Community Blog

A contract position doing promotions, writing, and community support for the leading gathering of “social tech” thinkers and do-ers in North America. Web of Change takes place Sept 23-27, 2009 at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, BC and this person supports the event production team based at Communicopia’s offices in Vancouver, BC.

Manager for a True Community:

That’s the current count for the viral success of US NGO MomsRising.org’s Mom of the Year Video launched earlier this month. Leveraging great production value and clever customization that features Byonce, Brad Pitt and President Obama, this overwhelmingly successful viral campaign lets anyone give their own mother the nod for Mom of the Year in a television style “news” clip.

How did they do it when most non-profit videos fizzle out after a few thousand views?

Jeff Regen is a pioneering leader in online strategy who has built a formidable digital program at Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, DC. Since 2004, their online community has grown to more than 800,000 e-supporters, tacks one million yearly advocacy actions, and brings in $5 million-all on the back of an innovative online model that embraces the best of emerging web tools, and which formed the foundation for this year's Social Tech Training.

Reposted from Mother Jones.

We'd all been receiving text messages from the Obama campaign long before I hit the ground in Ohio. But it wasn't until after a few days working alongside field organizers and their humming cell phones that I realized what was going on: Staff were receiving all kinds of messages that you and I were not. I watched organizers smile at and react to special SMS updates from the state and national headquarters, often designed to keep morale high or to relay timely insider information to key volunteers. For example, "we've already knocked on 40,000 doors today across the state—keep it up and we'll reach 50,000 new voters by dark."

Late last month, Thomas Gensemer created a minor firestorm when he suggested that organizations should abandon email newsletters in favour of short, focused updates with clear calls to action.

Extreme statements can often be dismissed, but not when they’re made be the digital strategist who put together Barack Obama’s $500 million dollar online campaign.

During STT 2008, Jon Warnow presented on the key factors every campaigner needs to consider in developing effective online communications. Here are the highlights from his presentation.

Web 2.0 carries a vast potential to transform social change organizations and galvanize supporters into meaningful actions. But to enable that potential, organizations need to commit to a shift in values and culture that can as big as the their work on the ground.

Kris Krug of Raincity Studios and Beca Econoupoulos of Greanpeace provided some key tips for organizations during the 2008 STT.