del.icio.us tags: mobile

Calder Strategies has an amazingly extensive post about the do's and don't's of mobile advocacy. (Hats off to them.) Some of the best:

• Area of growth = The mobile fundraising market is bound to rapidly expand in the next 12 months.
• Be realistic = "The total numbers are still small but effect is beginning to show."
• It's a generational thing = Young people are more receptive to mobile marketing campaigns.
• Pay attention, Senators = Text messages increase the likelihood that voters will make it to the polls.
• Be scrupulous = This is your brand. Don't be annoying.
• Don't push it = Mobile is about interaction. It's not the same thing as direct mail/push emails.
• Integrate = Mobile is not something to tack on as just another tactic. It needs to make sense and it needs to touch each aspect of the campaign.

i'm thinking of getting an iPhone

del.icio.us tags 11.5.07

Mashable does another one of its spectacular toolbox posts: 20+ Charity & Fundraising Tools. I'm not familiar with most on the list, although I have been a fan of Donors Choose -- which enables you to support classroom projects -- for a couple of years now. Back in my nonprofit days, those open source fundraising tools would have been handy.

According to the Mobile Data Association, the British send 1 billion text message per week, a 25 percent increase from last year. 4,000 messages every second. W/E

del.icio.us: mobile

MTV has launched MyMTV, a mobile social network. According to 901am (or, more precisely, the press release from Viacom), "MyMTV members can create their own profile pages as well as upload and share video taken on their mobile phones. They will also be able to link to pages created by their friends or content providers."

Beth Kanter from Beth's Blog is heading to the Cambodian Blogger's Summit and is gathering ideas on mobile video blogging (posted on Mobile Active). I was in Cambodia (Siem Riep) about three years ago to conduct trainings with young political leaders and social media never crossed my mind as a tool for them to use. In so many ways, that seems like such a long time ago.

del.icio.us: mobile

Katrin Verclas at Mobile Active catalogs sex education programs in the United States, UK, Australia and Indonesia using mobile technology to reach young people. If you know of any more, I'm sure Katrin would be happy to hear about them.

Verizon Wireless is now enabling its customer to upload and view video via YouTube. (The news comes via Nino Marchetti at 9:01AM.)

i hate cell phones

Cell phones = a perfect opportunity to use evil for good.

del.icio.us tags 07.08.07

The Myth of the MySpace Generation - Research from Synovate suggests that young people (18-24) in Europe are not all that "techno-savvy" after all: 76 percent have never used MySpace, 90 percent have never blogged, 94 percent have never downloaded a ring tone for their cell phone.

But There's Hope - Facebook use is on the rise -- 89 percent in the past year -- and the new users are in the 12-17 and the 25-34 year old age group. So says ComScore, via TechCrunch.

Doing the Right Thing - Fast Company reported on the recent Geneva gathering for the UN Global Compact, including the release of three new studies that all suggest that corporate social responsibility is good for the bottom line. This may repulse those of you who think we should all do good because it's the right thing to do have my sympathy. I wish the world was ruled by justice, but, alas, it isn't. By the way, my former advisor at the Kennedy School, John Ruggie, designed and oversaw the Global Compact as Assistant Secretary General and chief adviser to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for strategic planning.

A Higher Power - Speaking of the good ol' days in Cambridge, I found this Men's Vogue article about another one of my Kennedy School profs, Samantha Power via sk*rt (a site that I mentioned in passing recently, but which I have grown to love). I'd like to say that I would like to be Power when I grow up, but I think it's too late. I enjoyed the article, but I am feeling devastatingly mediocre right about now -- and it's not because she gets to play basketball with George Clooney, I assure you.

Google (Rules the) Earth - Mashable documents Google's efforts -- some successful, some not so successful -- to take over the world (or the market) for search, advertising, video, blogging, mobile, start pages, communications, social networking, photo sharing and office suites.

a glass of Laphroaig

I didn't manage to head off on my trip yesterday until after 3:00 o'clock and then spent the first couple hours of my trip staring at the back of the car in front of me, so I didn't get down to Chapel Hill until 9:30 or so.


My late arrival meant that Crook's Corner -- where I was planning on getting my first plate of shrimp and cheese grits -- was closed for dinner. I considered the possibility of banging on the front door and explaining to them that I had driven all the way from DC for that damn plate of shrimp and cheese grits, but my dignity got in the way.


Unfortunately, the standard that had been set in my mind of of shrimp and cheese grits meant that the offerings of pizza, Mexican fast food and sports bar menu items that were available to me at that hour of the night just weren't going to hack it. So dinner amounted to a glass of Laphroiag and a chat with Ray, the bartender at the hotel bar.

Ray, whose sister -- also named Alison -- recently passed away from ovarian cancer, informed me that The Franklin Hotel opened on New Year's Eve. If you have a reason to be in Chapel Hill, I'd suggest you check on availability and stay here. It's a really lovely boutique hotel right in the midst of Franklin Street -- the pedestrian hub -- and the rates are shockingly low ($143/night), for a traveler accustomed to paying NY rates.

Actually, because the hotel was so nice and because I'm not willing to head out of town without that damn plate of shrimp and cheese grits, I'm spending another night. I'm aiming for a lazy morning in the room and then a trip over to Durham for a trip down memory lane (I lived there nine years ago). I'll come back to Chapel Hill this afternoon for a stroll on Franklin Avenue and then -- YES -- dinner at Crook's Corner. I picked up the schedule at Cat's Cradle but the band that's playing tonight doesn't look or sound like something that's going to float my boat.

Where's Superchunk when you need them?

Good luck to all the folks in line for the iPhone.

de.icio.us tags 06.05.07

Skirt in a Twist - Laura sent this link for sk*rt around. It's digg for women who don't necessarily get off on hanging out with tech geeks.

iPhone Causing Problems - Janet Driscoll Miller at Marketing Pilgrim posts about the design challenges that will come from the release of the iPhone -- now only eight days away.

del.icio.us tags 06.04.07

Don't Mess with Tweedy. stereogum says that Sky Blue Sky isn't Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Fans (as Wilco fans are wont to do) act incredulous. And there's lots of video (four songs worth).

Mini-Tweedy. First it was Sponge Bob and now this. In other stereogum reported, Wilco-related news, Jeff Tweedy will be providing the voice of Lil' God on the new Comedy Central series Lil' Bush while Iggy Pop does Lil' Rummy (aka mini Donald Rumsfeld).

Summer in the City. If you're in DC this summer, the Fort Reno schedule has been posted, with shows beginning on June 18. All shows start at 7:15 and end by 9:30, which is great for old people like me who want to go to bed. Get there on time because, like a friend said the other night, when you go to a show, the opening act could always be the next Nation of Ulysses. All shows are free.

Geek Porn. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs at D5. And, yes, Jobs is wearing a mock turtleneck but, no, they do not beat each other up and, no, they do not make out.




So Much More to Facebook. Malene Charlotte Larsen, a PhD student in Denmark, lists the 25 ways to look at social networks.

Questioning Your Loyalty. Greg Verdino questions using RSS feed subscriptions as a measurement of loyalty because of how he uses subscriptions -- which is (generally) how I use them.

Short Attention Span. threebillon agrees to describe 1.83 billion people (young people in Asia) in a (nearly) two minute video for MTV. (Did you know that people in China spend 10 times more online than people in the west?)

One Handed Activism. Residents of Xiamen China prevent the construction of a chemical plant in their community via mobile protest -- one million text messages. Carpal tunnel syndrome is better than cancer.

del.icio.us tags 05.20.07

Not So Much. According to a new survey from the Guardian, most British youngsters don't give a toss about having social networking functions on their cell phones. Cost is one factor, but they also like the "bigger screens, easier navigation and faster speeds" of a PC.

Americans are Simple. Chris at RedKemp posts about the difference between American and Chinese web design. Chinese sites, says Chris (an American living in China), tend to be "packed full of stuff." When they're not, he suggests, Chinese users think there's nothing going on and nothing for them to do.