Will I see you here…? or Here?

Hello Readers,

I don’t like to do this, but here is an update on me, in the hopes of being able to connect with some of you –> offline. This fall will be a busy time for SocialButterfly! If you will be at any of these events, be sure to let me know, so that we can connect!

Events

Sept. 6: American Independent Writers Workshop, George Mason University

• Presenting in a panel about using social media and social networks for writing, freelancing, and enhancing one’s professional presence on the web.

Sept. 18: TwinTech2, Washington D.C.

• Join the brightest minds in the tech-venture space who will be on hand to mix and mingle with one another during a happy hour style meet-up. I shall be there as well to share in the social.

Sept. 29-30: World Social Marketing Conference, Brighton, England

• Presenting my master’s thesis in a poster session. The thesis is titled: The Purpose Driven Campaign…more details on that are sure to follow.

Oct. 13: BlogHer Reach Out Tour, Washington D.C.

• Presenting in a panel about Online Community and the philosophical reasons supporting why social media can help make a difference for good causes, non-profits, social change, or even political activism. (bringing in my perspective of navigating the social media landscape for government agencies)

Oct 15: 1st Changemakers/Changebloggers Event, Washington D.C.

• D.C. is known for its robust social media/tech community, that’s no doubt. However, many of D.C.’s finest are in the intersection of social media and social good. We call these unique individuals, changemakers. And for those that blog, changebloggers. Join us as we gather to connect and strengthen our community and show that social media can do, and is achieving, good. Also, journalist Alex Steed will be joining us as part of his 30+ day tour across the country documenting and interviewing millennial changebloggers.
  

Check It Out

• If you are on Facebook’s BlogNetworks application, please stop by SocialButterfly’s page and introduce yourself. I also created a SocialButterfly Facebook group as well.
• I am addicted to my RSS feeder lately. I’d love to connect with you, and follow you there too, so feel free to leave your URL in the comments, especially, you fellow changebloggers!
• Speaking of Changebloggers, I created the Changeblogger wiki, and if you participated in the Changeblogger meme, be sure to post your permalink to the wiki, so we can all check it out!
• Check out the Twitter feed @changeblogs to follow top changebloggers.
• The Social Marketing Events page on SocialButterfly has been updated with some new events that you’ll want to check out including CDC’s Web Dialogue, HealthCampeDC and more!

Thus, lots going on! Let me know if you want to get involved, or if we can meetup and say hello at any of these events! Blogging has been slow because my fiance and I just drove from KC to DC, and are in the midst of setting up shop as I like to say. So, thank you for your patience! =)

The Changeblogger Story

This is one, in a group of posts by fellow changebloggers, uniting to show that social media can do, and is achieving social good.

Origins of the Changeblogger

In late May, Britt Bravo at Have Fun * Do Good recruited her readers to create a list of Changebloggers – members of the blogging community who:

“…use their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers, listeners, and viewers taking action to make the world better.”

On her blog, Britt developed a working list of 40+ Changebloggers, events and other online lists.

Changebloggers Respond

Since then, a Changeblogger facebook group was created. Then, I developed the Changeblogger Wiki that is being used to gather blogs and their author’s names, Twitter contact names, locations, a shared list of Changeblogger meetups and events while also being a live idea-swapping forum.

How Two Conversations Connected

Then, on a Friday afternoon I had two phone conversations with two truly remarkable people. The first was with Joe Soloman. Joe is at SocialActions, and he helped them develop the Ad-words widget that was launched last week. Joe also created the Twitter box @nptechblogs, which brings together blog posts and news updates from a variety nptech blogs. He also created and maintains the socialmedia4change wiki.

Bascally, Joe is busy. However, he is not just busy – he is effective. Joe, using his creativity and no-limits thinking, contacted me and together we are working on developing a Twitter box for changebloggers.

The next conversation was with Alex Steed. Talking with Steed on a Friday afternoon, both of us exhausted from a long week and feeling a bit overwhelmed could not have been better timing. Alex’s project is exactly what the changeblogger movement needs. And, he needs us.

Alex is planning on traveling to 30+ cities to meet with socially-forward millennials to learn what they are doing, how they are doing int, and more importantly, why they are doing it.

This is our call: If you are a changeblogger or a changemaker, know one, or even if you have an extra couch, contact Alex to connect with him on his tour while he couchsurfs and covers the waves of change.

Rallying the Troops

The changeblogger troops have already put out the roll call, and we’re inviting any and all to join the movement. Here’s a list of how:

1. Take part in the Changeblogging Meme, that was started by Qui Diaz. Anyone can be a changeblogger, or changemaker, it’s a matter of connecting one’s talents with a desire to do good.
2. Chip In, following the example set by Beth Kanter, to help fund Alex’s trip around the country, as he will spread the changeblogger message both online – and off! (Or, put the widget in your blog. Here’s the code:
   

   <embed src=”http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/a237a485db98c2b4” flashVars=”” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowScriptAccess=”always” wmode=”transparent” width=”250″ height=”250″></embed>

3. If you are in the area, show your support at the 1st Changebloggers/Changemakers Meetup on Oct. 15th as we welcome Alex Steed into the capital of change – Washington DC.
4. Join the Changeblogger Facebook Group
5. Add your blog or Twitter Name to the Changeblogger Wiki
6. Connect on the Changeblogger NING group started by Britt Bravo
7. Tweet it up using the Changeblogger hashtag: #changeblogger and/or follow the Twitter account @changeblogs to receive updates from top changebloggers!

Change is Coming to Town, and It Could be Yours

Remembering through Action: The Katrina 100

The 3-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is August 25th. To reflect and highlight on the city’s current state of affairs and the changemakers within the city, Jerri Chou and team at AllDayBuffet are blogging The New Orleans 100.

According to the Web site, The New Orleans 100 is:

a worldwide initiative that highlights and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.

The group behind Katrina 100 wants to leverage bottom up tools like the social web to feature under-acknowledged, yet real stories that highlight the positive changes going on in the NEW Orleans since Katrina. The 100 list will be release and posted on the blog on August 25th, and the group hopes to reach 1,000,000 pageviews by 8/29/08. The main goal though, is the make the NOLA100 the alternative media story during the week of 8/25. Wondering how you can make that happen? Keep reading.

The group continues with calls to action beyond just visiting the site and reading the list. These include:

1. Sign up to receive the NOLA100 list.
   
2. ShareThis. Spread the NOLA100 message and list by email, blog, digg, twitter, stumbleupon and other social options.
3. Contact one of the NOLA100 changemakers on the list to help out. This can include offering services, volunteering, making a donation, a connection, or extending a simple thank you.
4. Send AllDayBuffet and NOLA100 new ideas to make an impact. This can include success stories, testimonies, interview requests, highlighting efforts beyond the NOLA100 and more. It’s up to you.

If you want to really dig in, then you yourself may qualify to join the AllDayBuffet team, and this is the way I see a lot of consulting and the future of business going. Free-agent consulting. And, others seem to agree.

In this instance, AllDayBuffet is “a social innovation brand for the creative mavericks”. Their key competitive edge, in terms of recruitment, is that their whole strategy revolves around the concept of open participation.”

This open participation is built in through G3, the Greater Good Guild. The G3 is a global collective of creative professionals that strive to change the world. The network represents social innovators, creative mavericks, change makers and more. To see if you’ve got what it takes, you can apply to be a G3 maverick yourself.

photo credit: flickr, NOgoddess

Join the Pledge for a Humanitarian Lion at Cannes

Awhile back, I wrote about a video that surfaced on YouTbue that was sending a message to Cannes to create a Humanitarian Lion at Cannes. The video has always been featured on my Events page. Now, I am excited to report that the video has turned into an official campaign.

Join us in sending a message to advertisers and clients everywhere: we want to elevate the good and generate a shift in the way we do business and increase our reputation as an industry. I just signed the pledge today, at did the folks over at Osocio.

The Cannes are a worldwide event, so this movement can be a worldwide effort.

Health Promotion Policy is 20/20

As they say, ‘Hindsight is 20/20.’ However, social marketing thought leader extraordinaire and fellow social marketing blogger at On Social Marketing and Social Change, Craig Lefebvre, is hoping that the future of health policy will be ahead, rather than behind the curve. Lefebvre launched a new blog series titled ‘Healthy People 2020,’ and invites you to participate. Lefebvre writes:

If you haven’t heard, the process of developing the nation’s health objectives for the next decade has started – and you and your readers could become part of the conversation. Healthy People 2020 is the next update of the objectives that have guided our country’s health promotion and disease prevention efforts for the past 25+ years.

As part of my work with ODPHP, I am hosting a series of guest blogs on how people envision the interactions of health communication, social marketing, and health information technology – including social media – in improving the Nation’s health in the next decade.. The first topic is Information Rx for Healthy People in 2020 by Joshua Seidman from the Center for Information Therapy.

Due to the limited resources to take HP 2020 to a greater level of participation, Lefebvre hopes to garner participation through the use of social media to help spread the word and generate the conversation. For more information and to see the latest post in the series contributed by Cynthia Solomon titled Personal Health Records for All, and add in your thoughts.

Lefebrve said he welcomes inquiries, post contributions, and cross-post opportunities. Lefebrve’s blog is where talking about health and inspiring people to get involved in national health promotion and disease prevention policy meet.

Are you ready to par-tay with Jonny and the gang?

What: Jonny’s Par-tay, the live interactive online talk show
Who: Join special guests Andre Blackman, Qui Diaz, and Alexandra Rampy, with host Jonny Goldstein and super producer Scott Stead.
Where: jonnyspartay.com
When: Weds., July 16, Weds, 9-10PM

As Jonny himself wrote…

Commercial marketing is a powerful discipline that influences people (say, you) to behave a certain way (say, buy Count Chocula cereal). But what if the concepts and tools used by commercial marketers were used to effect positive social change–to get people to stop smoking, exercise regularly, or conserve energy? That’s social marketing. This week we have three afficionados of social marketing, Andre Blackman, Qui Diaz, and Alexandra Rampy, who are also deep into the world of social media. How does social marketing work, and how does social media fit into the marketing mix when we’re talking about marketing for good, not just for increased commercial success. Come to this very special Par-tay 4 Good this Wednesday!

This is my first LIVE webcast, so be sure to tune in for the great convo, interesting topics and the occasional nervous twitch as viewers can send LIVE questions for us to answer. See you then! 😉

Britt Bravo and SocialButterfly Unite Changeblogger Community

In late May, Britt Bravo at Have Fun * Do Good recruited her readers to create a list of Changebloggers – members of the blogging community who:

“…use their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers, listeners, and viewers taking action to make the world better.”

On her blog, Britt developed a working list of 40+ Changebloggers, events and other online lists. Then a facebook group was created. Now, we are organizing our list further. I have created a Changeblogger Wiki that is being used to gather blogs and their author’s names, Twitter contact names, locations, create a shared list of Changeblogger meetups and events while also being a live idea-swapping forum.

The first idea pitched is develop a changeblogger logo. Thus, we are launching a Changeblogger logo contest! Check out the wiki for more details.

Currently, Britt is planning a Changeblogger meetup to correspond with the BlogHer conference in San Fransisco. At that conference, Britt is facilitating the Birds of a Feather session for Green, Social Change & NPO/NGO bloggers, Friday, July 18th from 10:30-11:45 AM. And, I plan to add a Changeblogger meetup to correspond with BlogHer’s Reach Out Tour in Washington D.C later this year in October.

So join the wiki and stay tuned for more ways to take online communications –> offline.

DC Social Media Event with Robert Scoble and Gary Vaynerchuk

Will I see you here?

The event is now sold out! But many of us social media types in DC are going to go, and I am one of them. If you’re there, I’d love to put a face to the name!

Flickr: urlgrl and chasingfun

Robert Scoble is the social media guru who works at FastCompany TV and runs the infamous blog Scobleizer.

Gary Vaynerchuk runs the highly successful WineLibrary TV.

Are You a Change-Agent? User-Experience Inspires Environmental Change

Timberland + Changents provide an innovative platform, strategy and user experience for change

What do a bus, a canary, an artist, a rocker and a college grad have in common? Getting green. and inspiring others to follow suit.

Today, Timberland, the outdoor company, and Changents unveiled a new online experience where individuals can be catalysts for change by teaming up with environmental “Change Agents” from around the world to advance the green revolution.

Engage ::

Watch broadcasts of firsthand experiences from the field through blogs, videos, photo albums, Flickr streams, phoned-in podcasts, Twitter dispatches and more.

Back a Change Agent by assuming the roles of:

• “Fan” (a shout-out of support),
• “First Responder” (being on-call if their Change Agent gets in a pinch),
• “Buzz Builder” (promoting a Change Agent’s stories and Action Requests through viral sharing),
• “Angel” (helping fill their Change Agent’s piggy bank) and
• “Advocate” (influence policy makers with respect to a Change Agent’s cause)

Plug in to ‘Earthkeepers,’ where you can follow and interact with 5 extraordinary Change Agents, dubbed, “Earthkeeper Heroes.

• Big Green Bus (12 Dartmouth students travel the country this summer in a tricked-out school bus converted to run on waste vegetable oil);
• The Canary Project (an artist couple convey the story of human-induced climate change and potential solutions through media, events and artwork);
• Agent 350 (a recent college grad and his scrappy team sprint to build a global, online/offline climate action movement from scratch);
• Reverb (a group of rock and roll road warriors green summer concert tours for Dave Matthews, John Mayer and Maroon 5/Counting Crows while engaging fans around environmental sustainability);
• POWERleaper (A 23-year old designtrepeneur created a blueprint for urban flooring systems that generates electricity from human foot traffic).

Become an Earthkeeper Hero yourself! Nominate yourself or others to compete for a chance to join the ranks of this amazing group.

About ::

Changents.com is an entertainment-driven Internet destination that connects innovators of social and environmental change – Change Agents – with a global network of people who want to help them. In 2007, Changents was founded by two social entrepreneurs, Alex Hofmann and Deron Triff, who set out to engage a digitally-connected, socially-conscious generation on its own terms.

“We started Changents to give a new generation of social and environmental problem-solvers the tools they need to build teams of active followers and help them become ‘rock stars’ of change through the Internet,” said Changents Co-Founder and CEO Deron Triff.”

Another Turn on the 29-Day Giving Challenge

The 29-Day Giving Challenge movement was started by Cami, when she was faced the diagnosis of the chronic illness multiple sclerosis during a major move. A spiritual teacher of hers, Mbali Creazzo, suggested that she give away 29 things in 29 days in an effort to get outside her own struggle each day.

According to Mbali, the 29 gifts originated as an African tradition. Today, over 2,000 people have participated in the challenge so far. And, I am joining them.

The challenge focuses on giving, anything – from clothes, to money, to smiles, hugs, compliments, time and energy, love, compassion, empathy or an extra hand – any way to GIVE. The challenge does come with a set of rules, mainly, to have fun, relax and reflect.

I joined this challenge for a variety of reasons.

First, I connected to Cami’s story as my best friend has multiple sclerosis. Secondly, that same friend continues to teach me, and give to me, AND give to others on a daily basis. She is continually reading and sharing her joy for life, her keen insight into the human spirit and her enthusiasm and love for life.

So, I’m taking the challenge, and taking it another turn: I want to concentrate my giving on those that are close to me, to show appreciation and love for what they do. Often time, I think it’s easy for us to focus on trying to help others, especially in the nonprofit and social marketing fields. Sometimes, we overlook those right in front of us in the process. (Note: It’s still important to give to others, but u pickin’ up what I’m putting down, right?) Thus, I plan on doing the 29-Day Giving Challenge:

• With my boyfriend. My mom. My best friend. My roommate.
• And groups of people including coworkers, friends who live far away, the homeless, nonprofits, etc.

Imagine what we could do if we TARGETED not only our financial giving, but the gifts that take extra time, extra thought and that extra step…to say thank you, you are loved, and I care.

I invite you to join us! The 29-Day Giving Challenge also has an online community here.

I will share my reflections on my experience at the end of each time period.

***************

If you’ve participated in the 29-Day Giving Challenge, share your experiences with us in the comments section, =).