Emerging Technologies

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

yellowtailshark — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:54:00 GMT

Very impressive website, the GroupMembersOnly site. Seems new though, since they only have 185 members or so. But what distinguishes it from other OSN sites is that it allows groups to make connections with each other, not just individuals. That is a pretty important distinction.

I think a more successful service is one that integrates with the image of an organization, rather than being a separate site... which means there is at least some partial data interaction between the servicer and the org's content management system.

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

sophia123 — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 21:34:00 GMT

Very interesting topic. However, there is a site that offers all these things currently for non-profits,NGOs etc. The site is FREE, which is why we use it. It's a new site called www.groupmembersonly.com. It includes, emails, video library, group library, blogs, newsletters, chat, IM, event calendar, jobs database, discussion forums and other stuff I can't think of now. The site is private, very secure and great for networking with our members. It also allows different organizations to "link" and network with other groups.

We also use it to collect donations, membership fees, and event fees online. They use paypal to do this so it's pretty secure.

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

bsatterfield — Thu, 25 May 2006 03:05:00 GMT

Hey greenmoon -

I've definitely been watching this one. To me keeping the Internet neutral, so to speak, is a huge factor in keeping everyone included and on a level playing field, which is in a sense what it's all about to begin with (at least to me). While a "skewed" Internet will have a decidedly negative long-term effect (again, my opinion) on the general dynamic of the Web overall, I agree with your sentiment that smaller, less-funded sites will be the ones taking the hardest hits.

I started a separate post on this and hope to spark some discussion, because I feel that keeping the Internet neutral is of vital importance to anyone who uses the Web -- regardless of who you are or who you work for (unless it's...say...Verizon).

Feel free to lay out your thoughts on it at this thread. And sign that petition if you feel what I'm saying.

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

greenmoon — Fri, 12 May 2006 14:24:00 GMT

Speaking of AOL's "walled gardens", have you all been keeping abreast of the current threat to Net Neutrality? Large ISPs (such as AOL, Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon) as trying to get a bill passed in Congress that will let them set up a caste/toll system. Essentially, large corporation will be able to pay to have better, quicker access to their sites, while sites that don't pay will be relegated to "slow pipes".

As Robert Reich recently commented on NPR, "My blog would take more than 5 minutes to download" under the proposed rules. I worry that this bill would be detrimental to nonprofits, vastly cutting down their access and ability to connect with others.

For more info and to send a letter to Congress, you can check out the following link:

www.savetheinternet.com

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

Susan_Tenby — Tue, 09 May 2006 20:57:00 GMT

Hi jbanico,

Are you offering to volunteer to build the application? I have forwarded your message along to our team.

Thanks for stopping by to say hello!

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

jbanico — Tue, 09 May 2006 00:46:00 GMT

Hi. I created a social networking + blogging tool that's currently based in the Philippines, called Funchain.com (www.funchain.com). If there's interest or opportunity for TechSoup to have a specialized OSN/blogging application for non-profits here in the US, I can offer to build that too.

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

bsatterfield — Mon, 08 May 2006 19:27:00 GMT

I have to admit that, before I started writing this, I was pretty skeptical about whether OSNs were actually valuable tools for nonprofits, so it was surprising to see the creative ways in which people were using them.

I also agree with the statements that not a lot of organizations have time to explore these tools, and I would guess that those who see relatively quick results building communities using OSNs are more likely to stick around, whereas those who don't have any lucky will probably go experiment with something else.

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

jlorance — Mon, 08 May 2006 17:55:00 GMT

RE: OSN Time
I agree that most orgs don't have time to even update their websites... which is why I am a big fan of any technologies that make updating your website quick and easy. Most orgs don't deal with their websites because the bar is too high and barriers to making changes are arduous... and yes, answering all the email is challenging too... however,

that said, I think integrating these communications activities as part of your program costs could help overcome not getting funding to do those tasks.. conceptualizing those tasks as costs to run programs, internalizes the funding and shows how essential these tasks are. Now getting funding for OSN may be a programmatic line item around building your "base" and you're using a program as a means to drive it. Now, OSN with other orgs may not apply so much; however, again, I think making this quick, easy, and integrated in daily workflow, may make this happen.

RE: AOL, walled garden OSN
Care2 has been hugely succesfull just as Tribe and other "walled garden" types of OSN platforms. However, I foresee a new kind of OSN platform that is not a destination in and of itself; but rather I see a platform which helps folks connect and discover each other while still using the same places and publishing mechanisms they have in place... more on this later...

John Lorance
CompuMentor/TechSoup

RE: ONLINE EVENT: Online Social Networking - Connecting with Each Other

jcravens42 — Sun, 07 May 2006 13:05:00 GMT

Nice, concrete examples of how nonprofits are using OSN. *However*, the reality is that most nonprofit organizations don't have the resources to keep their web sites up-to-date or answer all the email they receive. I'd like to know who at each of these organizations is in charge of OSN activities, how the nonprofits get funders to pay for staff time to engage in these activities (or, perhaps, are they all volunteers?), etc.

I also find it amusing that OSN has all of the qualities that AOL was criticized for years ago -- information is available to members only, unlike the Web. My question -- will the exclusive club-like buzz about OSN eventually wear off and become a liability the way it did for AOL?

RE: Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking

gorenflo — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:31:00 GMT

Chris, David,

Yes! I think using social network to get people together face-to-face is where you can get the biggest improvements to quality of life.

My hunch is that this is where the Internet will have the biggest impact, where it will really come into it's own as a medium.

In a way it's like the telephone. When the telephone came in, it increased the amount of face-to-face interaction. It's a great coordinating medium. The internet is even better.

I think it will be increasingly important to business and nonprofits in this way. In the work I do, I have ad people call me sometimes and ask "how do I reach these people (LOHAS / cultural creatives)." They are scrambling to find ways to be effective marketers in a world where the traditional demos and categories are breaking down.

I just want to tell 'em, "you're wasting your time, they don't want to hear from you."

If I'm any indicator, traditional ad people are in for tough times. I haven't watch TV in ten years. I recently unplugged the my car stereo speakers. I don't subscribe to magazines. I see big gains in quality of life in cutting out noise. And I want to hear my agenda and my friends' agendas come through. My favorite source of info are my friends. That's my media of choice. And I select my media very carefully. I'm interested in accomplishing certain things, so I seek out those with similar goals. I learn best from people, so I want the best teachers. But that is not enough, they must be of good character...and fun! I see my social network as my destiny. I see it determining much more than I'd probably like to admit. So personally, social networking apps can play a huge role in improving life just by helping us find our fellow travelers.

But back to that question, "how do I reach these people." It's just the wrong question these days. Care2 works because we help people do something they want to do, people want to help, they want a way to make a difference in a way that is meaningful to them. I think if you want to really reach people, find out what areas in life they really want help in. The book "The Support Economy" makes the case that corporations are failing their customers and employees in supporting them in the ways they most want support. Sure, its sad, but it's also stupid. Corporations are missing the real jackpot.

This is all going on while the Federal government is getting out of the business of taking care of people. The devolution of responsibility for social programs from the federal to state level has been going on for about a decade. The responsibility for taking care of people is being pushed downward to guess who? To us of course. You and I. I don't mean just financially, I mean in a hands on way.

So there is this HUGE opportunity and HUGE need to create value by offering platforms where people can help each other in their everyday lives. The Internet can become a "Lifestyle Utility" that coordinates self-provisioned services designed to support people in the ways they want to be supported, according to their values and priorities. Their agenda, not some marketing manager's agenda.

So its the wrong question. The right question is "how do I help people." Nothing new here.

What does this mean for nonprofits? I think nonprofits are well positioned to offer the support people are really looking for. They have the right value system and the tools needed to organize people into mutual aid communities are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time.

-Neal

--

Neal Gorenflo
Online Campaigns
Care2.com

650.622.0871 (o)
415.867.0429 (m)
866.704.8089 (f)
neal@earth.care2.com

RE: Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking

dwoodrow — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:02:00 GMT

Chris,

In response to your comments, having a community that meets online and offline is of great value to people. On Gather.com, we see a lot of people actively trying to organize offline activities with the people they are meeting online. We've even had members stop by our offices in Boston to rally our employees into social "gatherings". We are exploring functionality to make this easier for people to do.

In conjunction with that issue, I've been talking to more and more organizations that want to set up localized online communities that can then complement the online activities with offline activities. Public Radio stations are frantically looking for ways to keep their audience as they compete with online radio stations, satellite and other media sources to retain their listeners. And more and more advocacy groups are using online social netwroking platforms to find people they can rally for offline rallys and fund-raising efforts.

David

David Woodrow
Vice President, Groups
Gather
www.gather.com

RE: Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking

jlorance — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 21:37:00 GMT

Wow, so many ideas here are similar to my thoughts on a "killer app"...

My thoughts defininately align with Erin's to the degree that I would envision a personal hompage/dashboard that not only aggregates (hello RSS) content (friends blogs, info relevant to my org, etc); but also lets me "push it back" so that I could easily send messages from there as well... I'm sure both Yahoo and Google understand this as well.. I like what I've seen so far with Yahoo360(360.yahoo.com); but it still seems a bit hard to use for the average person. Also, there is this little think called privacy which I'm not sure I totally trust any of these big search giants (see: Yahoo! implicated in third cyberdissident trial

Getting non-profit to "configure" something like this to make it easy for its staff to "connect" with relevant info and others is also part of the trick... and doing it at scale..

Therefore, an "Intranet" type of solution that organizations might use anyway for other purposes which also gives staff members a personal portal might be one way to seed this idea.

I'm sure this is happening somewhere in the business world; I've just not done the homework here..

John Lorance
CompuMentor/TechSoup

RE: Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking

claw — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 21:18:00 GMT

I love a lot of the ideas that have been tossed around.

The one that resonates most with me and my experience is the ability to bridge the gap between an online only community and the offline community.

One of the BEST experiencies at Tribe was when we threw a party where everyone who helped out with DJing, performances etc. was a member of the community.

Our members also told us that some of the most gratifying experiences for them was meeting people in real life and having a connection that was beyond just the online connection.

I think that Meetup is an example of a site that does a great job of facilitating this.

RE: Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking

JuliusH — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 21:06:00 GMT

at gorenflo:
Nice list. The vision of where you/we need to go in the future is the most important thing. Technical difficulties are overcomable, if enough people share your vision and want it to be a reality, it's inevatable that it becomes a reality.

Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking

gorenflo — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 20:06:00 GMT

hey john,

i just posted some ideas on what would make up a social networking killer app over on my half-baked blog.

i've been working on these for at least a year,
shame on me for not sharing sooner. and i've had
lots of inspiration from many friends.

i packaged the ideas in, what else...a manifesto, of course!

it's called, drum roll....

Manifesto for the Next Generation of Civic Networking
20 Ideas for Practical Revolutionaries

enjoy, and i dare y'all out there to take up the ideas:

http://theabundanceleague.blogspot.com/

--

Neal Gorenflo
Online Campaigns
Care2.com

650.622.0871 (o)
415.867.0429 (m)
866.704.8089 (f)
neal@earth.care2.com