Charitables using social media to raise awareness and funds

I’ve been watching with some interest as a couple of charities I know try to catch the social media bus.  I certainly think that platforms like Twitter and fb are fantastic for raising awareness of charitable events.  As with everyone else though, they are trying to figure out how to monetize the media. 

I have some observations:

1. Many have static and by and large unfriendly sites.
2. Organizationally they are lacking in expertise, both the technical, and UX/UD.
3. They are reticent to acknowledge the expertise of the social media professionals.
4. They themselves are not entirely familiar with the different sites, specifically their associated demographic characteristics.
5. They are by and large trying to do the ‘experiment’ with social media in house.

I hope the charities that I am dealing with have the where with all to recognize that hiring the right people to do the job is the key to success.  Ultimately this should be a question of time and money.  The expediency gained in hiring the professionals can result in more engagement from the target audience, and the money flowing from the donors more quickly.

 

Giving

Volunteerism brings joy and new experiences into my life. I am thrilled to see the likes of Barack bring public service and volunteerism into the forefront.

Find something you love to do, and give the gift of doing it to someone.

 

Green with envy

I hope to one day have this kind of poise and grace under fire.  Jian you rock!

 

subjective observations

So I joined facebook a few years ago, and twitter right after they launched.  I decided that what I would do is get a cross section of  ‘friends’ on fb, I was really curious how people would use it.  I did the same with twitter on a much smaller scale.

So here it goes.  When I joined fb none of my real life friends were on, so I had ‘friended’ blogger friends.  Slowly I added to my collection and got up to about 35 friends at one point.  Some in highschool, University, employed, unemployed, old and young.  It seems that most people joined and were really active for a few months, and then they’d drop off.  I’ve unfriended a long list of people that hadn’t posted in months.

My teenage daughter thinks fb is ‘stupid‘.  This is an interesting observation from a kid that one would assume to be a prime fb target.  She’s rural (no access to public transport), she’s social, she has her phone surgically attached to her hand and texts all the time.

What I really wonder is when is twitter going to catch on with this age group?  It seems the ideal demographic really.  They want to know what all their friends are doing all the time.  Their text messages are so short…easy twitter material.  It’s free, and we know that’s important.  You can push it to your phone, that makes it perfect.

My experience so far with twitter is that it’s a geek realm, used by geeks.  I can see that changing though.  I just wonder how long it will take.

 

It’s been a long time

I’ve been away for a while.  It’s time to start writing again.  In my defense it was a busy fall, then Christmas came.  My daughter’s been quite ill, and I just haven’t felt much like writing for pleasure (which is what this blog is meant to be).

I’ve been exploring new ideas, and thinking about the direction things are heading, and what to focus on.  I am learning more about UX and product management.  Kind of a baptism by fire.  I have been keeping close tabs on some of the people I admire on the web – trying to use what they are teaching, taking it and modifying it to my own purposes.

To my 3 readers, thanks for hanging on!  See you soon.

 

There are monsters in our midst

I cried as I read this today. 

The signs in this case were clear.

There are monsters out there.  The monsters need to be caught before they kill people.

 

It’s a sad thing

It’s a sad thing when the election in a foreign country (aka the US of A) is more engaging than the one in your own. 

I am active politically and a fervent patriot, but the Americans just do it bigger and louder and messier than anyone else.  I can hardly take my eyes off CBC and CNN.  It’s just sad really.

I hope things go the way that would be best for the world as a whole.  Republicans eat your hearts out.

Don’t let the world down Obama, there are a lot of people pinning their hopes to your sweater.

 

I’m still here…

I thought I’d let all 3 of my fans know that I am actually still alive and breathing.  I have just lacked the inspriation in my day to day life to write about anything in particular. 

I’ve been working part time, momming full time, and seem to be devoting far too much time to our Yellow Lab Murphy who is now a teenager needing some ‘tuff love’.

I’ll be around though.  I’ll write something more soon.

 

The road travelled

I am travelling down an unfamiliar road these days, it’s not on any GPS that I know of.  It’s the trip to the end of life.  I am travelling this road beside my friend Heather.  I am in awe of her strength, her resolve and her grace.  I won’t even try to describe how brave she is, and how easy it is to travel the road with her because of it.

I admire how she is trying to make every living day a memory for her family and friends.  I love that she went to Italy for her 25th anniversary with her husband and closest life friends even as she is dependent on a feeding tube and can no longer speak.  I love that she spends as much time with her children doing things and creating memories as she can. I especially love that everyone wants to do all of this with her.

We all travel this road at some point in our lives, it’s just that most of us aren’t consciously aware of how few miles we have left on the road.  At the end of the road all that anyone has left of us is the memories and material things that we leave behind.  The material goods soon wear out.  It’s the memories that stay with us, and keep our loved ones alive.

Thank you to my friend Heather for reminding me of all this every time I see you.

 

Forget net equality – Let’s have democratic Equality

Let’s drag the old boys network into the year 2009. Let’s breathe some life into the Canadian political process. The Green Party deserves the right to present their opinions to the Canadian People in the Leaders’ Debate. If it’s too hot in the kitchen Steve, then get out.

It is absolutely unacceptable that a political party with a sitting member is not allowed to debate with the other party leaders. It is shameful that rather than allow reasoned opposition on the National stage, the CRAP party, the Bloq (who don’t even run candidates in the majority of the country and advocate leaving it) and the NDP would rather not debate than allow someone new to present ideas.

You wonder why people are disenchanted with the system. Wake up and smell the coffee.