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Posted by Cyndy Aleo-Carreira on July 21st, 2008
We've all seen the successes of Barack Obama's campaign fundraising and the mainstream media coverage of microlending services like Kiva, but there are tons of other places on the Web where social media is being utilized for more grassroots efforts.
One of the most visible efforts in this regard has to be the Frozen Pea Fund . In less than six months, the idea begun by Susan Reynolds and Connie Reece after Reynolds' cancer diagnosis has spread through Twitter, ooVoo, and now Second Life. I attended the BlogHer conference in Second Life this weekend, and was beyond shocked at the amount of non-profit efforts going on there. Coinciding with the conference was the fourth annual Relay for Life in Second Life, and by the time I attended the panel discussion on non-profits in Second Life, the relay had already raised over $165,000.
On a smaller scale, however, I've also seen efforts that are much more personal, from helping a family dealing with a medical crisis pay bills to contributing toward expenses that may seem out of reach for a typical family. One such effort I was happy to be just a tiny part of is Bags for Zaza. Jennie, the creator of Bags for Zaza, wanted to help her brother-in-law and sister-in-law with the huge expenses associated with their planned adoption. Modeling her efforts after yet another grassroots fundraising effort, the Darfur Project, Jennie began using her stash of fabric, much of it saved and recycled from other items, to make bags.
I was lucky enough to snag one of the Bags for Zaza before they got popular enough to be auctioned (the bags are now going for up to $150 last I checked!), and asked Jennie a few questions about her efforts and how they have been received:
How did you get started with Bags for Zaza?
Jennie: One day I started to get the idea that I, too, could make bags and that adopting Zaza was the perfect reason to do so. Before my Darfur Bag even arrived in the mail, I tentatively asked Joyce about a pattern for the bags and told her what I had in mind. She replied graciously and didn't say anything nasty like, "Um, you're a blog stalker and pirate; get lost." I was encouraged. When my bag arrived in the mail I saw that I could, indeed, simply make my own pattern. I then embarked on a journey into the dusty closets and corners of my home and started gathering all of my fabric into one handy location, my living room. I'm a terrible packrat and as I sorted through my finds, I projected that I could easily make 20 bags with the materials on hand (I realize now that I can make more than that). I made a pattern from my Darfur Bag with a few little modifications of my own. I sewed together 8 bags and built my blog site before I even mentioned the scheme to my in-laws. I told them what I was doing, then launched my site the next day. I sent out emails to friends and family and sold my first batch of bags within a couple days. In less than 4 weeks I reached my initial goal of raising $500. However, if you know anything about adoption expenses, you'll know that this is just a drop in the bucket. Gosh, I could go on forever, but I'll wrap up this little history by saying that my sister-in-law (Zaza's momma to be) is sewing up a storm now and other friends and family have also helped with the sewing. It looks like we're going to keep going on this until Zaza comes home. In a nutshell, inspiration for the scheme came from my desire to support Zaza's adoption in a substantial, but feasible way. And the Darfur Project certainly provided a great model to build on. Another family was raising money for their adoption by selling t-shirts. The project was called "Saving Dowensky" and I've certainly thought of them a lot through this. Of course, artistic inspiration also has come from the Darfur Project. However, I've discovered my own little inner artist and I enjoy sitting amongst my fabrics and just letting it come. What reactions have you received, both from family as well as people online? Reactions have been remarkable. As I said before, the family I'm doing this for had no idea what I was up to until I was pretty much on my way. They were surprised and have expressed their gratitude over and over again. Linda, Zaza's mamma-to-be, is now sewing bags for the project and has blogged about how therapeutic this has been for her; she's filling the time waiting for Zaza by doing something productive to bring her home (http://mysistersjar.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/new-auction-format-bfz/). My own family have been terrific. We're literally living amongst heaps of fabric, but my kids are always offering to help and everyone in the house has pitched in. Extended family members and friends have also been great - encouraging me, helping with sewing, and donating more fabric. I'm a new contributor to the blogging community (although I've been a regular reader of a handful of blogs for a year or so). The fact that it is a real community is such an amazing thing to see. People are so genuine and forthcoming. Real friendships are being formed and real support systems are being built. Our culture has driven us apart and isolated us. Women who use to find friendships and support while doing laundry at the creek together are now finding their community through blogging. "Laundry at the creek" might be a good name for a blog! Do you think that you have gotten a different reaction from the online community by offering something tangible in return for a donation rather than simply asking for money? I really have a problem with how fund raising is conducted in our culture. Running a race isn't going to cure cancer. I know it draws awareness, which in turn causes people to donate, but why can't we just donate without all the overhead? I did not want to ask people for money. I just can't imagine myself doing that in this situation; it's such a personal cause. I can't imagine people just handing me money so that someone they don't even know can adopt a child. This is ultimately about me donating my labour. The fact that I already possessed a truck full of fabric has enabled me to donate 100% of the purchase price towards Zaza's adoption — so satisfying. I am finally making some headway into reducing this ridiculous stash of fabric and really doing something I feel good about, something that has a tangible impact on the lives of people I love. Have you received any negative reactions? My mother has asked incredulously whether or not I'm spending any time with my family anymore. Which probably wasn't negative, but she sounded a little concerned. I made her a bag and she warmed up
. I sew in the middle of the chaos and hang out with my kids at the same time. They're great little helpers.
So far, absolutely nothing negative. I keep wondering if I'm doing something wrong, if someone is going to accuse me of something terrible, if I'm not suppose to use the blogging community in this way. But so far it's just positive positive positive.
I want to thank Jennie for her time with the interview, as well as for the bag, which goes with me everywhere. Not only do I get a lot of compliments on it, but it also starts a lot of conversations when I tell people where I got it and why. For those interested in getting their own bag, the side pocket fits an iPhone 3G perfectly, and I can fit my laptop in it easily as well for quick trips when I don't want to lug two bags along.
Check back tomorrow for Part II, when I talk about the negative side of grassroots fundraising online.
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Posted by Svetlana Gladkova on July 21st, 2008
Honestly, I was very intrigued when I saw the headline in Yahoo News - InfoWorld adds Twitter to its mobile options. It sounded like a big story to me - mainstream media adopting social media tools again, something we can't stop to admire and so we continue to give them credits whenever they step out of their usual patterns and get to play with out favorite toys.
So I hoped to see a big story there but was there one? Unfortunately no: it is simply a story of creating a new Twitter account. Yes, you've read it right: they have signed up for an account on Twitter (that you can now find here if you want to follow it). A whole Yahoo News story on the process of creating a new free account on Twitter.
What is the account intended for? The answer is more obvious than I even hoped for: they will broadcast their headlines to the followers. Fortunately, the intention is not to broadcast absolutely everything (it would have been too cluttered, obviously) - only the key articles hand-picked by editors. Well, they actually promise it can eventually become the place to connect readers with editors so that anyone could participate in the discussion around InfoWorld's content and even suggest ideas for new articles. The account seems to be active for a few days already (since July 15) and has sent its 4 followers (editors themselves, I suspect) a total of 9 updates. And even though they promise that editors will not only send headlines to followers but will add some personal observations on current events as well, right now it is headlines-only. And I really don't think such impersonal Twitter accounts can ever be successfully used to broadcast any personal observations so my bet is it will mostly be used to transmit the news hoping for users to spot the headlines on their cells in Twitter timelines.
But my question is: when a major newspaper or magazine or another traditional news outlet finally bothers to create an account on Twitter, does it really constitute news? I definitely don't think so - to me it now sounds similar to press releases describing that this or that media outlet offers RSS feeds for their news. It is too obvious already and it should not be such a big deal - instead I think they should be ashamed that this is not in place yet. So in place of publishing a whole story on this, I think it would have been perfectly enough for this type of publication to simply add "Follow our news on Twitter" button somewhere on the site - this would have ensured enough followers to give legs to their content anyway.
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Posted by Svetlana Gladkova on July 21st, 2008
Well, I think I can't keep my mouth shut about the redesigned Facebook now that I've spent half Monday clicking the refresh button on my home page and wishing for the new changes to arrive (and never getting them, unfortunately). Well, I mean I have received the new redesigned page and I do like the layout and the wider space I now have there. What I don't understand is why I only get some of the features that Techcrunch promises - I don't see any "combination of status updates, wall posts and news feed items into a single content stream". Which is disturbing because this is what I thought Facebook should have done months ago not to let us forget that we have bookmarklets to share items on Facebook (after all, if no one ever comments, what's the point in posting?). I still fail to see this exciting combination that Michael Arrington named "The Friendfeederization of Facebook" but I hope it is temporary as the new version is definitely far from stable - for example, it refused to allow me to access or edit my profile a few minutes ago so hopefully I still have to see the complete new version.
The continuous chase for updates today has been rather confusing to me - and I was aware of what I should expect and looked for the news with hunger. But imagine a user who is not all that deeply involved in day-to-day discussions of Facebook interface and just notices an article titled "Facebook gets a facelift to help users share" on Yahoo! News. I'm sure you will agree this is a pretty mainstream information source and this is how many average internet users get their news - not hunting for bits of information on blogs. Share? Sure, he wants to share, all his friends are on Facebook and he wants better sharing and more comments. So he notices the catchy title and instead of reading the entire post (really, he has no interest in reading lengthy articles describing interfaces of web services) he just rushes to Facebook website (probably bookmarked in his browser as well) just to see… no changes at all. So he heads back to the article to actually read it and see how exactly he gets to see the new interface. And again, nothing, because the article does not give the instructions to use http://www.new.facebook.com to be switched to the new layout. And I don't really believe the mainstream user will perform a search on Google to figure that out - most probably he will simply forget about it until forced to use it.
So my first concern: I don't understand why Facebook chose not to add a link somewhere in the old interface offering a user to try out a new design. Probably this is in the works and will be rolled out at a later stage but I do think it should be done not to confuse people and not to make them desperately search for more information if they don't get it from one source.
On to my personal impressions. In general, I like the new look and feel of the site with its cleaner interface. I think every blogger has mentioned the cleaner interface and it can not be argued that it is cleaner. Yes, Facebook apps developers are already unhappy about accessibility of apps which is obviously much worse now. On the other hand, average users must be happy since the applications are now called "boxes" which is exactly what they look like so why keep scaring them with the strange word. But at the same time the bad part is that they are so hard to find now that it has become very difficult for such a user to add new apps at all.
Yes, some of the things that have cluttered the homepage and user profiles have been removed. Yes, we now have tabs and we even can add tabs of our own to make them easier to reach. Sure, we have the menu that allows us to reach those same items in a very different way. But is it all good for users? I would not be so sure, really.
I think that the worst part about the redesign is that it clearly needs a tour or a walkthrough - I have spent quite a few minutes clicking various links to figure out where the items I expected to see were at all. The new design may be perfect from usability point of view but the problem with it is that it really is very different from the previous layout. And while there are people that always opt for something shiny and new, there are also people who get accustomed to clicking all the same links and they make it a daily habit. And if this habit is somehow damaged by making the user look for the right tab in the menu to be able to see the same items he expected to see, it may really be disturbing. I believe a few millions of people were absolutely happy about Facebook design - a proof is that they chose Facebook for their social networking activities and got used to it. Will they be happy about changing their Facebook patterns? I strongly doubt it. So maybe it would be a good idea to have the option to stick to the previous design for those unhappy users once the update is rolled out to everyone?
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Posted by Cyndy Aleo-Carreira on July 20th, 2008
Ah, Playboy. The American institution that's made a fortune based on the objectification of women has invaded the blogosphere in a way I didn't think they were capable of any longer. In an era when every possible permutation of porn is available at a mouse click, who'd have thought that Playboy, a publication that's considered by many to be about as racy as Marilyn Monroe's dress billowing over a grate, could still cause controversy?
It all started with a letter that went out to several female bloggers requesting photos for a feature that Playboy was planning featuring the "sexiest female bloggers." Various versions of the story exist, depending on which of those bloggers is talking about i, but the long story short is that they submitted photos, later discovering it was a popularity contest, with Playboy planning to ask the "winner" to pose nude for the magazine.
Several of the women in the poll have claimed they had no idea what they were getting into by submitting their photos, and at least one (Pop17's Sarah Austin) have since asked to be removed. I'm guessing at this point, many of them have discovered the downside of using every last method of gaining pageviews.
Playboy may have excellent articles, but its reputation has never been that of promoting women's intelligence over beauty, of professionalism over women as objects. Don't get me wrong; I fully support any woman's choice to pose for the magazine. But posing for the magazine takes ownership of what it's all about.
It's situations like this that make me very happy to be who I am. I'd never in a million years have been considered as part of any "sexiest bloggers" group, so I'd never in a million years have to make that kind of decision. I can, however, be reasonably sure that there is a line I'd never cross when it came to promoting myself. Being a woman in a male-dominated field is tough enough without using the "sex sells" mantra as a means of self-promotion. The Madonna-whore complex is alive and well in the tech universe. We can't be both. And based on many of the comments found on discussion of the Playboy feature, only those fitting into one of those roles will be taken seriously.
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Posted by Triston McIntyre on July 19th, 2008
I think there are a lot of people who still point at the divide between someone's "social" life — that being the life they possess as a member of internet-based communities and networks — and "real" social life, saying the void can't be crossed. While we might not be at the point where our two social lives overlap seamlessly, there is still a lot of value in developing tools for understanding and enhancing our social life in the physical world.
One such tool that I stumbled on today is Skydeck. Skydeck is a platform that aggregates all of your activity on your mobile handset, including your outgoing and incoming calls, your call times, and your text messages. From that information you can see how your different contacts stack up to one another in relation to the amount of time you spend communicating with them.
Another advantage to using Skydeck is that it logs all your activity online, so you can see how many calls you've made, how many text messages you've sent, and what kind of fees you are accruing. If you can't remember or find that particular number that called you, you can check your records on Skydeck and find the missing information.
Skydeck also functions as an advanced and feature-rich address book. Based on the aggregation of your calls and messages, your contacts will be ranked in order of importance to you. You can record how you know your friends, and from what I can see in the preview, by adding address information, you'll receive a Google Maps image of your friends' locations.
You can also search your calls and texts with the search functionality available in Skydeck. Skydeck is compatible with Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.
I applied immediately for a beta invite for this platform. I think a lot of people will be hesitant to adopt a platform like this because of the sensitive nature of the information being aggregated, but I think, considering the amount of time I spend using my mobile for various tasks, I could really use the features included with Skydeck.
If enough people were to adopt Skynet, I would really like to see a Skydeck community develop, where users can locate profiles of their friends and become friends on various internet-based social networks like Seesmic, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and whatever else people like to use. That would be a fantastic next step for Skynet to consider. Now can I please have an invite?
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