ZUCKERBERG: The Musical!

Created by cdza, featuring Lora Lee Gayer, Tess Soltau, Ryah Nixon.

From a Boing Boing interview with  cdza co-founder Joe Sabia: "Essentially, the vision of putting Juilliard-trained, virtuoso, NYC-based, early 20-something musicians into one-take, medley driven musical experiments."

420 spaces to prove I'm still breathing.

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

Thanks to Belinda, a fellow Surfrider Foundation volunteer for sharing this with me today! This is Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg giving the 2011 Commencement Address at Barnard.

 

Facebook's Chris Hughes: "There's no Network to connect People who are working to Change the World. In 2010 that's Outrageous."

Can't wait to explore his new social network Jumo, which is built on Facebook Connect. More info about it here:

mashable on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Also can't wait to explore the rest of the videos from yesterday's Social Good Summit! Thanks to Sloane Berrent for letting me know about this!

Facebook runs on dirty coal. Just say no!

I received this email today from the Energy Action Coalition. In addition to the actions that Pete encourages you to take, please sign this petition.

Nicole,

Did you hear that Facebook just announced that they will be powering their data centers with dirty coal?

Facebook is building its own gigantic data center in Oregon. For the first time Facebook will have its own facility but unlike Google or Microsoft, which both built data centers in the same area running off hydroelectric power, Facebook’s facility will be powered by dirty coal sourced from an Idaho power plant.

Join this group to tell Facebook to run on renewable energy instead!

Facebook has become one of the essential tools that our generation uses to stay connected with friends, share memories, and take political action. Despite our generation's calls for a clean energy revolution, all of those pictures of you tabling, organizing events, and gathering petitions will sit on a server powered by coal.

Please also consider changing your profile picture to the image to the left (download it here). Facebook must get the message that the generation that uses its services the most feels that clean energy is critical to guarantee a safe and just future!




Cheers,

Pete Griffin
Campaign Director
Energy Action Coalition

P.S. Have Twitter? Please RT this tweet from one of our young organizers:
RT @energyaction #Facebook wants to run on dirty, toxic coal instead of clean energy? Hell NO! http://bit.ly/cCMnnD Pls RT! #NoCoalFB

Facebook block ahead of Iran vote hampers youth

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer - Sun May 24, 2009 5:24PM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran -

Iran's decision to block access to Facebook — less than three weeks before nationwide elections — drew sharp criticism Sunday from a reformist opposition hoping to mobilize the youth vote and unseat President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The decision, critics said, forces Iranians to rely on state-run media and other government sources ahead of the June 12 election.

It also appeared to be a direct strike at the youth vote that could pose challenges to Ahmadinejad's re-election bid.

More than half of Iran's population was born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and young voters make up a huge bloc — which helped former reformist President Mohammad Khatami to back-to-back victories in 1997 and 2001 but failed to rally strongly behind Ahmadinejad's opponent, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, four years ago.

Young voters are now strongly courted by the main reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, as the possible swing factor.

"Every single media outlet that is seen as competition for Ahmadinejad is at risk of being closed," said Shahab Tabatabaei, a top aide for Mousavi, the leading reformist candidate. "Placing limits on the competition is the top priority of the government."

Tabatabaei said the Facebook block was "a swift reaction" to a major pro-Mousavi rally Saturday in a Tehran sports stadium that included an appearance by Khatami and many young people waving green banners and scarves — the symbolic color of the Mousavi campaign.

Iranian authorities often block specific Web sites and blogs considered critical of the Islamic regime, but critics of the latest decision said the loss of Facebook — and possibly other Web sites popular with reformists — means Iranians must rely on the government for information.

"Facebook is one of the only independent sources that the Iranian youth could use to communicate," said Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a former vice president and now adviser to another pro-reform candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, a former parliament speaker.

During the last presidential race in 2005, information about rallies and campaign updates were sent by text message. In recent years, political blogs by Iranians in the country and abroad have grown sharply. Newcomers such as Twitter also are gaining in popularity.

Iranian officials did not comment on the reported block, but Facebook criticized the decision.

"We are disappointed to learn of reports that users in Iran may not have access to Facebook, especially at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions," Elizabeth Linder, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said in an e-mailed statement following questions from The Associated Press.

"It is always a shame when a country's cultural and political concerns lead to limits being placed on the opportunity for sharing and expression that the Internet provides," she wrote.

Linder said the company generally does not give out details on the number of users in a given country, and could not say how many members Facebook has in Iran.

Target uses Facebook to connect with Consumers & Give Back

Actress Rosie Perez poses with Bullseye the Target dog at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2007 Spirit Of Independence Award Ceremony Honoring Clint Eastwood.

Target is inviting consumers to help the company decide how to donate $3 million, as a part of the "Bullseye Gives" program.

For 2 weeks, Facebook users can go onto Target's "Bullseye Gives" Facebook Page, and vote for one of 10 charities pre-selected by Target. The number of votes each charity receives will determine how much money they receive from the $3 million allocated for the program.

The charities up for a piece of the donation are:

* American Red Cross
* National Park Foundation
* Breast Cancer Research Foundation
* Operation Gratitude
* Feeding America
* Parent Teacher Association
* HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute
* St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
* Kids in Need Foundation
* The Salvation Army

All votes and dollars allocated will be updated in real time on the Facebook page throughout the course of the contest.

Target will announce the final results on May 26th.

Target is also helping consumers connect with service and volunteer opportunities in their local communities through the Facebook page.

source: Target Lets Facebook Fans Dole Out $3 Million, Sustainable Life Media, May 11th, 2009.

ROI = Return on INVOLVEMENT

photo: Sea Garden.


I would have guessed this ...

According to new analysis from IPG Emerging Media Lab's team of digital experts, 6 of the top 10 most-trafficked websites in 2008 were community-based sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube.

About 75% of online community members said they use the internet to participate in communities related to social causes, with 40% participating at least monthly.

However, I was surprised to see this very awesome news ...

87% of community members report participating in social causes that are new to them since their involvement in online communities began.

Partly based on these findings, IPG concluded that the best way for brands to engage consumers is through cause marketing. However, Raquel Krouse, social media practice lead at IPG's Emerging Media Lab, said that using social networks for cause marketing purposes "has been a very tough nut to crack for marketers." But she also said that diverse forms of cause marketing are "becoming very successful."

In any case, it's worth a try. In the United States, IPG's Lab found that:
* 92% of consumers said they have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause.
* 87% of consumers said that when price and quality are equal, they are more likely to choose a brand associated with a cause.
* About 78% of consumers think it important for brands to involve themselves in worthy causes.
*Worldwide, 60% of consumers said that they don't buy from brands that they consider to be bad corporate citizens.

When measuring success in the social networks field, IPG Emerging Media Lab notes that cause marketers should use new benchmarks for success - "return on involvement", a brand's ability to generate "trusted referrals," consumers' interest in following a brand, and viral distribution.

source: Conventional Cause Marketing Evolves Via Social Media, MediaPost, by Gavin O'Malley, Sunday, March 15, 2009.

Facebook Marketing Considerations

Pace University's Lubin School of Business' Interactive and Direct Marketing Lab released a report in December 2008 that found -

Though 84% of Millennial internet users notice ads on social networks, only 19% find them relevant, and 36% claim they never to click on them.

The survey found Millennials join a brand group or fan page for the following reasons:

* Getting news or product updates (67%)
* Having access to promotions (64%)
* Viewing or downloading music or videos (41%)
* Submitting opinions (36%)
* Connecting with other consumers (33%)

Source: SocNet Ads Not Relevant to 81% of Millennials, www.marketingcharts.com, Mar 5-09

Viva la Pink Chaddis!

Newest Tools in India's Culture Wars: Facebook and Pink Underwear
How Digitally Savvy Indians Are Fighting the 'Talibanization' of Their Country
by Sourabh Mishra, Advertising Age, 02.12.09

The word "chaddi," which means underwear in a couple of Indian languages, has become a potent symbol of protest in its pink avatar by a section of young online Indians against what is increasingly being seen as the "Talibanization" of India.

Right-wing Hindu organizations have, over the last few years, taken on the role of moral authority, policing against what they perceive to be activities going against the grain of Indian and Hindu culture. This moral policing often takes on the form of vigilantism, which is a sure-fire recipe for media coverage. They typically target young couples in parks and beaches, and the smaller shops selling Valentine's Day-related merchandise. They physically intimidate these soft-target victims, usually after giving sufficient notice to the press and TV channels, to ensure that the cameras are there to put them in the news.

The latest such incident took place on Jan. 24. Hooligans claiming to be from a little known right-wing Hindu outfit called Shri Ram Sena attacked a pub in the coastal city of Mangalore and mercilessly beat up the young men and women spending a Saturday afternoon there.



The usual expressions of outrage happened with politicians and other similar creatures getting their own shot at instant media fame, giving their party-appropriate soundbites. And that would have been the end of it.

But the age of Facebook activism has now dawned. A bunch of agitated people, mainly women, created a group called "A Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women" and launched the "pink chaddi campaign," which exhorts everyone to send the Ram Sena a pink chaddi on Valentine's Day, "because chaddis are forever."

At the time of writing, it had about 8,000 members, increasing by the minute. The mainstream media has also picked this up, with the Times of India carrying the story on its front page. Another Facebook group based on this premise is "Kamasutra Day -- A Truly Indian Cultural Event."

The silent Indian minority seems to be finding a platform in Facebook to voice its opinion and it will be interesting to see if this becomes more than a passing fad. I am personally loving it and am hoping that this fringe activism soon metamorphoses into a full-blown movement.

Viva la Pink Chaddis!

Facebook Drama

Maybe Facebook Should Be Renamed About-Facebook
by Catharine P. Taylor , MediaPost's Social Media Insider e-newsletter
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

OH, BOY, HAS IT BEEN another fun week at Facebook. In case you never read back to the beginning of it all, earlier this month the company quietly changed its terms of service, to say that Facebook users were now granting "Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense)" to do whatever it wanted with anything they posted. (The story broke over the weekend because, thought it may take awhile, there are actually people who read terms of service.)

By early this morning, Facebook had, not surprisingly, reconsidered -- returning, temporarily, to its old TOS while it works on new ones. (Can't wait to see what the new ones are.). But, gee, it's pretty hard to figure out what the point of the whole go-around was in the first place. Before Facebook made this latest about-face (strangely reminiscent of other Facebook about-faces I could mention), Mark Zuckerberg was saying that, despite the new TOS, there was actually no change to the company ethos "that people own their information and control who they share it with ... " If Facebook was really planning on changing its TOS so that it had the rights to user content, what to make of that statement?

It's almost as though Facebook got hold of the standard freelance writer contract and slipped it into the TOS just to see if anyone would notice.

As all of us know by now, someone did. I saw one estimate that traffic to Consumerist's original post breaking the story reached 300,000, and another that that one post resulted in more than 750 news stories around the globe. This reminds me a bit of David Ogilvy, who once said, "The consumer is not a moron, she's your wife." I'd like to think that if D.O. were alive today he might add, "And she's got a megaphone."

You could wonder if, ironically enough, Facebook understands the power of its user base. But after this, the Beacon controversy of 2007 and the News Feed controversy of 2006, it's something worth pondering. I feel for Facebook execs in that users seem to blame the service if they stub their toes on a table leg on their way to logging on, but at least three such about-faces isn't just a trend, it's a degree of tone-deafness. Maybe this latest controversy happened because the voices of users are becoming white noise.

Fortunately, Zuckerberg says that as the company works to alter its TOS in coming weeks, "users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms." That's great, but it looks as though users are already giving their input.

I don't know if I've really broken any ground with this column, which is not something I care to admit. It's just that the change in terms of service and resulting backlash all seems so obvious, even without hindsight. There isn't anything here that any of us, or Facebook, shouldn't already have known.

Washington Post CEO Joins Facebook Board

Donald Graham, chairman and chief executive of the Washington Post Co., is joining Facebook's board of directors.

"Facebook has completely transformed how people interact by providing a compelling forum where millions and millions of people can connect and share," Graham said in a statement.

He joins Facebook's CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, Jim Breyer of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel Partners and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel on the board.

source: Washington Post CEO Joins Facebook Board, MediaPost, Tanya Irwin, 12/15/08

Mike Zuckerberg, 24, has been bringing in more experienced leaders as he tries to capitalize on Facebook's massive following. This year, he hired one of Google Inc.'s top executives, Sheryl Sandberg, as Facebook's chief operating officer.

Graham becomes the first chief executive from a company that belongs to the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index to join Facebook's board.

Washington Post's CEO since 1991, Graham runs a stable of media properties that includes Newsweek magazine.

"Don Graham understands how to build and manage an organization for the long term," Zuckerberg said.

source: Facebook's board connects with Washington Post CEO, The Associated Press, Thursday, December 11, 2008; 5:01 PM

www.Change.ORG -- social networking services for non-profits

Woah! If social networking for good interests you, too, then check out the services provided by company www.Change.org.

Non-profit organizations can contract Change.org to develop a personalized social networking page for the organization, hosted on www.Change.org. The company also provides custom widgets, which can be embedded into the organization's independently managed social networking pages like Myspace and Facebook.

According to the company's website, Change.org is different from other social networking sites because it engages an older audience (older donors), thereby providing organizations with a way to "post specific fundraising campaigns, update donors on the progress of projects they've funded, create online advocacy campaigns, and capture important data about supporters and donors."

Also according to the website, Other benefits include:
Brand Your Social Network: Change.org will design your social network to match your website.

Fundraise: Post fundraising campaigns, accept online donations, and enable supporters to create personal fundraising pages and widgets to benefit your organization. (All 501(c)(3) donations are processed by our partner, Network for Good)

Start e-advocacy Campaigns: Start viral email advocacy campaigns to lobby elected officials and business leaders. Your organization gets the e-mail address of each new supporter that participates in your e-advocacy campaigns! (View Example)

Recruit New Supporters: Send "Supporter Requests" to recruit new members from across the Change.org community and allow your supporters to invite their friends and family to join your social network on Change.org.

Capture Supporter and Donor Data: Download supporter and donor contact information into Excel spreadsheets that can be imported into your organization's main database of contacts and/or e-newsletter mailing list.

Build Community: Connect your supporters with one another and enable them to share stories, write testimonials about your work, and post photos and videos.

Personalize Your Communication: Inform and inspire your supporters through blogging and sending private messages to your top fundraisers and activists.
In addition to all the tools listed above, Change.org will provide you with free consulting on how to best build and utilize your social network on Change.org. This includes Change.org Best Practices and consultation on how to integrate your Change.org social network with other Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube!



Change.org team member Heather Mansfield owns her own company, DIOSA | Communications. Diosa specializes in Web 2.0 Marketing, Web 2.0 Trainings, Webinars, and MySpace Design for nonprofit organizations, higher education, and small businesses. DIOSA publishes a monthly e-newsletter that includes MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Change.org Best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations. To sign up to receive the e-newsletter, go to this site. The company's website also provides links to some interesting articles on this subject matter. Check out the myspace page that Heather manages, too. She's holding a webinar on December 16th for non-profits new to Myspace.

I was recently reminded of Change.org because I heard that they are hooking up with Myspace to collect the public's ideas for the Obama Administration. According to this San Francisco Chronicle article, "shortly before I-Day on Jan. 20, the MySpacers and Change.orgers will announce the top 10 ideas, say which nonprofit organization will sponsor it, will and send it to the appropriate member of Obama's Administration via the 119 million-member megaphone that is MySpace." Why break from Change.gov? Change.org says that Change.gov doesn't allow the public to communicate with Obama "in ways they had become accustomed to during the campaign."

To share your ideas for the Obama Administration, go here, or here.