wonder how something like this can be used to educate patients on healthy behaviors, to develop better habits or more?

Diversity:

Short little email from Yankelovich on African American Boomer Audience. What is most interesting is the information about Cause Marketing. It says that African Americans are very effective targets for cause marketing, but they value different things than the rest the population. And they are even more likely (twice to be exact) to buy a brand because if reflects their values. QUESTION: does the Cone yearly study breakout samples by diversity?

The other most interesting thing is that this audience wants marketing in channels that are targeted specifically for them, because for so long they were ignored in general market communications.

<<Yankelovich - AA Baby Boomers.pdf>>

The Quantified Self:

I got to hear Gary Wolf, a contributing editor for Wired at a recent conference where he spoke about the emerging movement focused on the notion of the quantified self. It’s about individuals collecting and generating more and more data about their bodies. This may not appeal to everyone, but it presents and interesting scenario in this new global health economy around self-care, self monitoring, and do it yourself health. Some of them are a bit crazy, and the word “narcissism” came up quite a bit. But to me it’s no different than keeping a diary about yourself. Who doesn’t like looking back in their diary from a few years ago to see everything in a different view and I don’t think data like this is any different. What do you think?

These were the sites that he mentioned.

· http://www.slifelabs.com/ - track your life or your teams and turn it into a visualization

· http://www.rescuetime.com/ - Time tracker so you know exactly where your time is going

· http://www.fitday.com/ - Diet and weight loss journal

· http://flowingdata.com/ - Site that turns your numbers into data visualization, the winner of a recent project turned his all his manual data such as beverage consumption to email spam into statistics. Check that out here. http://flowingdata.com/2008/09/09/winner-of-the-personal-visualization-project-is/

· http://www.zumelife.com/ - A mobile healthcare system gadget to track everything you do around health

· http://www.lenababy.com/ - For parents with a child age 0-4 with speech disabilities, so you can track everything your child does and see unprovments

· http://www.fitbit.com/ - clipon that tracks your fitness AND sleep. Very different from an ordinary pedomenter, it uses accelerometer information instead.

· http://www.bedposted.com/ - Track your sex life…hmm, enough said.

· http://www.trixietracker.com/ - Baby tracker for your iphone. Buy this and the diaper tracker is free. Eww.

Finally, another one I just found for those of you who are eco-friendly – Carbon Diem, which has launched yet, allows you to track your carbon footprint on your cell phone. http://www.carbondiem.com/product.html

Just for Fun: Can we have a smash shack at our work?

Demonstrating that it’s possible to profit from any human desire, Sarah’s Smash Shack was conceived to relieve people who are stressed-out. Customers in San Diego can choose fragile tableware from the Smash Shack Menu—for example a set of three glass flowers for USD 10, or the House Special, which consists of 15 plates at a cost of USD 45. They’re also welcome to bring in their own breakables to pulverise for a ‘corkage fee’ that starts at USD 20. After donning protective gear, smashers are escorted to one of the break rooms, where they stand behind a waist-high barrier and hurl their arsenal at a stainless steel wall. To make the process more personalized, customers are encouraged to bring their own soundtrack on MP3, and to write messages on whatever they’re about to throw. There’s also the option of flinging objects at a photo or mantra of choice. A VIP room is available for group smashes.

Since August 2008, the shack has helped quite a few customers vent their frustration and release their tension. Or just plain enjoy the process of harmless destruction without having to clean up after themselves. It’s hard to tell whether the credit crunch has benefited or hindered the business’s success, making customers thriftier but also more stressed and up for smashing... Aware that it’s not cool not to care about the environment, the shack donates its broken glass and ceramic to mosaic art programs throughout the United States.

While the whole concept might sound a bit nutty, this could be a lucrative small business to set up elsewhere, especially for entrepreneurs who can get their hands on cheap vacant retail space for a year or two. Entry costs are relatively low and, well, that human urge to smash stuff is universal ;-)

Website: www.smashshack.com

Anu Gandhi

Director of Marketing, Consumer Markets

American Heart Association, National Center

7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231

P 214-706-1906 F 214-706-5244 C 214-404-8924

Follow me: Twitter/My Blog/Linked In

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Forrester Research on Social Networking - highlights

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/report_social_web_usage_tipped_2008.php

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Pizza Hut Launches Ordering Application On Facebook

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=92741&Nid=48384&p=921011

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Video Games for Social Change

The use of video games as a tool for social change has garnered a lot of attention recently, and now video-game systems are getting into the act.

Xbox has formed a partnership with Rock the Vote that will allow gamers to register to vote, express their opinions about the presidential candidates, and participate in campaign polls through Xbox LIVE, the company's online social network.

"We're looking for new and innovative ways to reach young people," says Chrissy Faessen, deputy director of Rock the Vote. "Historically it used to be the 30-second television ad, and now we're finding different ways through mobile phones, through gaming consoles, through the Internet, and social networks to reach out to people where we know they are."

For more information: Go to http://www.rockthevote.com.

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Friday, October 3, 2008

Must Read on Social Media and Corporate Use

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=91912&Nid=47958&p=921011

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Facebook Fan Pages vs Group Pages

Great information on Facebook – Fan pages vs Group Pages

http://www.marketingvox.com/branding-on-facebook-groups-or-fan-pages-041262/?camp=newsletter&src=mv&type=textlink

Monday, September 22, 2008

How To Choose the Right Social Technologies

http://www.communispace.com/communications/forrester/How_to_Choose_the_Right_Social_Technologies-Bernoff_March_2008.pdf

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Business Apps for Microblogging

Commentary
Keep It Short: Five Ways Businesses Can Leverage Microblogging
by Blake Cahill, Monday, Sep 22, 2008 5:00 AM ET
Big things often come in small packages. Consider microblogging, the emerging short-message medium offered by such sites as Twitter, Pownce, Plurk and FriendFeed. While these platforms have seen an explosion among users who share thoughts and links, connect with friends and build networks, companies are now starting to jump on board to engage with customers and partners, communicate news in a quick and timely way, and monitor what the world is saying about them.

Some commentators have dismissed the Twitters of the world as places where the self-absorbed waste time writing about the mundane, but many reputable companies don't see it that way. H.R. Block uses Twitter to build its brand by talking taxes with its audience. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has more than 7,000 followers and gives away shoes as part of his Twitter feed.

Such early-adopter companies are showing how to bond with customers and prospects on a new level. But clearly, with a medium in which messages are limited to a 140-word count and can quickly turn judgmental and negative, there are potential downsides.

Here are five ways that companies can leverage microblogging to help their businesses.

1. Monitor your industry and competitors. The most important thing for companies to understand today is that thanks to social media technologies such as blogging and microblogging, conversations about a company and its brand are happening every minute of the day. And they're happening off the radar screen--unless companies are monitoring the landscape. Southwest Airlines has used microblogging to keep an eye on long lines at its airport gates so it can respond and help passengers. Now consider the potential if Southwest were to monitor its competitors' flight delays as well, and react with real-time ticket offers. Monitoring social media to stay on top of the most important and relevant conversations can provide clearly demonstrative ROI.

2. Track conversations about the company and its brand. Given the popularity and utility of social media sources, it's no surprise that brands are being shaped by online consumer interactions, and companies have little control over consumers' influence. In the case of microblogging, negative comments about a company's brand can be particularly damaging because they come in real time, and thanks to the shortness of the message, can be painfully blunt and reach thousands of consumers. Companies are beginning to understand that they need to keep one eye on the blogosphere and the other on microbloggers.

3. Grow sales. Early anecdotal evidence suggests that microblogging, with a disciplined eye on building an audience, can grow revenue. Tony Hsieh may occasionally give away shoes through Twitter, but in doing so he's building loyalty for the brand that will result in additional sales in the future. Dell jumped on Twitter to broadcast closeout sales on product lines. The results reportedly have been $750,000 in sales.

4. Enhance customer service. Microblogging has three core communications components. Posts can be directed at the general audience following a user; they can also be directed at a particular user but read by the general audience. And, lastly, a user can be sent a direct message. The benefit for companies is that a vigilant employee can address a customer's request quickly, directly and personally and educate others following the feed. Comcast's Comcastcares feed on Twitter does precisely this.

5. Expand communications with stakeholders. Companies can use microblogging as a way to distribute short messages that direct readers via URLs to their Web site, blog or other Web sources offering larger chunks of information about the company or relevant news. My colleague Mike Spataro and I write regularly for our company's blog, VisInsights, and we use our company Twitter feed to call out recent posts or links that we think are significant to our story. It's a great way to talk directly to customers, partners, investors and other stakeholders.

While people may argue about which microblogging platform wins, it's really a side debate. The medium is here to stay: according to a recent study sponsored by the University of Maryland--Baltimore County, there are as many as 16,500 posts on Twitter an hour, while the number of Twitter users continues to grow beyond its current two-million mark (July 2008).

In its short existence, microblogging has proven itself to be a powerful platform for people to interact with each other and influence opinion, both positively and negatively. But to take best advantage of the medium, it's important to find a platform that channels the right conversations to the right subject-matter experts for action. Companies have an opportunity at this early stage to embrace the channel, expand their voice and build tighter relationships with their stakeholders ... not to mention stay on top of what the world is saying about them, in 140 characters or less.

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Yammering away!

This has been a fascinating week at the AHA. If you haven't noticed, Yammer is spreading like a rota virus through the AHA. Some of us have been twittering for a while so yammer is a natural step. It was getting hard twittering with so many colleagues but not being able to talk shop too much because the whole world was watching. Now we can share ideas, worries, opportunities and workloads instantaneously. I have a lot to share on this but today I want to start with a great reason Yammer can change the way we work, for the better, after the jump...

Get Expertise when you need it...
Friday, Sept. 12 4:45 p.m. already a couple dozen people are on Yammer after the first few invitations were sent by Kristi Miller, Stephanie Elsea and myself went out. At the end of the day I posted about a usability test I was working on. "I want to use recently diagnosed patients in a usability test of Americanheart.org any tips on recruiting them?" Within minutes I had input including contacts who could help me. If I had asked for a meeting, I would have scheduled it for a few days later, maybe I would have invited the right people, odds are bad that I could have gotten on their calendar, then I would wait for them to respond after making my case in the meeting. The responses might have pointed me to people who could point me to people. You get it, I'm sure. Yammer put me infront of the whole organization and the one's who had valuable input to offer could and the ones who didn't could ignore. I think Yammer has already saved me a week.

Join us https://www.yammer.com/home

Monday, September 8, 2008

Two Microblogging Articles in BusinessWeek

Business Week - Special Report September 6, 2008, 12:01AM EST

Getting Intimate (with Customers) on Twitter

Businesses should lose their inhibitions over using the microblogging tool to get closer to their customers

by Shel Israel

The Secret's Out

In fact, until social media came along it was not economically feasible to listen to a global base of customers. Blogging began to fix that. But it remained pretty much a dynamic of, "I talk. I pick the topics, and a few of you can respond."

Twitter is more like how people find themselves in real life. Sometimes I talk. Sometimes, when you feel like it, you talk. If we like what each other has to say, then our conversations may go to a deeper level. It's the same thing that's been happening on golf courses for many decades.

How Companies Use Twitter to Bolster Their Brands

Microblogging lets an airline, for instance, monitor customers' gripes—and tweet back. Is this a creepy trend?

by Rachael King

A growing number of companies are keeping track of what's said about their brands on Twitter. Comcast (CMCSA), Dell (DELL), General Motors (GM),H&R Block Block (HRB), Kodak (EK), and Whole Foods Market (WFMI) are among a handful of companies haunting Twitter to do everything from burnish brands to provide customer service. The attention to Twitter reflects the power of new social media tools in letting consumers shape public discussion over brands. "The real control of the brand has moved into the customer's hands, and technology has enabled that," says Lane Becker, president of Get Satisfaction, a Web site that draws together customers and companies to answer each other's questions and give feedback on products and services.

Friday, September 5, 2008

One more video - Watch Your Own Heart Attack

Kristi sent me this link from the British Heart Association. I love it. The tone is great for some of our audiences. Maybe as good as the phone sex spot. Taylor, can you post that for us?

Help a Bald Brother Out

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Twitter 101

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown New to Twitter? Not new, but still not sure what you are doing there? Check out @Pistachio, Laura Fitton, with a list of great posts about using Twitter.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

It's Not About Politics--It's About Mobile!

Has everyone been keeping up with what the Obama campaign is doing with mobile messaging? It should help us stop thinking that since we're just a poor little non-profit we can't afford to do these things (well, help stop me from thinking that).

So what all has his campaign done?

Of course, we all know about the VP announcement. And yes, we could do frequent updates/announcements/special offers (like Macy's offers) via text. But what else?

I went to the mobile section of his web site, where I found several cool things like wallpaper (do we have this? Could have a sassy red dress), ring tones (how great would it have been to have a kitschy message from Maria Osmond? Christian, you know you would have gotten it) and targeted text messages.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is all pretty cool.

I also got a text from them this weekend requesting that I donate $5 (Anu, you told me about the $5 campaign) for hurricane victims.

So what can we do? When we get our next Go Red spokesperson can we have them record little ringtones? Get that in their contracts? "This is Marie Osmond. Answer the call to love your heart today!"

FYI...Two big articles today

Hi there,

I just happened across these. They came up back to back in my Google reader where I receive news feeds. One mentions AHA, the other does not.

However, these would both offer great fodder for discussion among our professional members as well as a good chance to have a professional explain their significance to our lay communities. Once we have social networks for these constituents, I would encourage pushing these discussions.

Boston Scientific reports drug-coated stent data
Associated Press 09.02.08, 11:58 AM ET

Doctors say Vytorin-cancer link can't be ruled out
By MARIA CHENG – 1 hour ago

Thursday, August 28, 2008

ADA Compliance is the LAW

Image via Wikipedia Well, I just got this from our legal department. Accessibility isn't just nice, it is the law.

Settlement Over Target's Web Site Marks a Win for ADA Plaintiffs

Evan Hill
The Recorder
August 28, 2008

Resolving a lawsuit that caught the attention of online retailers across the United States, Target Corp. will pay out $6 million in damages and make its Web site fully accessible to blind customers as part of a class action settlement filed on Wednesday.

The National Federation of the Blind, which sued the Minneapolis-based corporation in 2006 in San Francisco federal court for maintaining a site that blind people said they couldn't use, will also be paid to oversee the changes and train the coders responsible for reprogramming the site.

Get the whole article here...

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

U.S. Mobile Usage Surges

Looks like we're finally catching up to those Euros!

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/digital/e3i98d12e6c6469f5821704010b742757ab

Studies show that, by the end of this month, the U.S. is poised to take the top spot for mobile Web usage.

Reasons for the change include better networks, cheaper plans, and better video and music reception.

Highest trafficked sites? News, sports and weather, with spikes seen during lunch breaks and rush hour.

So, now...how does this translate to US?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Blog Action Day 08

http://ping.fm/ntG1Z
Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Doctors Embracing Web 2.0?

This is very interesting…a potential trend? How will medical community embrace (or ignore) web 2.0 and new technologies to better serve their patients?

https://www.hellohealth.com/main/

Doctor probably isn't the first profession that comes to mind when one thinks of hipsters, but both media and fans have bestowed upon Williamsburg's Dr. Jay Parkinson the title of "hipster doctor". Dr. Parkinson first started making headlines earlier this year among the young and uninsured for not only making affordable housecalls, but also for providing follow up via text message, IM, email or video conference. His practice became so successful that he recognized a greater need for the type of plugged-in services he was offering and recently launched a franchise of his mobile medicine, called Hello Health. Perfect for the perennially uninsured perma-lance set, patients "become members for a Netflix-priced monthly fee and then pay a fee for service"; follow-up is available via a variety of digital communication means, and patients are encouraged to ask questions whenever they should arise. Two other doctors have joined Dr. Parkinson at Hello Health's first office (also in Williamsburg), and we expect other locations to open soon. (However, house calls are also still available.)

While much of the focus on emerging mobile technologies lies in the entertainment category, the practical functionalities of mobile tech should not be ignored, particularly in the healthcare area. With insurance coverage becoming elusive for many Americans, particularly among young people opting for the perma-lance lifestyle, we expect to see preventative healthcare and the technological tools that support it become a more mass behavioral trend

Sunday, August 24, 2008

National Conf on Health Communication, Marketing and Media

Great notes from the CDC National Conference on Health Communication Marketing and Media by Nedra Weinreich at Spare Change

Thanks Kristi for the link. There are some great concepts here to chase down:

Michael Rovito, Temple University - For the issue of testicular cancer, he used perceptual mapping to identify four different types of "control identities" related to locus of control (whether people believed control was external or internal) and constructs of whether control is realistic or unrealistic. The four types were: 1) The Fates - unrealistic external; 2) The Herd - realistic external; 3) The Optimals - realistic internal; and 4) The Manipulators - unrealistic internal. Clearly, different types of people need different kinds of messages tailored to their beliefs.

Sergey Sotnikov, CDC - By mapping out the relationships between either organizations or people within an organization, you can use network analysis to visualize the key points within the network. You can look at who is most connected overall, who are the go-betweens on specific topics, and who is more isolated. This can help you figure out the best way to spread information within a network.

Tons of interesting stuff there. Just the thing for loosening up a blocked mind. But more than that, this is exactly the kind of thinking we need to be involved with. What is the barrier? Too much reactionary type work? No budget to attend these kinds of conferences and therefore not network or share these ideas?

Obama's Power Of Mobile

From Kristi Miller,

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/08/23/MN2812GSC3.DTL

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, August 23, 2008 (SF Chronicle)

Obama's smart call: seeking cell phone numbers

Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer

Obamamaniacs breathlessly awaiting a text message with their candidate's

vice presidential choice might not realize it, but the shiny bait of being

among the first to know lured them into handing over something of real

value: their cell phone numbers.

Obama's use of text messages could be a political benchmark like Howard

Dean's use of the Internet as an organizing tool.

Obama's campaign has long collected cell phone numbers, said Mark

Blumenthal, editor and publisher of Pollster.com. The announcement Aug. 11

that Obama's choice would be released by text message to anyone who signed

up for it expanded that effort.

The immediate effect is to make people feel they are personally involved

in the vice presidential choice, said James Katz, director of the Center

for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University.

"This notion that there is sort of a mystery and the mystery is going to

be revealed ... is capturing some of that magic to get people involved in

a very personal way," Katz said.

That's powerful, said David All, a Republican consultant who blogs at

www.techrepublican.com. During a meeting with field representatives of one

of his clients, the College Republican National Committee, All said that

he asked how many had signed up to be notified of Obama's pick. About

one-fourth of those present raised a hand.

"These are die-hard Republicans, so you can imagine how many independents

and fence sitters are now signed up and waiting for Barack Obama," All

said.

And that, All said, leads to the larger point: Whatever buzz Obama is

creating now will fade once he reveals his choice for running mate, but

the collection of mobile phone numbers will be there for the campaign to

use.

"His opt-in e-mail list is 10 million large, which is tremendous," All

said. "And now he's probably got a million cell phones, which is

incredible."

An Obama spokeswoman declined to say how large the list of cell phone

numbers actually is, but outside experts said the database collected by

the campaign will be critical in a close race.

"People have given him a relatively personal and very direct means of

getting in touch with them. It's not a piece of information that exists in

other databases," said Michael Dimock, associate director at the Pew

Research Center.

Mobile phone messages can be effective, said Aaron Strauss, a doctoral

candidate at Princeton University whose research showed that

text-messaging an individual could increase that person's likelihood of

voting by four percentage points. And the cost is cheap - about $1.56 per

vote, versus about $67 per vote by direct mail. Text message fees are

partially paid by the recipients.

"You have to keep in mind that the most powerful social network people

hold is that 20 or 30 people in our phone we call the most often. Tapping

into that social network ... would be an incredible accomplishment, even

if it was just a half a million or a million people," Rosenberg said. "A

million people can then go out and reach another 20 or 30 million people."

GOP lags in online outreach

so blocked, I can't even find 140 characters worth of meaning. Think I'll rearrange my bookshelves. maybe that will open things up.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

o hai! now I can has ping.fm beta account. http://ping.fm. I am in your social grocking all yer networkz.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Social Media Marketing White Paper

http://www.bulldogsolutions.net/Hoovers/knowledgebase/whitepaper_A%20Guide%20to%20Marketing%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Social%20Media.pdf

“Brands don’t have to spend money to attract people; they just have to figure out how they

can add value to the existing conversations that are taking place online,” says Kim Gregson,

an assistant professor in communications at Ithaca College in New York.

…promoting your brand through social media requires

chucking out old marketing rules of thumb and adopting

new rules of engagement. Adages like “never let them see you

sweat” are mantras of yesterday.

“Marketers of old generations were taught to try to displease

as few people as possible…

…companies that aren’t willing

to put the personnel and time behind the effort should also

refrain from leveraging social media.

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

American Heart Association

National Center

214.706.1841 phone

214.706.5251 fax

Friday, August 15, 2008

Great Article on Resources

The most important part of a social-media strategy
Michael J. Puican August 11, 2008
Michael J. Puican

This is an exciting time for mission-based, nonprofit organizations thanks to the explosion in social media. Unlike e-commerce, which has been the huge Internet focus over the past 10 years, social networking is about connecting and getting involved, and not about buying and selling. Thanks to social media this is the perfect time for nonprofits to step up and ensure their mission is one that people are talking about.

So what is the best way to do this?

There is so much discussion about the mechanics of social networking: to blog or not to blog, MySpace vs. Facebook, creating videos for YouTube, etc. I want to focus on a crucial aspect that doesn't have anything to do with the technology. It is the human factor. Very practically, who will do this and how much time will it take?

The first thought is often to look for a young, energetic college intern since all young people are into social networking, right? But even if you find the perfect intern who is a Facebook/MySpace/Twitter wiz, you need to ask how well they will represent your organization.

Social networking requires interaction with other individuals, bloggers and organizations. It requires someone who knows your organization thoroughly and can represent it well.
The best candidate has a combination of these traits:
Knows and enjoys social media
Is tech savvy (but doesn't have to be a geek)
Knows your organization and is committed to its mission
Has a personable, outgoing writing style
That person may be a staff member or an involved volunteer, but it should be someone who is already involved in your organization.

The next question is how much time to allocate to the enterprise. Unlike working with your website, which may only involve responding to inquiries and thanking those who donate online, social networking is much more active. It requires getting involved and participating in the various discussions about the issues most important to your organization. As a result, it requires much more time.

Here are rough guidelines to begin your planning:
Two hours a day (10 hours a week): Post bulletins on your organization's sites, visit other sites and respond to postings on other sites.
Four hours a day (a half-time staff person): Establish a regular blog, become an active voice on the internet about the key issues involving your mission.
Eight hours a day (a full-time staff person): Now you are social networking. Create thoughtful dialogues about key issues, develop opportunities for volunteers to interact and become involved, lead e-advocacy campaigns, regularly interact with bloggers, thought leaders, media and key organizations.

Social networking can become a major new resource for your nonprofit. However, it requires a strategic commitment of resources to tap into it. If you can make that commitment, you will find an exciting, new opportunity to build awareness and significantly improve your base of volunteers and donors.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Cool Texting Campaign

Sharing some links to some great studies as well as the recent NY Time article about the new plan by the Obama campaign. If you haven't heard he will be announcing his choice for VP via text message to supporters. This enables the campaign to garner mobile numbers and mount a massive GOTV campaign as well as fundraising efforts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/opinion/13graff.html?ref=opinion

Studies on text messaging and the youth vote
http://www.newvotersproject.org/research/text-messaging
http://www.rockthevote.com/assets/publications/research/rtv_new_media_tactics-june-2008.pdf

Friday, August 8, 2008

Nokia - marketing campaign

Nokia - marketing campaign to promote a full-length movie created from clips that consumers shot with cell phones and submitted online to director Spike Lee…

Consumers were asked to shoot digital footage with a cell phone and submit the content with any combination of text, music, video or images to www.nokiaproductions.com. The completed movie will have four acts. Nokia chooses the top 25 submissions from each act, visitors vote for their favorite top 10, and Lee picks the winners from each to integrate into the final movie. Lee has been directing the collaboration digitally, guiding creative submissions throughout the production. Full Article:

Most films are made for the masses. This one is made by them. Join a production crew of thousands and play a part in creating Spike Lee and Nokia Productions’ latest film collaboration. http://www.nokiaproductions.com/film.php

Allison Harvey

Director, Donor Marketing & Development Initiatives

Friday, December 5, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Monday, November 17, 2008

Friday, November 14, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Monday, November 10, 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Friday, October 24, 2008

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Friday, October 3, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Monday, September 8, 2008

Businesses should lose their inhibitions over using the microblogging tool to get closer to their customers

The Secret's Out

Microblogging lets an airline, for instance, monitor customers' gripes—and tweet back. Is this a creepy trend?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Settlement Over Target's Web Site Marks a Win for ADA Plaintiffs

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Monday, August 18, 2008

Friday, August 15, 2008

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

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