Archive for the ‘Social Change’ Category

Posted on December 4, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Is the Digital Death campaign a dead wrong way to use social media for social good?

Do you miss ALicia Keys, Daphne Guinness, Justin Timberlake, Kim Kardashian, Usher or Lady Gaga? Sorry to say but they might be still dead. Not dead in real life but dead on Twitter and Facebook. The Digital Death celebrity campaign stop using Twitter and Facebook to help bring awareness for World Aids Day started on December 1. So far they have raise $282, 922. which is great but it has been four days and I’m starting to wonder if the celebrities are enjoying their time away off of Twitter and Facebook or they are like hurry up and give so we can get back to posting status updates.

After seeing a tweet from @JessicaRMurray I decided to read the post by Todd Van Hoosear on the Social Media Club website which makes some goods points about the Digital Death campaign. Here’s an excerpt:

These celebrities overestimated the value of a day’s worth of twitter. But more than that, they overestimated the impact their absence would have on their audience, which seems to be rather small. The conversation moves on, whether you’re in it or not.

Todd is right, going “dead” or silent using Twitter and Facebook to help raise money or awareness was not a good idea in my opinion. I wouldn’t put the blame on the celebrities overestimating the value of using Twitter or Facebook though, but maybe the organizer or their PR firm or agency who came up with the idea. I’m sure they figured that with over 10 million Twitter followers and Facebook friends combined they would raised one million dollars on December 1 and it would make for a good press/PR story but now it may be an even bigger story that it may take a week for some of the world’s most popular celebrities to raise one million dollars for World AIDS day. Also it’s not like the Digital Death campaign didn’t recieve a lot of press/media coverage. Just do a Google Blog search and you’ll see that when the campaign started everyone was blogging about it, from tech blogs, major media outlets and various social media sites. But I hope this is a lesson or a reminder. It’s something social media 101, unless you’re having an I’m addicted to Twitter and Facebook day, if you want to use Twitter and Facebook as a way to help raise money for a good cause it’s all about “engagement, outreach, relationships, and content message. But if you’re silent or “dead” how are the celebrities going to use their social media presence to help raise money? Yes, I know their’s more to social media outside of Twitter and Facebook and I have not looked to see if the celebrities are posting videos, writing blog post, sending email newsletters or using their other media outlets to help raise money but the focus around the Digital Death campaign is they are not using Twitter and Facebook.

As I write this blog post thinking about what I would have done differently, I’m thinking two ways. One being to have a 24 hour celebrity web-a-thon giving each celebrity and hour to perform or live Q & A reaching out to their fans for donations. I know it’s old school but it works. The other would be something using a location-based or web-based platform and matching check-ins to donations. For example I’m using the One True Fan bar on this site and they could have encourage people to check into the http://buylife.org/ site and share with their social graph and tie a donations to check-ins.

Not to criticized without doing my little part. For World AIDS Day, I changed my avatar on Twitter and Facebook to the World AIDS Day badge and sent out a few tweets with information how to help. For a previous World AIDS day, I went and got an AIDS test and posted photos on flickr. Regardless, hats off Keep a Child Alive for the idea, and working with various celebrities for a great cause.

About Digital Death campaign

Starting December 1 – World AIDS Day – the world’s most followed celebrity Tweeters are sacrificing their digital lives to help save millions of real lives affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.
That means no more Twitter or Facebook updates from any of them. No more knowing where they are, what they had for dinner, or what interesting things are happening in their lives. From here on out, they’re dead. Kaput. Finished.
But they don’t have to die in vain. And they don’t have to stay dead for long. Just watch their Last Tweet and Testaments, and buy their lives back.
Every single dollar helps Keep a Child Alive fight this terrible disease. And when $1,000,000 is reached, everyone will be back online and tweeting in no time.

You can donate and bring back your favorite celebrity along with supporting World AIDS Day here: http://buylife.org/

What would you have done differently using celebrities for World Aids Day instead of the Digital Death campaign?

Posted on November 30, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

30 days of Movember photos and last chance to donate to TeamRDU

It’s November 30 and that mean it is the last day movember and thousands of men across the world have been walking around with crazy shaped mustaches to support men health. I’m fortunate enough to be on the awesome #TeamRDU lead by the one and only Gregory NG. We are currently $100 away from Greg’s team goal of raising $20,000 and I’m sitting at a measly $25.00 raised. (For the record, I’m bad at fund raising, I ate all the Krispy Kreme doughnuts when I was a kid). Regardless, I have enjoyed taking part in Movember 2010 even though it started off as an emotional journey by shaving off all of my facial hair. Here’s my month in movember photos.

It’s not to late to donate to help the cause. I want to say thanks Gregory NG for leading the team and my fellow #TeamRDU members for doing an awesome job!

The Mo, slang for moustache, and November come together each year for Movember.

Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia. The plan was simple – to bring the moustache back as a bit of a joke and do something for men’s health. No money was raised in 2003, but the guys behind the Mo realized the potential a moustache had in generating conversations about men’s health. Inspired by the women around them and all they had done for breast cancer, the Mo Bros set themselves on a course to create a global men’s health movement.

In 2004 the campaign evolved and focused on raising awareness and funds for the number one cancer affecting men – prostate cancer. 432 Mo Bros joined the movement that year, raising $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia – representing the single largest donation they had ever received.

The Movember moustache has continued to grow year after year, expanding to the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, the Netherlands and Finland.

In 2009, global participation of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas climbed to 255,755, with over one million donors raising $42 Million US equivalent dollars for Movember’s global beneficiary partners.

UPDATE: But still donate!

Posted on October 15, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

@blogactionday blog action day 2009: climate change

http://www.blogactionday.org

If you’re anywhere near the blogosphere today then I’m sure you know today is Blog Action Day and this year’s topic is climate change. I’m currently at Blog World Expo and I honestly I’m not a climate change “expert” so I wanted to highlight a few blogs that have already posted about climate change.

• Blog Action Day 2009: Bloggers vs. Climate Change
• A Green Blog Action Day
• Fast Fission Podcast #7: Climate Change Blog Action Day – Why am I so passionate about nuclear energy?
• The human face of global warming: Blog Action Day 2009
• blog action day ’09

Personally I hope everyone finds a way to look at their daily lives and  find at least two or three ways you can adjust your habits for a greener lifestyle.

What are your thoughts on Climate Change?

Posted on September 15, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Facebook releases inspiring video to promote the Facebook Developer Garage Program

For those who know me, know that I love technology, online videos and video blogging. Well today I originally saw on Dave Morin’s tumblr blog an inspiring video created by Facebook about the history of the Facebook Developer Garage Program and how all it takes to make a difference sometimes is your passion and a laptop. Take a look at the video below.

Update: For more on the video read: Celebrating Facebook Developers

After watching the video doesn’t make you want to create something awesome to change the world? Great video Facebook.

Posted on June 19, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Weekly Pitch: BabelWith.me a group translation chat room web app.

The Pitch
BabelWith.me is a simple chat tool that allows you to hold conversations in up to 45 languages. Invite your friends through Twitter, Facebook and email to join you in a conversation without language barriers. Or you can simply share your unique chat room URL anywhere you would like.

As users from around the world join your chat room, they’re given the option to choose a nickname and their language. Choosing any language other than English will immediately translate the entire chat room into the language they choose, including the chat log and all static copy.

BabelWith.me implements Google Translate’s API and runs on Google App Engine’s Python platform. This offers BabelWith.me great reliability and flexibility as we continue to add usefulness to the application and expand the opportunity for real-time, multi-language communication.

LifeChurch.tv is the non-profit organization behind BabelWith.me.

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My first impressions:
I’m very impressed with the design and the usability of BabelWith.me, it’s simple and it works.
Will I use it?
Maybe, but I don’t have to many international conversations but a free group chat room is nice to have around.
What features I like?
The speed of the site, and social networking integration to promote your chat room.
What features would I like to see:
Although I haven’t spent to much time with BabelWith.me I would like to see a login profile linked to a custom permanent chat room name.

You can find BabelWith.me on twitter as @BabelWithMe

If you would like for me to cover your product or site please email: pitches at pitches at socialwayne dot com . Disclaimer:, I have no investment or relationship with the creators of this site. Thank you.