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  Campaigning #4change Recap

  amysampleward 12:38 pm on January 15, 2010 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: #4change (6), Campaigning (5), online campaigns, recap

  Starting off 2010, the monthly #4change Twitter chat focused on the topic of campaigning with social media.  There were quite a few participants and some really great conversation.  I’ve tried to pull out some of the relevant tweets from the Twitter stream to help follow the flow of the conversation in case you missed it.

  This is more of a transcript than a recap, more of what I hope can be a refresher or stimulator for follow up blogs than simply the whole story itself.  Please leave a comment or use the #4change hashtag to tweet  your post if you do write something of your own!

  Question 1: How do we define campaigning in the context of social media?

  amysampleward: does growing a Facebook Fan page numbers count? does growing an email list count? what about calls to action that aren’t online?

  rootwork: In terms of #s, the easiest things to measure (FB fans, Twitter followers, web hits) seem least useful in online organizing

  rootwork: I strongly believe list building w/ petitions etc. that are NOT actually effective for the movement is abusive of one’s supporters

  annanten: @rootwork list building is just a strategy to engage more folks in your campaign

  ChristinasWorld: I think campaigning has to do w/achieving a particular end – not building a fb fan page, but using that page to achieve x, y or z

  engagejoe: Hmm…What about ‘using webby tools 2 organize ppl for impact on an array of issues, w/the goal of creating real world change?’

  annanten: @rootwork list building is just a strategy to engage more folks in your campaign

  rootwork: @annanten To me the goal should be change, not growing one’s base. 200 engaged members are better than 20,000 petition-signers

  SethHorwitz: Seth from Philly here @rootwork altho building lists is not signif per se, NE1 of those low barrier entrants may bcome an advocate

  realize_ink: Q1. A campaign (in my definition) is anything that mobilizes action

  annanten: social media is here to help you empower your followers with a story to create powerful activists for your cause

  lozz: @amysampleward Campaigning is obsolete – social media disrupts “start-end” mentality – constantly adapting efforts now

  paddaniels: @realize_ink SM changing the way we see campaigning as not only r small acts of giving visible but so is the collective outcome

  ChristinasWorld: building a network of awareness is different from campaigning: 1) campaigning is about mobilizing action toward specific objectives 

  ChristinasWorld: 2) Network building is about communicating, telling stories, & building trust over time

  realize_ink: @ChristinasWorld I agree completely! Good campaigns move away from awareness 2 spur action

  annanten: @engagejoe online campaigning = (relationship building + storytelling) * shared cause ^ common goal

  SethHorwitz: @ChristinasWorld: agree w/ distinction betw. network building (awareness, trust) and campaigning (action). Both important.

  Question #2: what are some of the best examples you’ve seen? Why are they great?

  @elliotharmon Here’s a good example from just today of the wrong way to use social media http://bit.ly/88sR45

  creativegreeniu: The 350 campaign is one of the best uses of social media I’ve experienced and it worked on a worldwide basis.

  creativegreeniu: and why the 350 campaign worked is because it effectively reached a diverse demographic & moved them to action on a complex goal

  ChristinasWorld: @kanter’s recent campaign 4 Sharing Found. was amazing – what made it great was existing network ready to take action when called

  5MillionPeople: GetUp in Oz do it well. Many of their online campaigns are short and sharp.

  cian: Big up to @350’s work. So successful at creating real world actions. do they in themselves create behavioral change too

  realize_ink: @creativegreeniu I’d add to that, it succeeded b/c it moved ppl toward a *specific* goal

  5MillionPeople: @realize_ink: Agreed. Works best when people can see that action leads to affect. Specific goals help focus.

  neddotcom: Another campaign worth mentioning http://twestival.com/

  rootwork: I remember a campaign from some time ago about getting more women on tech panels, but can’t find specific blogs abt it.

  annanten: @realize_ink @rootwork indeed – it was @WomenWhoTech who lead that – http://bit.ly/y2twf

  rootwork: I think the Jena Six was an early (though not the first) success of social media campaigns http://bit.ly/5hKmih

  rootwork: The Powershift youth climate change conf in 2007 was also largely organized via social media http://bit.ly/8MyWtH

  elliotharmon: Great example of organizing people online: Sean Tevis campaign. http://bit.ly/5VSjxh

  rootwork: @tomjd @bensaint My Society @mysociety is incredibly awesome. Produce great tools for effective UK campaigns

  Question #3: What are elements in these examples that are integral to the campaign’s success?

  realize_ink: Q3: specific ask.

  rootwork: Key element for success, to me, is allowing ppl to speak in own voice, e.g. http://jointheimpact.com was abt ppl, not an org

  rootwork: Creating a sustainable org #4change is good, but not at the expense of cultivating leadership among activists IMO

  rootwork: Great repository of online campaigns #4change can be found at @DigiActive – lots to analyze: http://bit.ly/4BbKWG

  creativegreeniu: Direct contact from national 350 organizers incredibly effective in motivating me. I used that tactic locally 2 move others to act.

  creativegreeniu: first step is recognizing value & necessity of it and specifically asking campaigners to do it.

  zerostrategist: Q3: I think Access 2 the net, uncensored information, being unmonitored or not fearing reprisals for being an active are important

  engagejoe: ‘An element that’s integral 2 a campaign’s success?’ Agree w/@rootwork’s highlights: truly valuing & empowering supporters is key.

  zerostrategist: Google / China comes to mind! Thank god for SMS, proxy servers & smart mobs right?

  ChristinasWorld: key to good campaign is offering meaningful action for supporters to take; having a network who is ready to take action helps alot

  realize_ink: Q3: empowerment & ownership

  realize_ink: @amysampleward Giving ppl the opportunity 2 make it their own. Like @350 encouraged ppl’s cr8ivity 2 bring change but hd 1 ask<

  ChristinasWorld: @amysampleward sharing thru soc med can help maintain an action network – don’t just talk to supporters when u need something

  5MillionPeople: @amysampleward: A big part of it is surely about making sure your network feel their actions are having an effect.

  ChristinasWorld: Building an effective network #4change who is ready 2 take action requires consistency – sharing stories, building trust in an ongoing way

  rootwork: Be honest w/ppl about how a given action gets the movement closer to change. Like a lg version of mission line-of-sight

  neddotcom: Cluetrain may be 10 years old, but was 20 years ahead of its time, very related to social media today http://cluetrain.com/

  ehon: Online campaigning – the power offer to stakeholders needs to be designed and executed properly & strategically.

  Question #4: What are the most difficult aspects of managing/running a campaign?

  engagejoe:  another best-practice for online campaigning? making it about the cause, not the org(s) that’s coordinating it.

  rootwork Giving up control.

  ehon: @engagejoe @rootwork valuing & empowering is obvious. Most campaigns lack long-term strategic plan to keep momentum flowing.

  SocialBttrfly: @amysampleward For me, one of the more frustrating items, not nec. difficult, is overcoming the campaign mentality.

  SocialBttrfly: Along lines of what @ehon was saying. Needs a strategic plan. Most campaigns address short term and focus on one P, promotion.

  realize_ink: Q4: in some instances, seeing campaign as a tactic, not the entire strategy.

  realize_ink: camp strat brings u closer 2 achieving org strat. camp success = met org objective. org success = worked out of a job.

  ChristinasWorld: Q4 I think keeping up campaign momentum can be tiring for campaign champions. I hate that feeling of bugging people

  zerostrategist: @ChristinasWorld It IS tiring, mastering the art of the “light touch / soft ask” is not easy to keep that campaign momentum going

  zerostrategist: @ChristinasWorld I found that when you run a great social media campaign, other champions and supporters can help keep that going

  SocialBttrfly I personally like the term “initiative” vs. “campaign.” “Initiative” tends to get people motivated and is action-focused.

  neddotcom: Is your campaign for good push or pull? America’s Giving Challenge = push vs. Kiva peer-to-peer microfinance = pull

  neddotcom: Pull can be more effective because people are coming directly to you, hopefully in great numbers and ready to do something

  SocialBttrfly: I can expand in a post. In ways, it’s semantics. But the word campaign, to me, says push rather than a fueling a movement.

  ehon: Challenge w online campaign – lots of sympathisers not enough activists. Inspiration doesn’t transform to action.

  rootwork: .@ehon That’s why “awareness-building” is such a limited goal. I’ll take “action-building” or “change-building”!

  zerostrategist: @ehon Might be right about that challenge, but I have seen the reverse too. Where everyone wants to lead but no one wants 2 follow

  Question #5: What are the best ways for would-be campaigners to identify possible collaborators/partners?

  engagejoe:  w/online campaigning, seems a (natural?) challenge 2 coordinate w/other movement builders working on same issue

  rootwork: With social media, it seems easy (maybe too easy!) to find the natural leaders & activists and bring them into the “inner circle”

  rootwork: But I think that leadership cultivation is key. Someone always Tweeting out yr action alerts? See if they want to help plan them!

  ChristinasWorld: Q5  thinking of @kanter & #tweetsgiving, seems clear that existing networks built over time produce strong natural collaborators

  ChristinasWorld: btw – meant @kanter’s recent b-day campaign & #tweetsgiving from @epicchange as 2 examples where collaborators identify themselves

  engagejoe:  w/@christinasworld that building on & seeking connections from yr ntworks makes for a gr8 starting place 2 find potential partners

  Question #6 – something people always ask me:  how do you measure impact of campaigns (esp w/ social media)?

  ChristinasWorld: Measuring impact of #4change soc med campaigns: count unique actions/donors/RTs/shares/posts… but most important, was objective achieved?

  zerostrategist: Q6 Most SM people say that it’s the number of “social actions” taken during campaign period, but I think it is much more then that #4change

  zerostrategist: Q6: The fact is many things are just just not measurable even with the best tools so pay, attention to tangibles & intangibles!

  zerostrategist: Q6: Do the best u can to setup automated systems to capture metrics, look at the numbers, but don’t obsess over them or the ROI

  Steveistall: @zerostrategist Agreed! It’s much more important to measure outcomes (especially behaviour change) than to measure outputs

  engagejoe:  w/@zerostrategist that “How do you measure impact?” will never be as easy as counting clicks, challenges & solutions too complex.

  engagejoe:  few measurement of success: Did you build relationships? Is the mvmnt bigger, stronger? Are we closer 2 our goals?

  zerostrategist: @ChristinasWorld Like how can you measure the depth of a “social action” or an interaction with a human (virtual or physical)?

  sdmediareform: Measure campaigns by if it is helping advance community exposure. Ask around…

  engagejoe:  social media also offers a gr8 opportunity 2 discover, seek out, & highlight the stories which may show the success of a campaign

  —–

  Future chats:

  The idea was suggested during the chat last night that next month we discuss the issue of “Cause Fatique.”  I think there are lots of stories to tell, questions to ask, and examples to share on this topic and hope you’ll join us!

  You can stay on top of the #4change topic by following the hashtag on Twitter or following the blog at:

  http://4change.memeshift.com

   

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• 

  January #4Change Topic: Campaigning

  amysampleward 2:59 pm on January 3, 2010 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Campaigning (5), campaigns, case studies, Delicious, Online Communities (3), Social Media (11), Social Network (2), strategy, Twitter (10)

  The January #4Change Twitter Chat will focus on the use of Twitter and other social media tools in campaigning.

  About the Topic

  Campaigning can mean many different things and we want to keep the definition of the topic fairly open for this chat, in order to keep insights, resources and conversation in the Q/A format as open to valuable input as possible.  Here are some ways that campaigning can be framed for the purpose of this chat:

  • moving canvassing door to door to online networks
  • political action
  • local community building
  • tying communications, partners, and actions together via social media
  • social change projects or programs locally or globally

  The way we examine the use of social media in campaigning can be further framed in some of these ways:

  1. change campaigns (internal vs external), also organization type variations
  2. social media change campaigns (specific nuances)
  3. change campaigns vs political campaigns (similarities vs differences)
  4. educational campaigns (organizational / institutional / internet) riffing off of last month’s topic
  5. building campaign coalitions & recruiting campaign champions

  How to Participate

  Share your ideas now:

  You can share your ideas about the topic as well as any resources, case studies, examples, research etc. by leaving a comment on this blog post.  Or, you can tag your resources or posts using Delicious with the tag “4change” and we’ll pick it up for you.

  Join the Twitter chat:

  1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
  2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for #4Change
  3. Jump in to the conversation by adding #4Change to your Twitter message
  4. Feeling brave? Check out TweetChat – it’s a great application that integrates with your Twitter account and makes chats more fun! You can turn it off after the chat.

  Rules for #4Change Chat

  1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @memeshift to have them considered.
  2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
  3. Stay on topic!
  4. Be cool.

  Details

  • Date: January, 14th 2010
  • When: 2 – 4 pm US Pacific Time, 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time, 10pm – 12am London, UK (Late!)
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
  • Topic: Campaigning: How is social/new media affecting the the way we build and conduct campaigns? and more!

  We’ll update this post with specific questions to be asked during the chat and will capture resources and conversations from the chat, too.  Send us your ideas!

  —–

  UPDATE: Here are the conversation starters we’ll be using in tonight’s chat.

  1. How do we define campaigning in the context of social media?
  - does growing a Facebook Fan page numbers count?
  - does growing an email list count?
  - what about calls to action that aren’t online?

  2. Given our definition, what are some of the best examples you’ve seen? Why?

  3. What are elements in these examples that are integral to the campaign’s success?

  4. What are the most difficult aspects of managing/running a campaign?

  5. What are the best ways for would-be campaigners to identify possible collaborators/partners?
  - other orgs to champion campaign
  - sponsors to put some skin ($) in the game
  - influencers and influential communities to reach out to and engage

  

   
• 

  Vote for 4Change at SXSW

  amysampleward 6:05 am on August 24, 2009 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Challenges, Community (2), Competitions, Innovation, Social Change (7), SXSW Interactive, Twitter (10)

  

  Vote here!

  The #4Change crew threw in an idea to the SXSW Interactive conference for next year and we are excited to make it happen, will you help us?!

  VOTE HERE

  or read on to learn more….

  Our Panel Idea

  “Competition > Innovation > Change: Examining Competitions For Social Change”

  Organizations, foundations, even individuals are creating social innovation competitions, hoping to drive social change projects and solutions into the global marketplace.  What are these new competitions about—are they working? How do we—innovators, entrepreneurs—know what’s going to make real-world impact and where do we start? Let’s discuss: join us!

  Here are some of the questions we hope to answer (or at least ask!) in the presentation:

  1. What are social innovation challenges?
  2. Why are challenges important? What need do they serve?
  3. What are the different types of competitions and which work best in driving change?
  4. How can challenges/competitions be used to discover, support, and accelerate social change projects and solutions?
  5. Do social innovation competitions spur real world impact?
  6. Does the success of competitions rely on the judges or the prize money?
  7. What’s required to create competitions that will generate real innovations?
  8. How can challenges support collaboration between projects?
  9. How can communities or groups start their own challenges to solve local issues?
  10. What’s the future of how we use challenges to drive social change?

  How to Vote

  Visit SXSW’s PanelPicker page here and give us a thumbs up!

  Voting will open on August 17th and close on September 4th – so be sure to vote today!

  About SXSW Interactive

  “SXSW Interactive features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line up of special programs showcasing the best new websites, video games and startup ideas the community has to offer. Join us March 2010 for the panels, the parties, the 13th Annual Web Awards, the ScreenBurn at SXSW Arcade, the Film and Interactive Trade Show and Exhibition, Accelerator at SXSW and, of course, the inspirational experience that only SXSW can deliver.”

  About the #4Change Team Presenters

  The panel is comprised of the #4Change team, a group of individuals collaborating to propel the social media for social change conversation forward via monthly Twitter-based chats.  Competitions for change is an important topic to the #4Change community and a Compendium of Competitions has started growing. More at http://4change.memeshift.com

  
   
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  August #4Change Chat: Opportunities for Collaboration

  amysampleward 6:43 am on August 10, 2009 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Amnesty International, Collaboration (2), Global, International, Online Communities (3), Social Media (11), Social Network (2), Twitter (10)

  The next #4change chat is this Thursday – I hope you can join us!

  Details:

  • Date: August, 13th
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
  • When: 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time
  • Topic: How do social media open new doors for collaboration (especially internationally)?

  Starting the Conversations

  Unfortunately for me, I will unable to join the chat this Thursday; so, I’d like to offer some conversation starters now to get you thinking of questions, ideas, and stories you want to share!

  Here are some questions to consider:

  • has your organization found new collaborators (other organizations, companies, networks, etc.) for your work via social media use/presence?
  • have you reached out, either as an individual or an organization, with opportunities to collaborate to others you only connected with via social media? why?
  • what issues are unique to collaborations of this type?
  • what kind of reassurances (and what are the mechanisms for providing them) are unique to parties entering collaborations via social media?
  • how could collaborations enabled or maintained via social media be more or less sustainable than traditional tools/outlets?

  And here are some examples to consider:

  • SocialActions – a great example of social media powering the sharing and aggregation (and thus the collaboration and partnership) of social action opportunity portals all over the world
  • Amnesty International, Red Cross, and others – organizers working globally/locally have changed the way they campaign or operate now that they are really in the same space (online)
  • Journalism – writers are now using their social media platforms (whether it’s Twitter or Facebook, or even the newspaper’s comment-enabled websites) to collaborate with witnesses, locals, and experts for their contributions to the story

  Join the Conversation

  1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
  2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
  3. Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to your Twitter message

  Rules for #Change Chats

  1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @tomjd without the hash tag (to keep them out of the stream) to have them considered.
  2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
  3. Stay on topic!
  4. Stay cool.

  Join us for the chat this Thursday – looking forward to discussing the role social media play in collaboration!

  
   
• 

  Lessons Learned: Using Twitter for a Global Conversation

  amysampleward 3:09 am on July 16, 2009 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Conversation (2), Global Community, Hashtags, Lessons Learned, Online Communities (3), Twitter (10)

  Over the last few months, we have seen Twitter serve the global community by playing an important role in communications – whether it’s finding new friends (#FollowFriday), or telling the world about your government/election/political state (#IranElection), whether it’s having a conversation together (#4Change), or non-linearly replacing your RSS feed.  What do those # mean? That’s part of the key to success when using Twitter for a Global conversation. Using hashtags lets you mark your message as pertaining to a certain topic, then automatically include that message in a stream with everyone else’s that include the same hashtag.  Using Twitter search or other tools, you can watch news and updates about the election in Iran by using #IranElection; or, find interesting people to follow and connect with using #FollowFriday to peruse the recommendations that pile up on Fridays.

  There are many opportunities to see hashtags in action!  There are also more and more opportunities emerging for people to coordinate global conversations that happen at the same time, instead of disconnected over time (still tied together via hashtag).  I am part of the planning team working on the monthly chat series behind #4Change.  There is also a Twitter-based chat starting up for consultants who work with social benefit organizations.

  I wanted to share some of the lessons I’ve learned from my involvement with organizing Twitter chats.  I’m looking forward to your ideas, too!

  1. Build a landing pad

  It is helpful to have some place where you can send people interested in your topic or chat that haven’t participated before – whether it’s a website, a blog, or just a separate Twitter account.  If you have a landing pad somewhere online where you can refer people and provide information about your chats, your group, or your purpose in more than 140 characters, it will save you a lot of extra tweeting!  Plus, it will provide a natural and obviously place to aggregate your content, thoughts, updates, and promotion of the chats.

  2. Brainstorm lots of questions but pick a few

  It seems obvious that people using a communication tool like Twitter, and then electing to participate in a large-scale public chat would not require much prodding to keep conversation going.  But, it is actually just this reason that it’s more important to pre-select your questions.  Twitter chats are slower moving than you’d expect because everyone is waiting on the Twitter search to refresh with new posts.  It works best to have 3-5 questions selected ahead of time and shared with a core group of chat leaders or guides.  This way, there is a group of people helping keep the conversation on track, focused on one question at a time.  Otherwise, the group can quickly and easily splinter off to other topics using other hashtags, after all, that’s what Twitter enables all day, every day.

  3. Consider your time

  If you really want to pull in participants from all over the world, it’s important to consider what time you are holding the chat.  It’s also important to consider how long you want the chat to be.  Knowing that Twitter based chats are slower in development and pace than something like a live web chat, you don’t want it to be too narrow of a window, but you can only hold people’s attention for so long as well.

  4. Narrow your focus

  #4Change or #NPCons (nonprofit consultants) seem like pretty obvious topics. But coordinating a conversation would be far too difficult without a specific topic for that chat because the possibilities for questions or specific ideas within those two general topics are endless.  For example, recent 4Change topics have included using competitions for social change and Twitter as a political/revolutionary tool.  This also means people can identify ahead of time any resources they want to share during the chat and if they are interested in the specific topic of the month or not.

  5. Invite your audience

  If you have your topic for the month picked out, you may have some experts, prominent thinkers, or maybe organizations/companies/ groups that are known for working in or with that topic that you want to explicitly invite to participate.  Ensuring that fresh voices participate is important – we could all talk to the same group of people without organizing a public conversation.  Promoting the chat widely via Twitter and other social networks is a great way to find more participants, too.

  6. Never underestimate the technology

  I already mentioned that Twitter-based chats aren’t as fast-paced as live web chats or some other technologies.  But, you also have to remember that Twitter isn’t in your control!  If the server has a glitch, if there’s scheduled maintenance, or if search tools lag, then your Twitter chat will dramatically suffer.  This happened during the July #4Change chat and caused us to call the chat off half-way through as search was 15 minutes behind and many participants’ messages weren’t showing up at all.

  7. Participate!

  #4Change:
  If you want to learn more about the #4Change monthly chat series, visit http://4change.memeshift.com  The next chat topic will be announced there and on Twitter using #4Change.

  #NPCons:
  Join the first #NPCons chat this coming Tuesday, 21 July, at 1pm US Pacific time.  These chats will be monthly, on the 3rd Tuesdays, at 1 pm Pacific.

  
   
• 

  4Change Chat: Revolutionary social media - social tools for revolts, protests

  amysampleward 2:56 pm on July 7, 2009 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Campaigning (5), Organizing, Revolt, Revolution, Social Change (7), Social Media (11), Twitter (10)

  The next #4change chat has been announced and I hope you can join in!
  

  Details:

  • Date: Thursday, July 9 (moved to July, 23rd – today! – same time)
  • Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)
  • When: 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time
  • Topic: Revolutionary social media: Exploring social tools for revolts, upheavals & protests

  Why are we doing this and why would you want to join? Great questions:

  Social media is becoming a key driver of social change, allowing for the dissemination of new ideas, the formation of new communities and coalitions and the realization of new efficiencies and reach by existing social change groups. Throughout the world activists, organizers and non-profit professionals are exploring how best to use these tools, and sharing the results using the tools themselves. However these conversations are less international and therefore less effective than they could be.

  We have so much to learn from each other. From new forms of political campaigning in the United States, experiments in e-government and civic participation in England, from the fight against internet censorship in Australia and New Zealand and from start-ups in Canada and France. And beyond.

  We need a platform for light-weight, easily-organized and openly accessible conversations involving people from numerous countries. Twitter, I believe, provides us with such a platform.

  When do the chats take place?

  Chats are on the second Thursday of each month between 5-7pm US Eastern Time (GMT-4).

  Who is leading and participating in these chats?

  #4Change was initially proposed by Tom Dawkins (@tomjd) in Washington DC who is joined by Todd Pitt (@zerostrategist – Washington DC), Morgan Sully (@memeshfit – Oakland, California), Natasha Judd (@tashjudd – London, England), Edward Harran (@edwardharran – Brisbane, Australia) and Vibewire (@vibewire – Sydney, Australia).

  But the #4Change chats are open to everyone interested in discussing social media’s role in social change! Don’t be shy about joining—that’s one great thing about an open, public chat like this, you can follow along silently until you have something you want to say and no one will know

  How can you follow along or join the conversation?

  1. If you want to contribute to the conversation, you’ll need to have a twitter account (it’s free).
  2. To follow the conversation (whether you are planning to contribute or not), use http://search.twitter.com or another application to search on Twitter for “#4Change”
  3. Jump in to the conversation by adding “#4Change” (without the “”) to one of your Twitter messages

  Are there any rules for #Change Chats?

  1. #4Change will be structured around a series of questions which all participants can respond to. Send your questions to @tomjd without the hash tag (to keep them out of the stream) to have them considered.
  2. Introduce yourself in 1 tweet at the start or when you join.
  3. Stay on topic!
  4. Stay cool.

  Join me for the chat this Thursday – looking forward to discussing the role competitions play in social change!

   
• 

  Competitions for Change Compendium

  amysampleward 6:55 pm on July 1, 2009 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Impacts and Indicators

  The June #4Change chat topic focused on Challenges/Competitions for Social Change. Early on in that online chat, the request emerged for a compendium or other list of “all” the Challenges and Competitions focused on social benefit. Such an overview would let those interested in participating or facilitating a competition review the full landscape of options, characteristics of each, and so on.

  So, to answer that call, the #4Change crew has started building the compendium and now it’s your turn to chip in! Here’s the link to see what we have so far.

  Below is a form you can use to easily contribute to the Competitions for Change Compendium.

  
   
• 

  4Change Chat focused on Competitions for Social Change

  amysampleward 1:44 am on June 26, 2009 | Comments Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Competition (2), Social Change (7), Twitter (10)

  June 11 was the June #4Change chat.  These monthly online discussions take place via Twitter – participants add to the conversation by tweeting messages and using the tag #4change; this lets people follow the conversation, whether they have a Twitter account or not, by following the tag #4change on search.twitter.com. This month’s topic was Challenges and Competitions for Social Innovation.

  You can see the recap of the chat here.

  The main 3 questions for this chat were:

  1. How can challenges/competitions be used to discover, support, and accelerate social change projects and solutions?
  2. What are the different types of competitions and which work best in driving change?
  3. How can challenges support collaboration btw projects?

  We are pulling together some of the key takeaways and would love to hear from you if you watched or participated, or even if you didn’t (you can read the transcript from the chat and add your thoughts, too!).

  Two key takeaways from Morgan and two from me include:

  • the potential for future collaboration with other projects should be put into the judging criteria
  • competitions can surface stories and causes that might not otherwise get any attention
  • when creating a competition or challenge, it is incredibly important to be clear about the context (who is involved, who is targeted, what the ideas will be directed towards, etc.)
  • there is a real interest in creating a compendium of competitions and their characteristics (I’ll be helping us wrangle this one and providing more details and opportunities for the community to start creating the compendium soon!)

  Share your takeaways, read the transcript, and more!

  Read more about #4Change, the Why, How and Who behind the monthly conversation series.