Continuing his bi-weekly appearance on the Digital Politics Radio show with Karen Jagoda, this past Tuesday Gary and Karen got into a lively discussion as to the best and worst practices, and users of Twitter and social media.

A few paraphrased highlights and the mp3 interview bellow. Next appearance: Tuesday, August 10th at 3:00pm EST.

Q:  At the state and local level, What are some of the interesting patterns you have seen?

• Twitter at the Mayoral Level:  Cory Booker of Newark, NJ: Very active presence, totally engaged, using  it as a way to interact, reach out, ask questions, communicate and be involved in a way you don't (normally) see. Most politicians, (being) risk adverse, tell people what they are doing that day, but are not really engaged on the issues, what people are doing, responding to criticism…
• Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco- From (Speaker Pelosi’s) constituency, has 200x as many followers. Antonio Villaraigosa- Mayor of Los Angeles: 21k followers, Mike Bloomberg, NYC: 22k, Richard Daley, Chicago, 2,400, Picking up the end, Mayor Adrian Fenty of Washington DC with less than 1,000. (Gary was being generous, as Mayor Fenty are 325 total followers- TG)

Twitter Followers:

• GB: When your looking at followers, we need to take it with a grain of salt. It’s like the when people based their success on websites and the simple idea of hits. So you have to figure of the million following Booker, they really can't (all) vote or (be) influential.. It is interesting how different folks have different levels of freedom, or feel comfortable using the medium…

Adoption of Twitter and Aversion of Risk:

• GB: You wouldn’t think of Arizona as being Twitter central, both Senators have it, in the House- all 7 members of Congress have it. Arkansas is good, California and Florida are about half. Kentucky is very interesting. (Besides) Rep. Brett Guthrie, nobody seems to be using it.

KJ: We do have the footnote of Rand Paul…

• GB: In the House of Representatives: Of those who Tweet, about 1/3 of Democrats do, and 55% of Republicans tweet, with an average following of 1,500. So when you see Rand Paul with 6,000 followers, that’s not bad, doesn't compare to someone like Sarah Palin.  (For a comprehensive listing, check out TweetCongress)

KJ: How important is a national following to some of these local campaigns?

• GB: It’s hard to pull apart in sense that you have to look at each individual follower to see if they are relevant, because with Twitter,  you can set up anonymous accounts, and a lot of these accounts are not credible or verifiable.
• KJ: What makes a good vs. bad presence?

  GB: One congressperson starts out his tweets with a quote from the scriptures, from the  Old or New Testament. There are some that just start everything with a verb: Stop by historical museum, great groundhog history, I am on TV tonight, etc… Eric Cantor uses it like Cory Booker. (Cantor) is not quite as engaged, but lets you know where he stands on issues, what's going on, some inside baseball, some policy stuff, whereas most use it like a contemporary email.

Other highlights:

The Dark Side of Twitter, Tweet Storms, Andrew Breitbart vs. Shirley Sherrod, NAACP vs. Tea Party…

Have you ever wondered how hierarchical traditional media organizations are finding their place in the new media world? The Bivings Report got to find out just that about PBS’s iconic NewsHour – a program that has been on the air for more than thirty years and whose follows span many generations. This event was a meetup sponsored by DC Media Makers (DCMM) and featured NewsHour’s media coordinator Kate Gardiner.

During the course of the DCMM-sponsored discussion held at the NPR headquarters, a media-savvy audience and Gardiner talked about everything from Facebook fan pages to their preferences for comment management systems on blogs. NewsHour’s unique demographics do not lend themselves perfectly well to the internet age, since the average age of their viewer is over 55. However, this creates an opportunity for Gardiner and her team of online and broadcast journalists to focus on winning over and retaining younger viewers.  The NewsHour program is now posting a larger quantity of online-only content and story exclusives in order to continue engaging with their fan base.

Some interesting statistics about NewsHour’s online outreach:

• Between all of the show and anchors’ Twitter accounts – a tweet is able to reach over 80,000 people
• NewsHour’s Facebook fan base is 60% male, and 40% female (the mathematic opposite of Facebook’s actual gender beak down)
• During the recent BP oil spill, the NewsHour website had more simultaneous viewers than the NewsHour  television broadcast
• Only 31 percent of PBS’s news traffic comes from web referrals
• The May 2010 NewsHour Gulf Leak Meter widget allowed users to estimate how much oil has been spilled into the Gulf Coast, and resulted in millions of page views to the NewsHour site

For Kate Gardiner’s own notes and discussions on the topic, see her blog post at –  http://posterous.kategardiner.com/a-summary-of-my-social-media-engagement-stati

Below is the video we took of various parts of the speech:

Let the onslaught begin.

Today Twitter unleashed their new “live-streaming” API, which enables users a totally new way to enjoy the micro-blogging service sweeping the world. For users who access twitter through the multi-account capable, user-friendly app Tweetdeck, there is a new API option called “User Streams” that is now in “a limited testing period”. Keep in mind: there are an estimated 3,000 tweets sent per second.

All the features of Twitter you know and love will now be streamed in real-time, including the user timeline (your main account), direct messages, retweets, new followers, favorites and even additions to lists. By taking these updates into real-time, Twitter is continuing to reach it’s full potential as an information delivery service. Now without refreshing, reloading or any action at all on the part of the user, you can watch Twitter flow like the beautiful river of information that it truly is.

Users hungry for the action can either pay $20 for a registered version of Echofon for Mac, or sign up for one of Tweetdeck’s preview releases. Until you get your hands on this to see it for yourself, there’s this blistering fast preview video  that will give you an impression of how exactly Twitter will be the newest and truest incarnation of the “real-time web”.

On Tuesday July 20th 2010, NDN hosted a speaker panel titled Advancing Internet Freedom: Tackling Barriers to the Global Free Flow of Information. This event featured Daniel Calingaert and Anita Ramasastry two prominent authorities on the topic of internet censorship and the power of online freedom of speech. During their presentations, both presenters discussed topics ranging from mobile economic opportunities abroad to further US government regulation of internet content.

The NDN forum touched heavily upon the groundwork laid by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s January 2010 speech on internet freedom that was lauded as the first of its kind for a foreign policy decision maker.   Clinton spoke about issues of international censorship over the press and individual media publishers, and warned about the “new information curtain” that is cutting off information to developing nations with totalitarian governments.

Both speakers at the “Advancing Internet Freedom” event discussed the role of domestic and foreign government in regulation and expansion of internet services – particularly as they relate to ordinary citizens.  Echoing Secretary Clinton’s remark that “the world’s information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it,” Anita Ramasastry discussed the importance advocating for oppressed peoples through greater access to technology and information.  Subsequently, Daniel Calingaert spoke about the rights of citizens and the importance of not accepting censorship in the name of political stability. Both speakers stressed the empowerment of citizens though the creation and sharing of content on social media and internet websites. 

I love the coupon site Groupon and happily subscribe to receive their DC deals via email.  However, at some point I accidently subscribed to receive updates on Chicago deals through one of my secondary email accounts.  This morning I got an email offering 50% off tickets to a Bon Jovi and Kid Rock concert in Chicago, and decided today was a good day to unsubscribe.  I clicked the unsubscribe option from the email and was immediately taken off the list and presented with this page. 

Naturally, I immediately clicked on the Punish Derrick link, launching a Flash movie in which Derrick gets a cup full of coffee thrown in his face.  At the end of the video, they ask me to resubscribe (see below).

 

This is really clever.  First, they make the unsubscribe process easy and entertaining.  Second and more importantly, they smartly try to reengage with me in an effort to get me to stay.  I was tempted to stay on the list to reward their cleverness, even though I have no use for Chicago deals.  Well done Groupon.  That’s how it is done.

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The London Times is one of the first major global newspapers to begin implementing an internet pay wall for access to its news and editorial content. This bold move by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is part of an overall strategy to move toward a paid online content distribution system, and is aimed at helping to turn a profit for the flailing newspaper publishing industry. Before the launch of this pay wall, The London Times had the 40th largest newspaper circulation in the world, and the results of  the profit-driven wall could be indicative of what the rest of the newspaper industry can expect to undergo in the coming years.

The paywall restriction went into full effect in early July 2010, and first reported subscriber figures look disappointing. Numbers of readers is down across the board, despite the newspaper’s effort to reach out to new readers. Access to the site currently costs 2£ per week – which is a substantial discount from the paper subscription price.  However, for the week ending July 10th, reports indicate that overall traffic fell to only 33% of its pr-pay wall level.  The Times supports both standard operating systems and the iPad OS, allowing readers with WiFi connections to read content on the go.

In an August 2006 research reports, The Bivings Group looked at the use of internet by America’s newspapers, and a great deal has changed in the four years since the findings were released.

What this means for The Future of Pay Walls

The pay wall is generating profit, but if page views exponentially decline, then the Times’ online ad revenue will undoubtedly suffer. A market leader in the United States, the Wall Street Journal runs a fiscally profitable pay wall, due in part to the fact that its site content is highly valued across the globe. The London Times may be encountering problems due to having no-cost substitutes Issues with low initial readership may be overcome if the newspaper’s other competitors institute similar pay walls and leave the reader no choice than to pay 2£ per week to read their favorite newspapers.

On July 13th, Gary Bivings, the President and founder of Bivings Group, appeared live on WS Radio  with host Karen Jagoda of the E Voter Institute.  This was Gary’s second turn as contributing editor on the Digital Politics radio show, and he discussed our firm’s engagement with social media and participation in DC Digital Capital Week 2010. The show’s theme centered on harnessing the mapping power of crowds to glean valuable data and spread information. Gary and Karen discussed how to best make sense of data points in a world where it becomes difficult to sort out important content from internet clutter and how visualization of data adds to our understanding of patterns and can reveal new solutions to old problems. Gary will be a regular contributor on the Digital Politics Internet radio show every other Tuesday. Listen live on Tuesday,July 27th at 3:00 pm EST.

DC Digital Capital Week lasted from June 11 to June 20th, 2010, and Gary and Karen touched upon the use of Twitter and the aggregating power of TwitterSlurp to disseminate seminar and presentation information quickly and effectively. The ten-day social media conference had over 5,800 registered participants and Gary spoke about the positive outcomes it had for the Bivings Group.

This is Gary’s second appearance on the show, and below is an excerpt on a discussion about Twitter’s power to transmit information at a conference like DC Digital Capital Week.

Gary: When people are talking about content, or particular authors and what they are saying. If the [tweets] are useful facts, then they have a higher probability to being re-tweeted. But it’s really hard to say what really makes someone re-tweetable, and what doesn’t.

Karen: With only 140 characters, there is not that much space to be creative. There are ways to enhance your tweets. Essentially what you’re talking about is being relevant and being authentic. Making it so that someone would want to continue to continue the dialogue with you — to tell their friends about you.

Gary: I think that’s exactly right. If you have something to say that adds to the conversation or that adds to what you are looking for at the moment; Or says something that is witty, different, fits right there, and fits into what is going on at the moment[ – then people will listen.]

Today at the Bivings Group we are happy to welcome Alla Goldman to the firm as our new Social Media & Client Services intern. Thank you again to all the other excellent applicants who applied. Below is a short note from Alla, who will soon be a frequent contributor to this blog.

-Tyler Gray,

Greetings Readers of the Bivings Report!

My name is Alla and I am the new Social Media intern here at The Bivings Group. My job will be to help clients with online social media interfacing as well as work on internet analysis projects. I will be working closely with Tyler Gray and will continue writing for this blog as well as other online media outlets. Originally from Phoenix, I have a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Political Science from the University of Arizona. I am also a fan of cupcakes, the band Weezer, blogging, and chick-lit.

Like many of my peers, I’ve been on the internet for as long as I can remember, and have been designing and coding websites since the sixth grade. My recent social media and marketing experience comes from serving on the board of directors of NACURH Inc, running a personal Tumblr blog, as well as working in legal PR at a law firm in the Phoenix area. I’m a lover of all things internet and social media: so you can often find me checking in on Foursquare, using Twitter, updating my Facebook status, writing a review for Yelp, or taking outfit pictures for Weardrobe. Having grown up online, I understand first-hand the impact that social media and online marketing can have on customers across the globe.

I could not be more excited to begin working as part of the Bivings team. If you have any questions find me on Twitter @allagoldman!

To some, Washington D.C. is “the problem” that needs to be “fixed.” For those of us who live or work in or around the District, the fact that whatever is happening at the White House or in Congress tends to overshadow everything else that is going on in or around can be somewhat frustrating. Regardless of whether or not you believe that Washington D.C. has an ‘image’ problem, when it comes to the work of local individuals, businesses and organizations in the realm of online communications and social media- D.C. is does not always getting the respect or recognition that many deserve.

Momentarily leaving aside the fact that LiLu has the most compelling blog, and is far more engaged with her fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook, during lunch yesterday afternoon I was surprised to learn that most of our local media outlets, blogs and influential personalities have not (as of yet) show our local candidate much love in regards to voting her up to the top of MTV’s list or helping her complete MTV’s various challenges! Thankfully, it is not too late- but it is crunch time!

Please consider taking a few minutes and voting for @LivitLuvit on Facebook, then invite your friends to  do the same! Although it is obviously a drag to allow American Express access to your info, you can of course revoke access at the end of the contest. If you have already done, or don’t want to do that, you can still help by simply re-tweeting @LivitLuvit ! MTV and Edelman have set up an interesting system to calculate the candidate’s reach and impact on Twitter called “TweetLevel.” (Although some clown I have never heard of called “Justin Bieber” has a lock on the overall #1 spot.)

Also right now for her 4th challenge, LiLu needs our help persuading celebrities to follow her on Twitter. (I am hoping the District’s own Wale Folarin will take up the cause!.)

Again, besides being the best candidate with an excellent understanding of online communications and social media tools, I think it is pretty obvious that having the first MTV Twitter Jockey hail from D.C. would be good for all of us in the area.

7/15/10 Updated: Thanks to all the applicants who have sent in resumes. We have received applications from several hundred candidates and this position is currently closed to new applicants. We will be finalizing our applicant pool and conducting follow up interviews this and next week. 

Are you a student or professional with an exceptionally strong understanding of the art and science behind online communications? Can you build a Facebook landing page, update a site built in Drupal and install Wordpress plugins? Have you used technology to make a meaningful difference for a business / non-profit / advocacy group or political campaign? Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit, customer service skills  and a strong independent work ethic? Meticulous attention to the details and intricacies of  Google Analytics? If the answers to all of the above are yes please consider joining our team!

Job Description:

• Intern will assist with the design, implementation and management of social media campaigns  for TBG clients as well as assisting with the management of The Bivings Group’s social media presences and contribute to our company blog.
• Intern should have excellent research and writing skills to contribute to our ongoing research studies on the impact of online communications technologies on the media, politics and public affairs.
• Intern will assist with website development and design tasks for the firm and our clients. Training will be provided, but some exposure to programming languages, Wordpress & Drupal is preferable. Intern will aid in The Bivings Group’s new business efforts. This involves proposal writing and routine attendance at various networking events. 

Rate: $15/ hour.
Hours: Part or Full Time
Duration: Preference will be given to current students who can start soon and commit to working full time now and part time throughout the remaining school year(s). Based on performance, there is an opportunity for full time employment after graduation. Read more about required skills and application instructions after the jump. Required Skills:

Expertise in social media (blogging, social networking, Twitter, Foursquare, etc.) and a general knowledge of public affairs and public relations. Knowledge of email marketing, best practices in advocacy and media monitoring. Interest in politics and prior campaign experience with candidates, non-profits or advocacy groups preferred.

Strong computers skills, expert in use of MS Office Suite. Knowledge of HTML including formatting blog postings and sending email. Familiarity with Google Analytics, Facebook Insights. Technical experience Wordpress & Drupal, video editing and software from Adobe CS4/5 strongly preferred. An advanced understanding of mobile technologies and possession of a smart-phone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android) is essential for success. .

Undergraduate or Graduate student perusing degrees in Communications / Public Relations, Government or a related field. (Excellent research and writing skills a must. (Graduates also welcome to apply.)

About The Bivings Group

The Bivings Group (TBG) is a Washington, DC-based Internet communications firm that develops cutting edge web programs for corporations, trade associations, advocacy groups, political candidates and non-profits.  As an early proponent of the Internet as communications platform, TBG is one of the few firms with over a 13 year history of achievement in the field of online communications. The Bivings Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse workforce. Please, no phone calls.

 
Last Friday I was fortunate to spend 30 minutes talking with Jack Dorsey, who in addition to co-founding Twitter recently launched a product & service called Square. As an electronic device, Square is a mobile credit card reader that plugs into the audio port of compatible smart phones and laptops. As a service, Square is a downloadable application that verifies sellers and provides buyers a measure of security about the transaction itself. From small businesses to political campaigns, the potential applications for Square are virtually unlimited.

A few highlights and then the interview after the jump. Also strongly recommended: Friday Coffee with Square on Ustream

1. Why we were better off without Twitter on September 11th 2001: “One thing I was really inspired by after 9/11, especially in NYC is how people gathered and really sought each other out face to face…. My concern with relying on the technology would be that it would potentially abstract some of that humanness, and make it a little bit easier not to go out in the streets and not to go out meet your neighbors and really support each other.”

2. What Wired.com Got Wrong: No PayPal v. Square Deathmatch: “We want to be completely payment network agnostic, so if you're really comfortable using PayPal and you want to pay (or receive) with it… but you still want the Square front end experience, that is something we would be interested in implementing and maintaining."
   
   
3. Top Politicos on Twitter: Barham Salih,  Cory Booker,  Mike Bloomberg,  Francis Slay.

4. Why ‘Social Media Experts’ using Auto-Follow Services Have No Souls: While Jack was more diplomatic in his phrasing, if you're doing something against the "fundamental spirit of the technology,” for me, that is red flag. That is not to say paid advertising of an organizations account is a bad idea, but the whole idea of paying for followers / friends is somewhat repugnant: “I think any sort of automation or any sort of aspect like that really takes away from the spirit of the technology which is to really share what you think, what your experiencing, what is happening around you. I think there is a lot of people in the social media space that are trying to consult against that, and I am fully supportive or that.”

5. Advice for Entrepreneurs: Communicate, Build Something People Need:  In response to a question about production delays and software issues, Jack said his biggest challenge since starting Square has been: “Communicating in the right way what is actually out there today, what works and what still needs some work” In regards to supply problems with Square, I asked Jack if he had considered domestic supplies  “The only reason we picked China is because we could not find anyone in the U.S. to do it…”

Q1: Can you tell us about inspiration for starting Square- Biggest challenge or unexpected surprise?

"The whole thing has been rather challenging because it is a new industry, something we are learning, and not just learning but learning how to simplify. That has been the biggest challenge. There is a lot of complexity in this industry and when we remove a bit of it, some more just pops up. Our focus is to build an experience that hides all that complexity or does away with it in some way. That has been a challenge to first of all recognize (the complexity)  where it is and then get rid of it. There has not been any one particular thing that has really been challenging, it has been all of it."

Q2: Square is available for Apple and Android Devices. Is there something the mobile phone services providers or manufactures could do to make things easier for developers?

“It seems all the platforms are doing their best to make it easy, in particular Windows and Blackberry. They are right in the middle of a transition, they're reworking their API, their SDK to make it easy to address all their hardware platforms instead of having to program for each one. I think it will take some time to get there, but it is something we are definitely excited to participate in once they do get there.”

Q3: You outsourced the manufacturing of Square, if you had to do it again, would a domestic supplier been able to meet demand for the cost and what you needed, or was China still the best way to go?

“The only reason we picked China is because we could not find anyone in the U.S. to do it. There are very few people who make things anymore in this country, especially small electronics like that. We actually went out and tried for many months to find people in the United States to do it. Not really even considering the cost aspect, but we couldn't find it. If we do find it, we would still love to turn that on in the U.S. We just could not find anyone who could meet the demands. “

Q4: You recently sent email to Square users apologizing and explaining the delays in hardware and transaction limits. What has been the overall tone of the response been like?

"It has actually been really constructive. We do have a lot of people who are frustrated with the amount of time it has taken. And I think a lot of that is just our fault in terms of communicating in the right way what is actually out there today, what works and what still needs some work. So that’s definitely been a challenge, but I think what we learn in all these things is that as long as you are talking to people, it minimizes a lot of the frustrations and the issues. So were just intending to do a lot more talking to people and making sure that everyone has a sense of where we are with our application and with the service and what that means for everyone."

Q5: PayPal recently introduced an updated application allowing iPhone users to fist bump payments. Can you talk about what sets Square apart from that as well as past and future mobile credit card processing tools?

"In order to do the bump technology with PayPal, it does require a PayPal account, and there are a number of people who have PayPal accounts and that is definitely a clever way to go about transferring money, but it is just not our focus. Our focus is really speaking to that 90% of what people are using, they're using plastic cards. Our intention is to turn on that other side and really enable those face to face transactions with devices that everyone has in their pocket. So we see ourselves a little bit differently in that light because we do not require any sort of account to actually pay someone. You just use the plastic card in your pocket. And that is really our focus. At the same time, we want to be completely payment network agnostic, so if your really comfortable using PayPal and you want to pay with it, or you want to receive payments through PayPal, but you still want the Square front end experience, that is something we would be interested in implementing and maintaining."

Q6:  Act Blue allows you to donate to their candidates with a specifically phrased Tweet. There is a Facebook application called “SquareUp with PayPal” that is geared for collecting money for Facebook events. Any plans for integrating Square with Facebook, Twitter or YouTube? 

"Right now were focused purely on the face to face interactions. Once you start getting more into the Internet and virtual interactions you start to lose more identity. We want to make sure that we get the face to face stuff right, because 90% of commerce is still offline, only 10% of it has moved online and we want to address that 90%. There are definitely models on how to extend that to the online and there are obvious integration points, but we are talking this bit first."

Q7: What are your thoughts on politicians use of Twitter? Is it something that is more effective on the state or local level where the representatives themselves actually respond and engage or is there a politician you know who is doing it very well?

"I am really fascinated by this usage, and I love to see it. I went over to Baghdad with the State Department in March of last year and we managed to get the Deputy Prime Minister (Barham Salih) on Twitter and his usage of it was really, really inspiring. It was very frank, it was very direct and it was very transparent and it was him directly. I think in terms of other politicians in the U.S., I am most impressed with three Mayors: Cory Booker of Newark, who has really taken to all these technologies, including Twitter to talk about the issues that his city is facing. He is a champion, he is out at 3am on police beats, walking the streets, reporting. And most importantly, he is replying to people, and he is replying to people in real time that communicate with him… He has been awesome. Mayor Mike Bloomberg has also gotten into it a lot more. He used it very heavily during his campaign run and has started back up in using it during in day to day, which I am really excited to see. For a city like New York it just creates a lot more transparency and connection to, someone who is often removed from the normal citizen's particular day to day, so now he is a lot more approachable and accessible. In my hometown of St. Louis Missouri, Mayor Slay has been using the technology extremely effectively. He has really funny and clever Tweets, but he also really engages the St. Louis community and replies real time. (He is) using it as a way to point out very interesting things about St. Louis that normally people might look over.

Q8: Earlier this month at the Personal Democracy Forum, there was some speculation about the impact of Twitter if it had been around on September 11th. I recall you mentioning that there might be some instances where instant communication like that might be a negative, so I was wondering if you had any follow up thoughts.

“It’s a really good question, and I honestly don't know what effect Twitter would have in that situation, if any. My particular worry, is that the one thing I was really inspired by after 9/11, especially in NYC is how people gathered and really sought each other out face to face. People were just walking the streets and it really united the city in a way no other event has ever done. My concern with relying on the technology would be that it would potentially abstract some of that humanness, and kind of make it a little bit easier not to go out in the streets and not to go out meet your neighbors and really support each other. I think that was a defining moment for NY, New Yorkers and thereby rest of the nation. That would be my only concern in introducing a technology like that…. Certainly technologies were used at that time, IM was huge, and we definitely had cell phones, but I think the most important thing in that situation is that people left their technologies and really focused on their face to face interaction.”

Q9: Is there a particularly surprising or innovative use of Twitter you have seen? Any thoughts on self described ‘gurus’ or social networking ‘experts’ using automated tools to follow tons of people?

“I am surprised everyday on how people use Twitter. There is a different account that springs to my attention on a daily basis. I have a rotating set of favorites but on the latter point, I think any sort of automation or any sort of aspect like that really takes away from the spirit of the technology which is to really share what you think, what your experiencing, what is happening around you, and when we get into more and more automation we get back to these abstractions that Twitter effectively removes. So I don't really appreciate that sort of automation. I think there is a lot of people in the social media space that are trying to consult against that, and I am fully supportive or that. And being more of an effective communicator, using the technology, using the constraints, but it changes on a daily basis.

Q10: What is the best Twitter analytics tool for tracking reach or ranking users?

“I think it is wide open right now, I can't say I have spent a lot of time looking at firms doing that just yet, I think there is something there and it needs to be done. I don’t know who is the strongest at the moment or even what they are looking at, I think it is one of the most fascinating things of Twitter is getting an understanding of reach. There is a lot of work there and it is going to be coming from a lot of different folks. Not just one in particular, so I am excited to see what people come up with."

Social media may dominate the conversation when it comes to Web 2.0, but there is untapped potential seen by corporations and organizations, who are left asking: how can I use this to raise funds? There are several websites now aiming to combine the powerful networking capability of social media and the fundraising capabilities of independent web sites. These sites enable individuals and organizations to reach their donors directly at little or no cost, giving them an alternative to mailed-in donations of years past. Through online fundraising sites, individuals have the power to not only support their favorite causes, but to spread the word about them virally.

One of the first major players in online fundraising, Globalgiving.com has led the charge in online giving since 2004, gathering “$18 million in funding to more than 1,000 grassroots projects in over 90 countries”. Organizations can post projects to the site such as “Nurture 15 at-risk children for a year” or “Make college an option for 70 Congolese students”. Globalgiving, founded by former World Bank executives, takes a 15% share of every donation to cover the costs of finding projects and credit card processing. They also provide a giving channel for large corporations such as Nike, Ford and HP.

Offering a more personal version of giving online, and with a similarly long track record in online fundraising sector is stayclassy.org. With a simple premise, “What do you care about?”, the site is a platform for groups and individuals to create events and campaigns, manage donor relationships, raise funds, create publicity through social media and track fundraising results. Founded in 2006, stayclassy.org was one of the first personal online fundraising options and had 20,000 members by 2009.

One of the newest online fundraising options is Crowdrise, led and supported by celebrities such as Edward Norton and Will Ferrell, oddly enough. It works like this: you sign up on the site, and start a project. It could be anything, from a personal cause fundraiser, to an event, or a volunteer opportunity. You then use other social media sites like facebook or twitter to gather donations or volunteers, and then spread your cause through your page on Crowdrise to gather supporters that can either donate to your cause or use their own networks to spread the word The site is focused around making philanthropy cool, with the tagline: “If you don’t give back, no one will like you” and a points system that rewards project leaders with gifts like Northface Jackets and Apple laptops.

Sites such as these are only one way the Internet is fundamentally changing personal giving. Stay updated on how other forms of social media are shifing the definition of philanthropy and the nature of fundraising with the Bivings Report’s “Fundraising 2.0” series.

Non-profits and political advocacy groups, while some of the most people-powered and well-supported organizations around, are not necessarily known for being early adopters of web-based tools. Although they are based in interaction with people and causes, the true driving force of organizations such as these always has been and always will be their ability to fundraise. So now that the internet has fully changed the way everyday people communicate, interact and represent themselves, how can it change the way organizations raise funds for causes people actually care about? New media advocates say social media should be a two-way street: content from the organization itself, and input from their users. Now, however, a third avenue of use for social media is opening: Connection between non-profit groups, the people supporting them, and the donations providing their bread and butter. In this space in upcoming weeks, the Bivings Report will offer a comprehensive look at how social media and the changing online landscape can impact the fundraising process. With installments focused on the use of different social media platforms, online fundraising web-sites and what your organization’s use of these could be, we here at the Bivings Report hope to offer an in-depth look at how the next step in the internet can give your organization a leg up when it comes to raising money. 

Although social media dominates the conversation when it comes to Web 2.0 innovations, there is untapped potential that is still holding back wide-spread use by corporations and organizations, who are left asking: how can I use this to make money? Social media can be used to build an extensive fan-base and communicate with huge groups of people, but can it be harnessed for fund-raising? The much-discussed next step in social media is the ability for applications to raise money through the numerous and wide-ranging demographics accessed through them, and several websites are now stepping up to make the first moves.

Actor Edward Norton may seem like an unlikely candidate to join the movement, but his site CrowdRise is one of the newest to try. It works like this: you sign up on the site, and start a project. It could be anything, from a personal cause fundraiser, to an event, or a volunteer opportunity. You then use other social media sites like facebook or twitter to gather donations or volunteers, and then spread your cause through your page on Crowdrise to gather supporters that can either donate to your cause or use their own networks to spread the word. You can then use Crowdrise to keep all of your supporters updated on your cause and thank them.  The site is focused around making philanthropy cool, with the tagline: "If you don't give back, no one will like you" and a points system that rewards project leaders. The site seems to be off to a great start, with strong projects and continuing publicity.

A similar site without celebrity support but with a longer track record in the burgeoning social media fundraising sector is stayclassy.org .  With a simple premise, "What do you care about?", the site is a resource for non-profits looking for a social fundraising avenue and, more importantly, results. A platform for groups to create events and campaigns, manage donor relationships, fundraise through social media and track fundraising results, stayclassy.org was founded in 2006 and had 20,000 members by 2009. With events going on and representatives in cities around the U.S, stayclassy.org seems to be the current leader in social fundraising for non-profits, which, as the site mentions, there are 1.5 million of in the U.S alone, all dependent on fundraising to do their work.

The key element of social fundraising is the "social" aspect of it. Supposedly, this "fundraising 2.0" is based in the now-prevalent world of social media and the networks we all inhabit everyday. Jeff Pulver, technology anthropologist and founder of the #140 conference, recently announced his newest venture, JustCoz.org , which puts a new twist on fundraising through social media. He told the crowd during his "The State of Now" presentation during Media 2.0 day that individual voices are the most powerful part of the new "real-time" internet. Now, rather than donating money or time, you can give an organization your social network by "donating a tweet" through JustCoz.org. By spreading the word about the organizations' cause, you can help them access more people and more donations.

Wednesday at DC Week featured three related, but distinct interpretations of measuring ROI when it comes to Social Media. First up was “Social Media ROI” as presented by Carie Lewis from the Humane Society, Danielle Brigida of the National Wildlife Federation and moderated by Allyson Kapin of the Rad Campaign.

As Carrie put it in a Tweet to Jordan, “@jordanv i’m thinking our #dcweek panel titles should have been switched!” This is correct. Although there was some good general strategic advice, this panel did not delve too deeply into ROI. (Carrie also deserves credit for replying to answering questions from the audience during her panel.) Overall, if you were looking for a basic strategic outline of how to manage social media for your organization, the Humane Society has a great model form which to start as well as several solid takeaways to do right now:

         Strategy                                                                              Takeaways

Be where the (your) people are   Start by deciding on one network.
Find your constituents and  focus on building it Stay on top of latest trends (Mashable)   Implement a tracking system. A fancy CMS is great, but Google Analytics will do. Research opportunities   Take advantage of Google Grants Take an integrated Approach   Set up Google and Tweetbeep Alerts Measure everything   Find Influencers. Consider offering Incentives Executive participation. (From your org.)   Replicate all Events on Facebook, Twitter. Listen (Actually this is the first step)   Use Addthis.com to make everything shareable No Fear to Fail. Learn from mistakes   Make social networking presence media driven: Flickr photos, videos, Great text alone isn’t enough!

Second up was “Getting Strategic With Social Media” presented by Jordan Viator of Convio, Wendy Harman of the Red Cross and Jaime-Alexis Fowler of Pathfinder. If you are looking for an excellent outline of what to measure, Jordan’s presentation is highly recommended. However what was not included in her presentation, is for me what is the essence of ROI in social media is- What does it all mean? My point here is not that Jordan left anything out, but that each organization needs to assign their own custom values to the metrics outlined bellow. If your a locally focused non-profit, it is probably unrealistic to expect a lot of growth in your Twitter following or maybe even Facebook fans. In these cases, perhaps creating a custom Ning network to concentrate your supporters and focus their advocacy makes sense. Not every organization needs thousands of fans, followers or supporters to be successful.

 

The keynotes, by Cammie Croft, Senior Advisor and New Media Director at the Department of Energy and Charlene Li, Founder of Altimeter Group, co-author of the acclaimed book "Groundswell" and author of the new book "Open Leadership” both addressed ROI in social media from two different but complementary perspectives. One surprising fact mentioned by Cammie was that a major hurdle to embracing social media was first obtaining an exemption from the Paperwork Reduction Act, which prior to being amended by OMB, had the unintended consequence of  discouraging agencies from using social media due to the act’s requirement that agencies normally have to obtain a control number from OMB on all forms that solicit information from the public and impose a paperwork burden. The progress of Open Government initiatives across government agencies is available on the White House’s website.

Addressing the topic of what ROI in Social Media means was Charlene Li, whose open source research at the Altimeter Group is a must read for anyone doing social media. What struck me the most, and generated a significant amount of Twitter traffic was her comment that the most important aspect of social media, namely the strength and quality of relationships may be impossible to calculate, because it is potentially infinite. For instance, can you put a number on the public’s faith in government? Can you measure the ROI of a handshake or the time spent attending a conference like Digital Capital Week? While some aspect of ROI in these cases may be quantifiable, the total value is essentially infinite, and therefore unquantifiable. Charlene’s discussion on these points begins around the 25 minute mark. Alexander Howard, the Government 2.0 Washington Correspondent of O’Reilly Media has an excellent article highlighting the best panels on technological innovation in D.C.

 

This is an excellent, perhaps even epic video recap of the action at Social Media and Gov 2.0 Day at Digital Capital Week. Featuring appearances by your truly as well as fellow Bivings Group staffer Eric Lewis who also graces the thumbnail bellow. Thanks to Corrie Davidson from Captico for including us as well as for her excellent coverage on Twitter.

Check out this excellent video roundup of participants and attendees at this year’s Digital Capital Week. Featuring interviews with Tyler Gray and Eric Lewis of The Bivings Group and put together by Corrie from Captico, the video captures moments from Social Media and Gov day as well as Media 2.0 day.

With one of the only standing-room only attendance levels of the day, the "Is There Really An App For That? Non-Profits and Social Media" panel was highly anticipated to be one of the most informative and interesting discussions of the Advocacy 2.0 day. Moderator Brian Reich assured the crowd that they were in for an active discussion and a strong brainstorming session, and that he was setting out to make it "not just another boring panel". With some of the largest and most successful non-profits represented on the panel, attendees were anxious to hear advice from the masters, including Tammy Gordon from AARP, Wendy Harman from the Red Cross, and Allison McQuade of Global Giving.

Harman and Gordon agreed on one central point: the people that support your organization through social media should be treated as just that; people, and not "bottlecaps to be collected" as Harman said. Their input can be especially effective in times of crises: "Listen to what people expect organizations to do in crises" she noted, "and then make sure to meet those expectations." Tammy Gordon spoke extensively about the relationship between the organization and the supporter, noting that it is important to "establish social media guidelines: be transparent, responsible, non-partisan, trained and responsive" in your social media activity. When organizations wonder who to talk to and how, she tells them: "Talk to people you know. Talk to people you want to know. And talk to people you don’t know that are talking about what you are."  Alison McQuade told panel attendees that they shouldn’t try and think of their donors as only source of financial support. "Donors are great," she said. "But what do you do when your donors are tapped out?" This is exactly the situation in which she would tell an organization to take control of their donors through social media.  Your supporters are your greatest tool, she said, and there are "lots of other ways to engage them; everyone has different talents and it’s up to you to get it out of them."

Brian Reich did more than simply moderate the panel and actually offered some of the most compelling advice of the day. When it comes to content, he said "Anything can become  good content; your job is to take the content and place it in a context for your audience." He also had one of the most re-tweeted phrases of the day, which is oftentimes all too true: "The biggest challenge with organizations and social media is that they are run by people uncomfortable with social media" But, he added: "Often, there are people in the organization that can more than handle it." The panel itself was one of the most tweeted-about of the day, with people such as @riaglo tweeting:  "In panel led by @wharman, @floridagirlindc, @akmcquade, @brianreich- fast paced soc media coaching by the best practitioners."

When it comes to non-profits and social media, the final question always remains: how can I use these applications and platforms to actually increase donations? How can I use these to make money? The answer, many have said lately, is to turn to mobile fundraising. DC Week 2010 covered this topic with a "Mobile Fundraising and Advocacy" panel. With Arlene Remick from textforbaby.org and Ken Eisner of OneEconomy , along with David Hoover , the director of Government Affairs for The Wireless Association , the topic of mobile fundraising and advocacy was covered from all sides.

Textforbaby.org is a prime example of how mobile phones can be used to transmit information to a very specific demographic with a specific purpose. In the case of Arlene Remick and textforbaby, that group is pregnant and new mothers and the information that is sent out is infant health alerts, specifically to low-income and non-online mothers. The key, she said, to effective mobile non-profit action is "quick response, which is essential, and communicating active and true information. People in the U.S sent  1 trillion text messages a year in 2008-this is an area of social activity that is continuing to be tapped for fundraising.   She mentioned that the work of David Hoover with the CTIA to connect textforbaby.org with all cell phone carriers was a massive step for them, and that connection with cell phone carriers would be necessary  to success for any mobile fundraising effort.

Ken Eisner was one of the founders of Boost Mobile and has had a hand in several mobile ventures over recent years.  Now, he is working to integrate wi-fi into low-income public housing and pursue broadband adoption into more American homes. He remarked that "With mobile fundraising, the cause has to be strong and topical, and the backing of carriers is essential."  The panel focused on a key building block of all social media action, the interaction between the content and the audience. Especially when it comes to mobile fundraising, Eisner noted, "Make sure that you’ve thought out how to stimulate the audience and not just make a campaign."

The Advocacy 2.0 day of Digital Capital Week started with a fascinating panel on how technology is impacting grassroots communications. The conversation centered around the use of social media and internet technology for political campaigns and non-profit organizations.

Mediator Brandon Macsata started the discussion with a key issue, stating "One of the biggest mistakes non-profits make with social media is that they don’t know how to prioritize."  He stressed the importance of using social media for advertising versus using social media for marketing. "With advertising, you give up credibility" he noted. "Marketing, you don’t control the message but you do get credibility with press." This control of the message was a main focus of the panel.  Clyde Ensslin from Marketing Through New Media remarked that "tone and feel are important to social media, and not just follower or friend count." He instead advised the retention of a focused narrative in your content-"You have to tell a story, and you have to connect to people" he said.

The other main discussion of the panel focused around the topic of the day, the changing nature of political advocacy. Rikki Amos , the Associate Director of Political Involvement for the Public Affairs Council added a voice directly involved with advocacy. She remarked that "social media is as much a mind set as it is a skill set", and that non-profits need to make sure their content producers (their members) are in the mindset.  Her advice to organizations-"identify key influentials, find out where they are, and promote their content".  Through this cycle, the organization’s content gets shared by influentials that receive distribution themselves from the organization.

Finally, Debra Ruh of TecAccess provided a key voice to the panel: a director of a non-profit, who is trying to tailor advocacy for her interests. "Rather than going after conversation leaders", she advised, "become a leader yourself. Create the conversation." When the conversation turned to whether or not to hire professional help, she was strongly in support of getting outside assistance. "This is the time" she noted.