Last week, I had a fun time moderating the June #4Change Twitter Chat on Online Community Building. Thanks to all those who participated or followed along, and to those who will join the conversation now! This wrap up will highlight some of the insights and resources shared during the chat, but, if you’d rather, you can review the full transcript.

Note on platform: During last week’s Twitter chat, not unlike previous chats, we dealt with some major issues around lag and load time. What makes a Twitter chat different than a blog post, for example, is that the conversation is 1. real time, and 2. co-created. A blog post has, like this, one person writing it and sharing it at the end for comments. That’s not to say that conversation can’t be incredible – but even then it is probably still not real time. I’m a huge proponent of blogs (obviously) but didn’t want to give up on the chat when Twitter was misbehaving. So, I turned to CoverItLive as it was a tool I’d used before and knew I could launch quickly. I hope that in the future we don’t have to turn to a back up/alternative, but I’d love to hear your thoughts about the use of CoverItLive this time!

What’s the point in using “global” tools (social media) for local organizing?

From @amoration: I find we’re always both global & local, so many of us travel frequently that virtual organizing tools are essential even for “local” endeavors

From @cosechajusta: I think part of it is just getting a message out there in as many formats as possible, so you reach as broad an audience as possible. Plus, sending emails, mass texts, etc is much quicker than doorknocking or cold calling folks.

From @rootwork: Well, I think it’s about going where people/supporters/potential supporters are. And in each local place, people are on different types of social media, some of which are global in scope. But that doesn’t mean you appeal to everyone on the planet every time you post on Facebook — you target your use of social media.

From @winwinapps: The fact that social media is forming networks and connections allows local to have more global influence. But for now local is still something I use a map and a tank of gas to determine the limits of.

Best Practices:

From @davidahood: Still strongly believe that there has to be an element of face to face/on the ground connection to any successful engagement and mobilisation of any community. At the very least the key central organisers need to have close ties to local organisers so that there is a robust and well understood vision and objectives.

From @neddotcom: one strategy: ease of participation, make it easy.

From @davidahood: agree with @neddotcom. People want to take action on things that they care about – whether it impacts them directly or not. Our “job” is to facilitate that action and make it easier for them to participate. Inspire, empower and facilitate to take action. Social media makes that much easier.

From @rootwork: Social media is inclined toward leadership development — it’s built around people posting, blogging, photographing, videoing, etc. — so it’s good to play to that advantage. Figure out how to bring enthusiastic social media participants into the “inner circle” of planning & organizing.

From @winwinapps: Make it fun. Make the goal easily quantifiable.

From @pelleaardema: I do believe you could draw an ‘engagement pyramid’ for social media too. Not everybody needs to stick with the easy actions, some volunteers may be interested to set up ‘their own’ soc med campaign for your cause

From @neddotom: recap 1. easy 2. fun 3. overall goal 4. action oriented 5. decentralized/open

Tools:

From @rootwork: Facebook has been pretty effective at creating a place for discussion/strategy between events or meetings. Like I mentioned earlier, we use Twitter for live updates from events, and that’s been very successful — lots of positive feedback that people can follow along even if they’re not there. It works really well for a) hearings (legislative or municipal) and b) rallies or direct action. We haven’t used it as much at social events because it’s less clear what to “report” on.

From @pelleaardema: we use twitter, facebook to share what’s happening in the online forums, post announcements, invitations, etc.

Metrics:

From @rootwork: We’re a pretty small organization, with a small staff and budget, so I admit to not doing as much measurement as we should because of lack of time and staff resources. Mostly we measure it in whether we get positive feedback from our supporters and whether they seem engaged (commenting on stuff on Facebook, Retweeting, etc.). However I just found this great how-to on integrating Google Analytics on a Facebook Page, and hope to do that soon. http://www.webdigi.co.uk/blog/2010/google-analytics-for-facebook-fan-pages/

From @pelleaardema: # followers, # retweets, # clickthroughs (bit.ly). also measuring the number of clickthroughs from these sources to the main site (via Google Analytics).

From @neddotcom: WRT measurement, developed term CPA (with friend Andy Bourland (RIP) at first Interactive Advertising conference Monterey 1997. Cost per action. Action = money, sale, clickthrough, unique visitor, download, lead generation, email address, form fill out, questionnaire, etc. Working with Seth Godin at Yoyodyne, we defined measurement as 1) email participants then 2) continued/ongoing engagement

From @davidahood: We tend to track email opening and click through rates, what percentage of people take action from click through and growth in numbers of fans/followers/members. Personally still have a lot to learn about analytics and starting to use more – mostly google. But not everything is measureable…. mostly talking about level/quality of engagement via social media and feedback. will tend to summarise and record most common responses and also a few key ones that might be unexpected for assessment at end of a campaign or activity. if you couldn’t tell already, I’m big on conversation. So I value the interaction I have with people which isn’t always measureable but is undoubtedly invaluable in terms of engagement – expected or otherwise. The most engaged people will sometimes come up with the most amazing and creative ways to take action or influence. A great campaign is one in which people are so engaged it just takes a life of its own. That’s why its important to be clear on vision, objectives and values.

Roles:

From @amyrsward: think in organizing and community building there are always some roles, even if they vary from group to group in how they operate: guides/navigators, campaigners, day-to-day folks, content creators, share-ers etc

From @jonasthanatos: Can communicate effectively.. is persuasive, convincing, has charisma. I think all roles in community organizing have a bit of “willing to try to change the world” in them.

From @pelleaardema: thinking out loud: content creators/organizers, a positive spirit (definitely needed), guide/leader…. and i guess some positive criticism can help as well. Usually generates a lot of energy

From @davidahood: I’d say you need someone who knows the issue inside and out (campaigner), someone who is a media and communications specialist, someone great with web, social media and other technology and someone to organise events and coordinate volunteers and engage directly with members of the community one on one (community organiser?). also helps to have someone who can focus on fundraising. of course, in smaller organisations, this may have to be only two or three people

Successful and Unsuccessful Examples:

From @davidahood: Greenpeace internationally had great success recently with the Nestle campaign getting Nestle to end deforestation in Indonesia for palm oil. The campaign was active online and on the ground in over 22 countries – all with a focus on Nestle’s head office in Switzerland. Social media used to engage local supporters to act globally.

From @pelleaardema: Looking at the local communities I know: a lot of NABUUR communities use twitter to reach out, keep their supporters updated. HAve a look at @arrowwebhosp for example: a slum hospital in Nairobi

From @pelleaardema: we’ve tried to set up a twitter chat to answer concrete questions from local communities in a short timespan. That was not particularly successful. A lot of effort to get pple into the chat, then a lot of confusion, hard to manage the discussion and no concrete outcomes

From @rootwork: We tried to do some end-of-year fundraising through Facebook and Twitter. I think we got $20 But we didn’t plan it out very well, so I think it was more a failure of thinking through an effective strategy than an inability for those tools to enable such a thing.

From @pelleaardema: some NABUUR volunteers recently tried to fundraise for 400 malaria nets, via Twitter and betterplace.org. I think the lack of background on blog etc lead to them raising about 1/3 of the budget. Support info is very important. and good timing indeed

From @rootwork: The Media Mobilizing Project has done a lot here in Philly connecting community organizing to social media and especially video — community media trainings, organizing people to interview each other, etc. http://mediamobilizing.org/ VozMob is another great example of this, organizing immigrant communities in Los Angeles, using mobile phones, photos and video http://vozmob.net/en/about

From @neddotcom: Thomas Kriese as community manager of the now closed Omidyar.net was a great example of quite, decentralized leadership style helping guide a community to make real things happen in the world. Dozens and dozens of community lead projects happened around the world during the networks 3 years.

From @davidahood: San Francisco Zoo has done a wonderful job and engaging and supporting their community. http://www.sfzoo.org/openrosters/view_homepage.asp?orgkey=1859 It all started with one guy at the zoo (his name escapes me) who wanted to connect more meaningfully to all the people coming to see the animals. People now share videos and pics and are great ambassadors/advocates for the zoo and it’s program.

From @pelleaardema: A very small, local initiative: 3 community projects in Uganda, trying to conquer malaria http://twitter.com/TweetANet

Follow #4Change on Twitter or check out the #4Change blog to join the monthly conversations.

Last night’s #4Change chat was put to a challenge by Twitter itself not working and keeping up, so we moved over to a CoverItLive chat.  You can review the transcript here: June #4Change Chat – Community Organizing

Thanks to all those who participated! I’ll be posting a wrap up of key points and case studies this weekend.

I love community organizing. It’s true! It’s something that I am energized by, passionate about, and take so much pleasure in helping others do well, too. I’ve had experience organizing communities offline in local communities, and organizing community online – but the kind of organizing that inspires me the most is combining online and offline. Social media tools work because they are powered by people, and people are social. And when we get connected, and can connect our networks with other networks, we get even more social and have huge potential to make great things happen.  My work with NetSquared and with Social by Social has helped shape so many of my beliefs about community organizing and has offered the opportunity to meet so many others doing it well.

Lots of organizations, campaigns, and even individuals are now using social media tools to organize online and offline – bringing local communities together in new and powerful ways.

This month’s #4Change chat takes on the topic of using social media tools for community organizing – and I hope you’ll join us!

Details:

Date: June 10th
Time: 2 pm PST, 5 pm EST, 10 pm UK
Location: Twitter! #4Change
Topic: Community Organizing

June #4Change Chat Questions:

To keep the two-hour chat on topic, I’ll be helping guide conversation by using some of the questions below to drive us to share ideas, examples and resources. If you want to take a peak at where we may go in the conversation, review the questions below.

1. What kind of communities do you currently work with and what kinds of social media tools do they use?
2. What’s the point in using “global” tools (social media) for local organizing?
3. What strategies are important to keep in mind when using social media in local organizing?
4. What tools have you or your communities found useful for growing or organizing, hosting or distributing?
5. What tools have been most unsuccessful?
6. What are the online community organizing best practices from your experience?
7. What roles are important in online community organizing?
8. What are your favorite examples or case studies where this is really working?
9. What metrics are valuable in measuring success of social media tools for organizing?

You can also suggest questions or topic areas to be included by leaving a comment on this post!

How to Participate

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.

Conversations and Presentations

For some recent thoughts and best practices on community building, check out:

• How our tools define “Community”
• Sustainable Community Building
• Return on Engagement for your Community
• Bringing Community Organizing into Online Campaigns
• Building Stronger Online Communities without Losing Your Sanity
• Crowdsourcing: Community vs Crowd
• Online Community Building: Gardening vs Landscaping

New to #4Change? Learn More:

To learn more about #4Change monthly twitter chat go to the #4Change Blog, read about #4Change and search twitter for #4Change. To participate just join in twitter conversation from anywhere in the world.

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

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 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

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!

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.

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.