Its not often that I get to explore a new problem space, the non-profit and related philanthropy domains are my new focus. As many of you know I have previously helped to run various non-profits here in Atlanta. I have played roles from volunteering all the way up to senior leadership.  These organizations include EAKC, GATechCore, Hands on Atlanta, Feed the hungry, Habitat for Humanity, and many others.  As for the systems space I have spent many years implementing popular CRMs and SFA’s (read the blog for questions about what that means.)

So whats the point of all this? Its a shift in focus and strategy alignment for the blog.  That’s right! we are taking our own advice and identifying what change is needed.

So the new areas of focus for the blog are below keep in mind that we will be taking a look at the Non-Profit domain:

• Providing guidance on how organizations identify and set measurable goals
• Aligning the goals set for the organizations to process and procedures that are actionable
• Helping organizations to understand there priorities and how they align with there objectives
• Combining tools, people and process to achive a more productive and effective mix, helping organizations to focus on there causes.

So why the change? Keep on reading to learn more…

you may have noticed that there haven’t been any posts lately. I am taking a short hiatus until the summer begins. Please keep checking back for more information.

PCI is not a regulation. The term PCI stands for Payment Card Industry. What people are referring to when they say PCI is actually the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS), currently at version 1.1.

PCI Co’s charter provides oversight to the development of PCI security standards on a global basis. It formalizes many processes that existed informally within the card brands. PCI Co published the updated DSS, now at version 1.1, which is accepted by all brands and international regions, and it refreshed most of the supporting documentation.

PCI Co is technically an independent industry standards body, and its exact organizational chart is published on its Web site. Yet it remains a relatively small organization, primarily comprised of the employees of the brand members. In fact, the role of answering e-mails sent to info@pcisecuritystandards.org rotates every month among the representatives of the card brands.

The industry immediately felt the positive impact of PCI Co. The merchants and service providers can now play a more active role in the compliance program and the evolution of the standard, while the Qualified Security Assessor Companies (QSACs) and Approved Scanning Vendors find it much easier to train their personnel.

Merchant Level Requirements

Service Provider Levels

Compliance Validation for Merchants

Compliance Validation for Service Providers

Brand Security Programs

Solutions Fast Track
PCI

* PCI is used synonymously with PCI DSS.
* If you are not compliant already, you are late. Most compliance deadlines have already passed.
* PCI is not perfect, so be prepared for bumps in the road.
* PCI compliance cannot be a project—it is a process. Keep your project on a more manageable level, perhaps one for each DSS requirement.

Get an Advice From Someone Who Knows

* Seek the help of a trusted advisor who can help steer your compliance efforts.
* PCI DSS requirements are often misinterpreted. Validate what you believe to be true or what you are being told.
* When selecting a trusted advisor, look for the reputation and stability before you look at cost. The two of you might have to team up in the courtroom, so build a relationship.

Get the Facts

* Get an assessment by a QSAC. If your company is close to being compliant, it will take very little additional effort to turn an assessment report in to a ROC.
* Contract the services of the ASV for performing the quarterly perimeter scans and penetration tests.
* Consider using the same company for both assessments and scans. That way you have better communication.
* Deal directly with a QSAC, not with a middle man.

Start at the Top

* Get an endorsement from the company’s senior management and business stakeholders.
* Start your remediation efforts with higher level concepts: first the policy, then the process, then standards and procedures.
* Don’t forget to document everything!

1. Listening. Use the groundswell for research and to better understand your customers. This goal is best suited for companies that are seeking customer insights for use in marketing and development.
2. Talking. Use the groundswell to spread messages about your company. Choose this goal if you’re ready to extend your current digital marketing initiatives (banner ads, search ads, email) to a more interactive channel.
3. Energizing. Find your most enthusiastic customers, and use the groundswell to supercharge the power of their word of mouth. This works best for companies that know that they have brand enthusiasts to energize.
4. Supporting. Set up groundswell tools to help your customers support each other. This is effective for companies with significant support costs and customers who have a natural affinity for each other.

5. embracing. Integrate your customers into the way your business works, including using their help to design your products. This is the most challenging of the five goals, and it’s best suited to companies that have succeeded with one of the other four goals already.

In fact, these five objectives are linked to the familiar business functions in your company, except that they’re far more engaged with customers and include more communication—especially communication that happens between customers.

* Create a plan that starts small but has room to grow. Companies that try to map out their whole strategy over the course of a year will find their planning is obsolete by the time they finish it. But conversely, companies that quickly launch one technology and then jump to another aren’t necessarily helping themselves. Instead, you should create a rough plan—what you will do first; how you will measure success; and if you do succeed, how you will build on that success. Then be ready to revise that plan every six to twelve months. Imagine where engaging with the ground-swell might take you, but don’t lock yourself in right away.
* Think through the consequences of your strategy. As with the clothing company we just described, your plan should include how engaging the groundswell will change your company. Consider what the endgame is going to be—a very different relationship with your customers. Imagine how the groundswell will change the way you run your business over the next few years. How will it change your traditional marketing, advertising, and PR functions? What are the consequences for your suppliers and distributors? Who will talk to them about it? Will it change your cost structure or the way you compensate salespeople? What are the legal consequences? All these issues need to be considered before the plan is complete.
* Put somebody important in charge of it. You’re about to transform your relationship with your customers. Is this a job for some mid-level IT or marketing person? The ultimate responsibility for this plan should rest with an executive who reports up quite high in the organization. Which one depends on your goals—if you’re listening, it might be the head of research, for example; if you’re talking, the CMO would be a better choice. In many companies the CIO or other high-level IT staff are key advisors based on their technology knowledge. But in the end whoever is in charge of the plan must regularly brief the CEO on how it is transforming the way the company does business with customers. Ground-swell projects routinely stir up people well above the part of the organization where they started.
* Use great care in selecting your technology and agency partners. Companies don’t generally have the resources to build social applications by themselves. As a result, they work with partners—these could be technology vendors like Leverage Software that specialize in communities, agencies like Avenue A/Razorfish that build applications, or large portal companies like Yahoo! that can host applications or communities. Regardless, the choice of partner is critical. You’ll want to be sure you’re working with people who’ve built multiple applications before and understand your brand and your company. Crucially important is that they understand your objectives—or else you’ll be constantly explaining why you want things to be one way versus another. Ask them not just about current capabilities but—since the technology is shifting quickly—how they perceive the one- to two-year future of the types of technologies they are building. This is no time to go with the lowest bidder or even the company with the most features. If you’re not comfortable that your partner understands what you’re trying to accomplish and how that could change, walk away. Find one who does.

Virtual environments vary widely in their appearance and functionality, but they share several defining characteristics:

* Shared space. Many people can participate at the same time in the same common space.
* Immediacy. Interaction takes place in real time. For example, when you walk forward, the people with whom you are interacting will see you walk forward at the same time.
* Immersive visual environments. Worlds depict physical space, ranging in style from two-dimensional “cartoon” imagery to more immersive 3D environments. Many of the popular virtual worlds simulate some aspects of real life, such as gravity, topography, and architecture.
* Personalization. People can alter, develop, build, or submit customized objects that are seen or used in the world.
* Persistence. Life in these worlds continues regardless of whether or not individual users are logged in.
* Socialization and community. Worlds allow and encourage the formation of in-world social groups—teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, house-mates, and neighborhoods.

Develop and Align Objectives

What are you trying to achieve with your virtual world campaign? Many organizations established virtual world outposts simply to say that they had done it. Most are reconsidering this strategy because it didn’t deliver any clear result. Prepare a list of campaign objectives and expected results. Identify objectives that are aligned with virtual world attributes. For example, virtual worlds are well suited to conveying a sense for space and environment, as well as facilitating lifelike personal interactions. If you find that your objectives don’t rely on attributes specific to virtual worlds, ask if other media might be better suited to your campaign.

Consider the Opportunity Cost

Operating a virtual world is rarely inexpensive. You may want to hire a virtual world specialist to help you construct avatars and buildings and to guide you in the intricacies of a particular world. Alternatively, you can spend time learning the tools and social conventions. In both cases, you’ll face a considerable learning curve and no guarantee that your campaign will attract supporters or achieve its objectives. Before beginning a virtual world campaign, chart the time and money you expect to spend on the project and ask if this expenditure makes sense for your organization. If you’re operating on a tight budget and need measurable results, your resources might be better used elsewhere.
Make Partnerships

Instead of buying your own land and constructing buildings, you can save time and effort by partnering with like-minded organizations that already have a virtual world presence. Nonprofits interested in Second Life should contact the Nonprofit Commons (http://secondlife.techsoup.org); you may be able to lease an office or hold meetings with little investment.

Future-Proof Your Offering

Some virtual world platforms use proprietary software, and others are moving down the path toward more open-source strategies. Building an outpost in a proprietary virtual world means that your investment lies in the hands of a for-profit business. That company can change the rules—or go out of business—at any time, which is particularly common in the volatile realm of virtual world software. Be sure to investi- gate the company behind a virtual world before making an investment of time or resources, and to understand their software licensing options and future plans.

Over the past several years, mapmaking has undergone a dramatic transformation. Internet-based tools have put mapmaking, once the domain of skilled cartographers, and the distribution of maps within the reach of nonprofessionals. Organizations like the Holocaust Museum can now use the language of cartography to weave a story. Realizing the power of maps to sway hearts and minds, nonprofits have seized the opportunity to engage potential supporters through this medium. They are utilizing maps to understand complex issues, document the impact of their programs, provide community services, bring transparency to obscure information, conduct advocacy, and connect activists.

Tell a Story

Maps tell stories in many ways. They juxtapose data from one source with data from another and connect it to a physical location. Before creating a map, design your story using the range of elements made available by your mapping provider of choice. Determine how you will build the strongest narrative in support of your cause. Video and photo enhance the reality of the viewing experience.

Does your story expose inequality? Consider overlaying demographic information, which can be specific down to several city blocks and is freely available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Is access to resources an issue? How are interests vested in this location? Layers of information that identify ownership, political jurisdiction, and physical proximity may illustrate a problem and provide insight on how to change it.

Alternatively, map information may remain agnostic by simply providing a series of layers from which people can draw their own conclusions and make their own discoveries.

Think About Computer Experience and Access

To whom are you trying to tell your story? If they have fast computers, are Web savvy, and can download and install applications with ease, Google Earth may be an appropriate option. If not, Google Earth may be too intimidating. Does your audience have ready access to computers? In the case, the organization created online maps to help its audience find food kitchens, but this audience is unlikely to be able to get online to see the maps (except perhaps at a public library).

Use Good Information Design

As Edward R. Tufte wrote in his landmark book Envisioning Information, “To envision information . . . is to work at the intersection of image, word, number, art. The instruments are those of writing and typography, of managing large data sets and statistical analysis, of line and layout and color. And the standards of quality are those derived from visual principles that tell us how to put the right mark in the right place.”

Tufte describes data visualization as an art form that merges design and statistics. He might be appalled at many of today’s online maps. As mentioned earlier, mapping providers offer a standard set of mapping tools, such as pins, balloons, and graphics, that make it easy to overload a map with confusing graphical elements. Apply the same design principles to mapmaking as you would to writing an essay or designing a brochure. Use good design to tell a compelling story.

Plan Your Data Sources

Maps elucidate data. What data sources support your story? How can a map help crystallize facts that are difficult to understand without visualization? Are the data publicly available, or will you have to purchase the information? Will you need to build a database to house your data?

Many of the most popular maps pull data from public sources, such as feeds (see post for an introduction to feeds). Look for feeds that meet your data needs. Perhaps you won’t have to do the work of compiling and managing data. Maps that pull data from various feeds are called mashups (see post for a note about mashups). Think about becoming an innovative assembler, rather than a creator, of data. You may find it less expensive in terms of money and time.

Make Use of Public Data

Counties, cities, and government agencies are often rich with data. You may be able to download layers from their Web site (San Francisco, for example, has a page where you can download a host of different layers) or request them. Reusing existing data may save hours of time-consuming gathering, sorting, and cleaning of your own data sets.

Socialize and Collaborate

Can you build social features into your mapping application? Some of the most successful Web 2.0 efforts rely on their users to create dynamic and useful services. Think about what your supporters can offer to one another in a map-based environment.

Develop a Marketing Plan

If no one sees it, even a great map is a failure. You’ve got to ensure that your supporters know about and use your map.

Your choice of mapping service may affect your marketing options. If you are accepted into Google Earth’s “Global Awareness” program, for example, you’ll have a head start. Google operates this program to showcase nonprofits in Google Earth. ILoveMountains and the Darfur layers are both part of this program. It gives them a tremendous boost in traffic.

Otherwise, you’ll have to promote your map like any other Web site. Write about it on your blog, buy ads, request reciprocal links, send e-mails to your list. Map marketing becomes especially important in the case of maps that depend on participation of users to build the map content, such as the California Dance Network map. Heavily utilized maps will attract increasing usage. Unused maps will seem lifeless and devoid of useful content.

Be Aware of Biases
These intentional and even unintentional biases are not always evident. Does the mapping software that you’re using or the layer that you’ve created introduce mapping biases? Consider implicit assumptions as you craft your story. If you’re presenting several data points, ask what you’re leaving out. If you’re graphically representing data, think through the ways in which that graphic may be interpreted.

Fulfill Broader Objectives

Determine how your mapping project fits into your broader strategic goals. Are you creating an experience aimed at delivering emotional impact? Are you creating a visual story for the press? Or are you offering a community service? The answers to these types of questions will guide you toward selecting relevant data, mapping tools, and graphical elements.

Managing a successful wiki requires skills in a wide variety of areas, including design, group facilitation, individual psychology, and information management. A wiki’s ease of use belies its inherent complexity. If you’re considering starting a wiki, first explore the following questions and issues.
Management Resources

Wikis need time—a lot of it. You’ll need a dedicated person or team to generate enthusiasm, clean up misformatted writings, and keep a vigilant eye on spammers and vandals. As mentioned earlier, this person is often called a wiki gardener, and spends most of the day tending to the wiki, weeding out inappropriate content, and providing sustenance to contributors. Ensure that this person has enough time to garden every day.

Characteristics of Contributors and Subject Matter

Who are your wiki’s core users? Are they passionate about the subject matter that you want to address? If so, perhaps there’s a preexisting group or individual that you can convince to lead your wiki effort. Wikis often work best among small groups of known individuals. For this reason, corporate wikis are becoming popular.

Rewards and Group Dynamics

Set up the wiki so that it rewards people for sharing their knowledge. Contributors are motivated by social reinforcement: they want to know that their contributions are read and valued. Be clear about how contributors will be recognized. Consider setting up a prominent wiki page that features contributors, with links to their writings. Your wiki gardener can manage this process.

Also ask yourself how you are going to handle disagreements or fights between contributors. Make clear from the start the rules governing how differences of opinion will be resolved. You may also consider designating someone as a greeter or mentor. This person welcomes new contributors or guides their efforts over time.

Competition

What benefit will your wiki provide over Wikipedia? Are you offering depth in a niche subject area? Are there competing wikis in this area? Unless you’ve got a preexisting group of people dedicated to your wiki, it may be difficult to drive traffic to it. Without traffic and constant activity, a wiki appears listless and uninteresting.

Vandalism and Spam

Develop a strategically aligned spam and vandalism plan. The creators of abbottsgreed.com didn’t want anyone from Abbott Laboratories to weaken the language of their claims, and so used a strict user account mechanism. All contributors need to be approved by the wiki gardener. The Autism wiki, in contrast, allows anyone to edit. The creators want to encourage participation and are less concerned about vandals.
Cultural Fit

Are people in your organization comfortable editing a public document? Many organizations launch their wiki only to find that employees are wary of communicating in an unpolished format. Contributing to your organization’s wiki may require a shift in the structure of work, as participation cuts across the existing hierarchy. Is your organization comfortable with these changes? Think about appointing an evangelist to promote wiki usage and to train new users. Most people will not understand how to use a wiki or maintain it. They will need hand holding.
Information Design

Poor information design is the number one wiki killer. Out of the box, most wiki software sets you up for failure. The navigational structure of a wiki is determined, in part, by contributors, and these people are not students of library sciences. They don’t know how to create clear, consistent, and intuitive navigation from one piece of information to another. The result is a tangle of pages, links, and dead ends.

To learn more about wiki tactics and strategies, turn to www.wikipatterns.com

Vitality

You have two options for addressing the problem. (1) Train your wiki gardener in information design. A wizened and attentive gardener can solve a lot of problems that contributors create. (2) Choose the software that offers the best user experience. You’ll get an instant sense of a system’s ease of use as you explore a few examples of wikis made with your software of choice. Visit this book’s Web site to see several examples. A wiki that confuses you or obscures your information will fulfill few of your objectives.

Unused wikis sink quickly into obscurity. Many of the problems I’ve already outlined lead to disuse: poor design, too much spam, lack of maintenance, lack of community support, and too little social reinforcement. If you address these issues effectively, you’ll stand a much better chance of creating a vibrant, frequently used, and valuable wiki.

To give your wiki a boost, incorporate it into your broader organizational activities. Create an outreach or advertising campaign to drive traffic to it. Invite community members to become contributors.

Other Uses for Wikis

Some of the most interesting ways to use wikis are not related to recruiting, organizing, or engaging youth. However, they’re worth noting, as they may be of use in your organization, professional career, or personal life:

* Conference documentation. Many conferences document the proceedings on a wiki. A designated person posts notes to the wiki at the end of each session. Usually a wiki gardener cleans up the notes at the end of each day, while the ideas are still fresh.
* Improving internal coordination. Many organizations use wikis to coordinate internal teams and projects. The wiki offers an easy way to track to-do lists, decisions, meeting notes, and reference materials. Using a wiki can also cut down on e-mail. Most organizations find that a designated wiki facilitator is crucial.
* Personal thinking space. Some people find that a wiki helps organize their thoughts. They write notes, upload photos and documents, and use it like an online notepad. The advantage of the wiki over a pad of paper is that it’s shareable, searchable, and difficult to lose.

So far, the most successful mobile-phone campaigns have relied on text messaging. A text message is a series of up to 160 characters, typed on the keypad of the sender’s mobile phone, that travels through wireless networks and arrives on the screen of the recipient’s mobile phone. The term SMS stands for “short messaging system” and is used interchangeably with “text messaging.” You might also hear people refer to it as “texting” or just “text.” The growth of text messaging has been explosive. In the United States, over 63 percent of mobile phone users send texts,as compared to 90 percent in Germany, 83 percent in Spain, 85 percent in Britian, and 65 percent on average across Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The Old Advertising Rules Still Apply

Each supporter needs to opt in to your campaign, according to carrier policies. This means that you’ll need to promote your campaign widely in order to convince people to opt in. You might use announcements from stage and on event screens, Web site promotions, and newspaper and outdoor advertising. In all of these scenarios, the old rules of advertising apply. Higher frequency and greater reach result in better response rates. Promote your call to action far and wide.
Use a Trusted Messenger at Live Events

If your organization is not well known, you face an obstacle in persuading young people to text your shortcode, because most young people know that their numbers are captured when they text in. Ask someone who is known and trusted among your community of supporters to make the announcement. In trials of our texting software at events, we found that when a person unknown to the community asked people to text in, response rates were around 1 percent, but rates increased to 15 percent to 45 percent when a well-known person made the request.

To maintain this level of trust, you’ll need to treat your supporters’ personal information with respect, which means giving them an easy method for opting out of the text campaign and not selling their numbers to third parties, unless they grant you permission to do so.

Provide Incentives

What does a young person get in return for texting your shortcode and giving you their personal information? In the case of Bono’s concerts, participants’ names scrolled across a giant screen. Some organizations give away backstage passes, coupon codes, bumper stickers, or ring-tones. If possible, devise incentives that support your cause while taking advantage of the immediacy made possible by mobile phones.

For example, San Francisco Health’s SexInfo campaign offered valuable and confidential information in return for participating. The incentive was a relevant message at the location where the campaign was advertised. Bono scrolled names across the screen immediately upon receiving the incoming text message. Connect the incentive to the participant’s immediate location.

Ensure Timeliness and Relevance

Timeliness is counted in hours, not days. Relevance is measured in terms of the value of information in a given place.

Being timely is easy. Avoid sending messages that refer to events that occur in more than twenty-four hours. Ask your supporters to make a call now or to come to an event in an hour. Don’t tell them about a speech taking place the next evening. Text messages are ephemeral— take advantage of the near term.

Relevancy is a lot more difficult to achieve, because it depends largely on a supporter’s location. If the person is at home and you send him or her information about environmentally friendly fish, the message is not very relevant. If the person is running errands, it’s more relevant. And if the message is received while he or she is at the market, it’s incredibly relevant. The best way to ensure relevance is to encourage your supporters to request information from you when they’re at a location that fits your campaign.

Write Clear Texts

Confusing language hampers many texting campaigns; you’ve got to keep the message simple. With only 160 characters at their disposal, organizations use shortcuts and take numerous liberties with language.

This call to action is a jumble of words and numbers—it’s incredibly confusing. Follow the old K.I.S.S. adage (Keep It Simple Stupid). Here’s a much simpler call to action from SexInfo:

Use Texting as an Initial Hook

Texting is great for reaching a large number of people in an instant. It also works well in situations where you want many people to be able to reach you simultaneously, such as at a concert. But texting is a shallow medium. If your campaign isn’t suited to delivering extremely valuable information in the space of 160 characters, consider moving the supporter to a more immersive medium, such as voice. Use texting for its strengths: immediacy, timeliness, and ubiquity.

Support a Broader Campaign

Integrate texting, ringtones, and mobile photos into your campaign.

Photo- and video-sharing sites, which I’ll refer to as media-sharing sites, provide nontechnical people with simple and free tools to publish photos and videos to the Web. They also offer a group of features that facilitate sharing these media files. The Web sites share several defining characteristics:

* Easy publishing tools. Before media-sharing sites came into being, formatting, uploading, and coding a Web page to display photos and videos required technical expertise. Media-sharing sites removed almost all of the technical complexity.
* Social features. Media-sharing sites offer a variety of methods for sharing and discussing media files, such as comment areas and tools for sending photos and videos to friends.
* Publishing to personal sites. One of the key media-sharing innovations was a simple method for publishing media files directly to social networking profiles, blogs, and Web sites. It’s often been said that My-Space was a primary factor in YouTube’s growth, as millions of MySpace visitors used the service to put videos on their profile pages.
* Low cost. Most media-sharing sites do not charge for their services or have a tiered pricing plan that includes a free option.

Thanks to the low cost, relative absence of technical hurdles, and easy methods for sharing, people have been creating, distributing, and consuming visual media in huge numbers. According to a recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, over 75 percent of young people watch online video, and about 50 percent upload photos. Perhaps most interesting, a majority of young people watch video with friends—the activity has become a real-life social event

Publishing a video on YouTube requires only that you complete the form; several of the options it offers are worth exploring:

* Tags. They’re one of the most powerful methods for organizing data across and within Web sites, as mentioned frequently throughout this post.
* Date and map options. If you expand this box, you’re able to enter the location, date, and time at which you filmed your video. Adding this information is called geotagging: attributing latitude and longitude coordinates to a media file. Geotagging allows the aggregation of media by place. You can travel a map of the world seeing photos from anyone who has provided this information. See the mapping post for more information.
Sharing options. If you expand this box, you’re able to turn various sharing options on or off, such as comments, video responses, ratings, and “embedding.” In this context, embedding refers to giving someone permission to put your video on his or her Web page, blog, or social networking profile.

Create Your Own Channel or Group

YouTube has “channels”; Flickr has “groups.” Most media-sharing sites have an equivalent concept. These are Web pages that enable you to centralize all your media, give you options to write introductory text material, and often offer social tools, such as discussion groups or commenting fields. Start your own group and join others. You’ll quickly get a sense of how they work.
Use Tags

I can’t overemphasize the importance of tagging to so many Web 2.0 technologies, and particularly to photo and video. Tagging systems are integral to organizing your media assets effectively so that you can find them later and so that others can discover them. Tags allow you to organize assets into groups and bind you to the group of people who use the same tags. By using one tag across media-sharing sites and blogs, you can effectively create (and give your supporters a way to create) a collection of media across the Internet. Before beginning a campaign, familiarize yourself with tag “vocabulary” by looking at tag clouds, and think about the tags that you will use and the ways in which you will encourage their usage among supporters.

Have Conversations

Explore the ways in which your organization can use video and photos to generate lively discussion. You can build an ecosystem of communication: ask for participation, respond, and repeat. Encourage supporters to interact with one another—video and photos can make these interactions more vivid.

Media-sharing sites have dramatically reduced barriers to communication—distance, cost, and time. Talking at your constituency using the broadcast model is no longer the only option.
Consider Production Values

In certain instances, production values don’t matter. Don’t worry about editing the most perfect video. Think about media sharing as a video conference call. You might comb your hair in advance, but when you’re on the call, you’re engaged with people, listening and talking. In order to be present, you can’t take the time to worry about imperfections. Video conversations are not formal productions.

Some media campaigns are not in fact conversations. Some media are intended to get a conversation started through a careful presentation. For example, CARF’s photo group is dedicated to high-quality photos of at-risk youth. A poor-quality submission would be inappropriate in this context. Determine the strategic worth of production values to your campaign. Some highly persuasive videos require deep thinking, planning, and a focus on production values.

Practice Brevity

Internet video is not television, and young people are loath to sit through a thirty-minute video. Look to Congressman George Miller’s example. He prepared two-minute responses to questions asked by supporters in addition to in-depth answers for those interested in a more complete discussion. He acknowledged both the attention span of Internet users and the fact that complex issues cannot be fully addressed within the confines of this span.
Be Funny

News content is the most popular category across age ranges, except for those viewers ages eighteen to twenty-nine. Young people like comedy: more than half of young people say that they use the Internet to watch funny videos. Hillary Clinton’s experiences with online video testify to this reality of young tastes. Obviously, comedy is not appropriate for all topics. However, when you can maintain the mission of your organization and incorporate humor, make an effort to do so.

Find Your Niche and Use the Right Tools

Network television produces high-quality entertainment that appeals to a broad range of people. Your organization will have difficulty competing with television on the same terms. Ask yourself what you can provide that is not available in mainstream media or elsewhere.

And when you find your niche, take advantage of a media-sharing site’s tools to make your message more compelling. Oxfam created a mini-channel that delivered Oxfam-specific G8 Summit news that supporters couldn’t find anywhere else. However, it didn’t use the participatory tools that might have strengthened supporter engagement and delivered better results.

Encourage Subscriptions

Most media-sharing sites offer some sort of membership function. By joining a photo or video group, a supporter will receive regular updates about your campaign. If you succeed in persuading people to join your group, you can engage them over the long term. Ensure that you learn about and take advantage of your media-sharing site’s subscription options.
Integrate with a Broader Campaign

Media-sharing sites enable you to run an entire campaign using only their sites. However, the tools are limited. Remember that one of the most important elements to any campaign is the story. Ask yourself if you can effectively convey your story on the media-sharing site alone. If the answer is no, develop a strategy for incorporating the media-sharing site into your broader campaign. Many organizations craft a campaign that operates across Web 2.0 technologies, such as social networks, media-sharing sites, and blogs.

Use a Flexible Content License

The ability to copy and remix media is one of the major factors in the growth of Web 2.0 technologies. Supporters take their favorite videos and photos and “mash them up” into new creations. The process of being able to remix endears people to your organization, because you supply them with the raw materials they need to express themselves creatively. Enable your supporters to mashup your content legally by using one of the Creative Commons’ licenses that retain some rights while giving away important remixing rights.

Be Authentic

Blogs have come a long way from personal diaries, but, as I’ve mentioned, readers still expect them to be written in authentic and personal tones. Copy that sounds as if it came from a marketing brochure will not be well received. To connect with young readers, take advantage of the fact that a blog is an alternative to marketing materials. It creates a forum for unscripted, dynamic, and personal conversation. Creating personal connections with your supporters is the primary benefit of operating a blog.
Devote Time to Blogging

Setting up a blog takes ten minutes. However, creating a blog that draws readers requires posting frequently, managing comment spam, and making efforts to join the community of like-minded bloggers. Blogging is an ongoing daily project. Maintaining positive blogger relations and regular blog reading, writing, and posting must be scheduled priorities.

Clarify Objectives

What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? The question seems rather obvious, but many organizations start a blog without thinking it through. Explicitly answering this question will help you focus the content and writing style of your posts and the way that you interact with supporters. Here are some possibilities:

* Telling a story that advocates for a candidate or issue

* Connecting supporters with one another

* Creating a space for supporters to express ideas and creative thought

* Conducting market research

* Attracting new supporters

* Reporting news

* Raising your organization’s search engine ranking

* Establishing your organization as an expert in the field

* Preparing to respond to timely events

* Supporting a broader campaign

* Showing the impact of your organization

* Fundraising

* Improving internal communication

If the purpose of your blog is to tell a story, for example, your blog is going to look radically different than if you’re seeking to improve internal communication. Write a list of objectives and then outline the ways in which the blog will meet those goals.

Tag Smartly Integrate Broadly

Consider the ways in which a blog can complement the range of your organization’s activities. For example, you can use a blog to enhance communication surrounding a traditional direct-mail piece. Print an exciting lead-in on the mailer and then steer people to a blog post to discuss the topic. Blogs don’t have to operate as independent entities— use them creatively to encourage communication.

Tags tie a community of bloggers together. You can join the community simply by using tags common to bloggers in your field. Before you begin a blogging project, research tags by looking at the tags in use on related blogs. Develop a list of tags that you’ll use frequently. In the Web 2.0 world, tags help define your brand, except that you share and codevelop this brand with fellow taggers.

Release Control

For many organizations, one of the biggest hurdles in starting a blog has nothing to do with software. The obstacle is fear of losing control. Blogging requires a willingness to relinquish some control over branding and messaging. It encourages greater openness and a flattening of organizational hierarchies. It invites constituents to have a conversation not only with your organization but also with you, the real people who work behind the scenes. Blogs also ask constituents to converse with each other. They will not always say nice things.

Blogging purists will say that operating a successful blog necessitates shifting the very structure of your organization—making it more open, transparent, and responsive to constituents. Certainly, some organizations have used blogging to facilitate these types of changes.  By not deleting controversial comments, they demonstrate a commitment to the spirit of blogging.

The benefits of blogging diminish as you add more controls. When you strip opportunities for social interaction, the blog becomes more like a marketing brochure or advertisement. Before starting a blog, review your objectives. If your organization wants to broadcast a message, create a Web site or run an advertising campaign instead.

Participate in the Blogging Community

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, when you start to blog, you become part of a community of like-minded bloggers. Your organization undoubtedly has developed expertise in a given field. Think about how you can contribute that expertise to the community. Read other blogs and post comments, and start discussions. When someone posts a comment on your blog, respond quickly to encourage lively conversation. Keep tabs on discussion in your field by running frequent blog searches on relevant keywords.