Generously donating ideas and opinions...You're welcome.
Aside from encouraging you to get out and vote today I have nothing else prepared. Well, technically that’s not true, I have posts on stand-by but instead of reading my blog, you should go out and vote. If you simply can’t live without my content or you’ve already voted you can go check out my guest blog post on Philly Ad Kids called Advertising Still Works.
I never talk religion or politics with friends or co-workers and I have no intention of bringing my politics to this blog. I do want to take this opportunity to encourage you to get out and vote tomorrow. Don’t sit idely by and let others make the decision for you. The direction of this country is predicated upon you, the potential voter, going to your local poll and casting your vote. Get out there tomorrow.
UPDATE: I personally think you should read Seth Godin’s blog post today called: Voting Misunderstood
I’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s article Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. If you click over and read it, be forewarned it’s LONG.
He makes some good points in it, although I think the shorter, more concise, and less snobby version is a better read, thanks to Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer for that.
Mr. Gladwell is very intelligent; the Tipping Point was an excellent read…but I can’t help getting the feeling that his take on Twitter was published simply to stir the pot. If he does truly discount the big change that Twitter makes possible then I am at a loss; where did the BIG thinking Gladwell go?
Admittedly I am a HUGE fan of Twitter, I often say it is my favorite thing on the internet. That may be a contributing reason that throughout Gladwell’s piece I got the feeling that I was being talked down to by the New Yorker’s logo or Mr. Bottomtooth.
Malcolm Gladwell cherry picks examples to compare against one another. Gladwell paints a picture with examples from an earlier time, prior to email and twitter, in which people really stood for something and put their lives on the line. While at the same time painting the picture that today’s activism is nothing more than hitting the retweet button or “Like” button.
There is some merit to the strong ties vs weak ties concept.
I agree that my ties to some people on Twitter are not as strong as to those of my co-workers , family or friends; people I see and interact with in real life.
It’s true that Social Media-based activism functions exceptionally well when trying to get a large number of people to take small actions. It’s true that a petition does not have the same punch as a violent uprising or a Tiananmen Square standing-in-front-of-tanks moment.
However these facts do nothing to disprove the possibility of these tools, but simply to point out one set of hand-selected data points of a technology released a mere 4 years ago.
Many of Gladwell’s arguments are the equivalent of saying in 1808–4 years after the first full scale working railway steam locomotive–that people got around just fine on horses and carriages; “the transportation revolution will not be steam powered.” I think this is a “forest for the trees” situation.
Even in his own examples I can see how beneficial these new communications tools could’ve been. Gladwell uses an example of four black students sitting in at a lunch counter. These four organically blossomed into a movement of thousands. While that is wonderful that it happened organically, imagine if that first action had been shared with thousands instantly.
People on Twitter and Facebook don’t just “Like” a few causes that they are apparently passively interested in. People are using these tools in new and innovative ways everyday. There is a suggestion that the things people “Like” or “Follow” are ONLY things that people are passively connected to.
One only needs to look at the “It gets better” campaign to realize the amazing ability of social tools to raise awareness and empower people with courage to keep pressing on and moving towards a better day.
What do we mean when we say “revolution?” By Gladwell’s article I got the feeling that it must mean something involving serious conflict and potential for danger. I’d like to look at a different type of revolution; a revolution of connectivity, of conversation, of humanity.
Twitter is a technology that allows people, total strangers, to communicate across time and geography instantaneously. In Hootsuite I can read tweets in Farsi, Japanese and Spanish, simply by clicking “translate.” How long until the technology evolves to just auto-translate? When in the history of man-kind has this EVER been possible; a global public conversation across different cultures and different countries for anyone to tap into and participate?
One of the great things about this country, our country, the United States, the country that invented Twitter, is that it is a melting pot. Twitter is taking the melting pot concept to a whole new level. Conversations about anything and everything can happen there and it can cause change. A global public discourse available to anyone and everyone is a concept in which the eventual outcomes have not yet even been dreamed.
My point is that I think the revolution is BEING tweeted, RIGHT NOW! Revolutions against tyranny happen in real life, not behind a computer, and no one is disputing that, but the foundation of revolution is in thought. No revolution happens without it first being an idea, that something should change. Few people stand up to the establishment or the status quo without support of others, like minded individuals. I think Twitter is a tool that enables that. No one is arguing that Twitter IS the revolution or that Liking something on Facebook is the equivalent of being willing to take a bullet.
We are in the midst of a new era, the Information era, and it IS a revolution. It changes everything, so excuse me Mr. Gladwell but I respectfully disagree, the revolution is already being tweeted.
Many of you have seen my post: How to: Find a job using RSS Feed. It’s available in a video walkthrough and originally as a text blog post.
I feel that is one of the best posts I’ve ever put together because the value was clear; I want to help people find a job, easier and more efficiently. So the next step for me is building on that and making it even more valuable. I’ve set up a new page on my blog dedicated to helping people find jobs…just in time for #hirefriday.
A blog is a social meeting ground where writers convey thoughts and readers add their comments to build the conversation. Social is built upon dialogues and sharing. Social has given us the ability to help each other in profound ways from opening up our networks to our network on LinkedIn to sharing content in real time over Twitter.
Social helped me spread my message on wednesday about my fundraising efforts for the ADA Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes. I raised enough money to beat my original fundraising goal in about 2 hours. I wasn’t all through big donations, though some people made sizable contributions, a lot of it was through $5, $10 and $25 donations.
The power of social is instead of having 3 people carrying 100 lbs, we get 300 people to each carry 1lb. Either way we get it accomplished, we just have more hands helping out.
Do I think that my new job page is going to solve our country’s unemployment woes? No.
Do I expect that it will help someone? Absolutely, it already has.
What I’m getting at here is that I’m just one person with a blog, setting aside one tab devoted to helping people find work in an economy that seems uninterested with rebounding quickly. What makes this powerful is not me standing alone in a corner of the web but you reading this sharing the idea, or creating your own page that does something to help someone find work.
I’ve embed the video walkthrough of how to build my RSS Job Hunting system.
I’ve added links to download everything you need to build it.
I’ve added a page that has RSS feeds for several different job categories pulling job searches from simplyhired.com, indeed.com and craigslist.org to begin with. This eliminates a large portion of building the system, I’ve done some leg work for you and I’ll be adding new searches on Fridays based upon what types of job feeds people request.
And finally, I’ve added The Social Media Philanthropy Job Board. This is a blog created on a subdomain: jobs.socialmediaphilanthropy.com that I will be posting jobs that people in my network tell me that they have available. I will only be posting jobs that have a direct connection to the Social Media Philanthropy network. People helping people, nothing anonymous, if you see a job there, I know the person hiring.
I have plans of creating an anonymous “Looking for Work” page. This is where people in my network can anonymously post the type of work they are looking for and employers can search through available candidates.
***
I know I wrote on my editorial calendar that this week would be all about Search and Social Media but, I have to posts about Search and Social Media that are running a bit behind schedule. I have a guest post from Jed Singer, of Socialight Media that I only got a chance to talk to him last night about, so stay tuned for his keen insights. I also have an interview scheduled with Wil Reynolds, Founder of SEER Interactive, a phenomenal SEO/SEM Firm in Philadelphia. His perspective on the future of search and how relevant social is will surely be one you won’t want to miss.
Today I’d like to promote a cause that I personally feel very connected to: Diabetes. While I am not Diabetic, given my family history, there is a very good chance that I will develop Diabetes at some point in my lifetime. My mother is Diabetic and I’ve seen what a difficult disease it can be to manage. Today I’m asking that you all get involved with the American Diabetes Association Step Out Walk. There are walks all over the country, click here to find out more about walks near you. As for me, I am walking with my company, Devine + Powers in the Philadelphia Step Out Walk. The goal of the Philadelphia walk is $525,000. The walks are generally 2-6 miles. You can create your own team, join a team or simply donate to the cause.
Full Disclosure: The American Diabetes Association is a client of Devine + Powers…BUT, this blog post has little to do with that fact, I support numerous causes but virtually none hit as close to home as this one, whether they were a client or not, this blog post would be getting written. I just want to be transparent that they are a client.
I’ve been blogging all this week about various causes to get involved in. There are events talking place all over this country that need the support of people like you. If Diabetes isn’t your thing, that’s fine, pick something else I’ve blogged about this week. Each one is an opportunity to help someone out. Get involved. Thanks to everyone who has gotten involved this week. If this is the first post you’ve read on my blog this week, I hope you’ll go back through this week and see the other causes I’ve blogged about.
You’re wondering what the Google and Verizon agreement means to you. You might not know what net neutrality is so let’s break it down simply:
Net Neutrality allowed Google to be born. Net Neutrality allowed Twitter to be born. Net Neutrality allowed virtually every site you now know and love to exist. Network Neutrality is the concept that Internet Service Providers must treat all network traffic equally, regardless of anything including corporate partnerships. They cannot favor one website over another. They cannot speed up or slow down one website over another.
What if Time Warner decided, after acquiring MySpace, that they wanted to slow start ups Facebook and Twitter to such a slow pace that they became unusable? Do you seriously still want to be using MySpace because it loads more quickly than superior services?
Comcast bought NBC. Without Net Neutrality Comcast could speed up web traffic for Hulu, NBC.com and Fancast and slow YouTube to a crawl. Do you want Comcast making that choice FOR you?
Verizon and Google have made a pact that endangers net neutrality on wireless networks. This means that Verizon could choose to speed up YouTube and slow down Hulu and NBC to an unbearable crawl. Do you want Verizon making that choice FOR you?
Apple could choose to use part of their enormous $24 billion budget to slow Amazon to such a slow speed that the only viable way to download music was through iTunes, and books through iBooks. What would you do with your Kindle? Maybe you’d just have to get an iPad instead.
Here’s the simple question:
Who do you want deciding the speed of different sites?
Do you want to choose for yourself which sites you like and want to go to or do you want a corporation to decide for you? This IS a First Amendment issue. You don’t want companies being able to squash free speech and dissent in collusion with Internet Service Providers. You don’t want your choices limited.
Net Neutrality affects all of us. The internet as it stands now is the product of a level playing field. No matter who your internet provider is they could not discriminate against any form of traffic. Now Google and Verizon want to take that away…and why shouldn’t they; they are publicly traded corporations. Their responsibility is to maximize shareholder wealth, long term consequences be damned!
That’s what’s going on here with the Google-Verizon pact. It’s an assault on the internet as we know it and the birth of something awful. Startups would be at the mercy of ISPs. Do NOT let this happen. Get involved!
Whatever your political beliefs are is irrelevant; if you believe in anarchy or totalitarian government or anything in between, the government’s job is to protect the public good. That’s its only real job. This is a matter of public good.
Go to Al Franken’s website, he seems to be the only one standing up for this: http://www.alfranken.com/index.php/splash/netneutrality
You can donate or just sign the petition, but he is going to argue against this agreement happening.
Call your representatives and let them know that you, as a constituent want them to get involved. http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
Tweet your representatives going here: http://2gov.org/
Do something, because when you leave my page remember that if this pact goes through, whatever site you are navigating to next, could be slowed to a crawl.
Click on the picture to see all CitizenGulf events nationwide.
The Gulf Oil Spill is a tragedy beyond my ability to even really comprehend. It was 121 days before they plugged the 53,000 barrel per day leak. Not only is our ecosystem in the Gulf in turmoil but numerous families have been affecting. So when Gloria Bell told me about this event, I had to spread the word.
I signed up as a Citizen Gulf Supporter for me and my wife. It’s only $25 per person for that level and 100% of donations (less credit card fees) collected through CitizenGulf Day of Action events will directly go to Catholic Charities to support the education programs for children of fishing families affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Even if you can’t attend you can donate here: http://citizengulfphilly.eventbrite.com/
Midatlantic Restaurant in University City has graciously provided the space for this event and will also be providing food and drink specials.
Midatlantic Restaurant
3711 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Full Disclosure: Midatlantic Restaurant is actually a new client of my company, Devine + Powers.
Gloria Bell who has had a strong hand in helping to organize and spread the word about this event, said this about the event:
The recent Gulf Coast oil spill was just another in a string of tragedies to hit the area over the last few years. The Philly event, in coordination with events in several other cities including New York City, Houston, Chicago and Miami, shows our support for the families, specifically the children, affected by the Gulf Coast disasters. Knowing the caring and generosity of the Philadelphia community, it was a natural fit to include Philly in this national event. If doing something as simple as bringing people together to have fun, while at the same time raising money and awareness of the plight of these families can make a difference, I was happy to coordinate the efforts to put on Citizen Gulf Philly.
Catholic Charities’ After School Assembly is a program that was started after Hurricane Katrina to set up a supportive after-school program for children who had recently suffered the trauma of the storm. This project will extend the program from the city of New Orleans into coastal parishes and provide fifty children with a safe environment that will give participants access to interactive learning opportunities, self-esteem building workshops, therapeutic art activities and other activities and services needed by the children affected by the spill.
This project will ensure that families living in affected areas receive the extra support they need to get their children off to a great start this school year and to help ease stress on families with after school support services and activities. All ticket sales and donations from the CitizenGulf Day of Action events will go to fund the educational program.
CitizenGulf is a collaborative initiative betweenAndy Sternberg, Citizen Effect, el-studio.com,Live Your Talk, Sloane Berrent, Social Media Club, Taylor Davidson and Zoetica.
All donations will go through Citizen Effect, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is partnering with Catholic Charities of New Orleans to implement the CitizenGulf Education Program.
Have you heard of the MS150 City to Shore Bike Tour? It’s held every year, and is one of many rides around the country to support the continued fight against multiple sclerosis. These rides–along with numerous other efforts–are a product of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, an organization which is dedicated to ending the devastating effects of MS, a debilitating chronic disease of the central nervous system. They simultaneously fund research for a cure while also helping people who currently live with MS lead more fulfilling lives. More than 400,000 Americans live with MS, and your support can and will make changes in their lives.
A friend of mine is participating in this event for the first time and he is incredibly excited to join this worthy cause. I want to help him out by asking all of you who are reading this to get behind him and make a donation. Let’s make this interesting though. This IS Social Media PHILANTHROPY right? Here’s what I propose: Donate $10. It’s not a lot of money. BUT, don’t just donate $10, donate and then tell 5 people about this. I bet over the course of the next 6-8 hours we can raise $500 with no problem and if you really take this on personally, I bet we could break $1000 or even more. I just made mine! Let’s go everyone!
Here’s how to do it:
To donate online follow this link,
Enter my friend’s name: Steve Caplan
Enter Home State: PA
If you would rather pay by check send me an email: jeffgibbard@gmail.com and I’ll send you the address to mail it to.
The Hero Thrill Show
The purpose of this event is to raise money for the college education for children of firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty. In the last 4 years alone, we’ve lost 7 police officers in the City of Philadelphia. In its 5th year in Philadelphia, this year’s show promises to be the best yet. I hope you’ll join me my efforts to spread awareness about this important event. Even if you just retweet this post to spread awareness it can help. If you can, you should definitely come out and support the survivors of our City’s heroes.
Tickets can be purchased online at comcasttix.com and at all Philadelphia Police Stations and Fire Houses.
I had the opportunity to meet Attorney James J. Binns through my wife. Not only is James Binns an attorney with a stellar professional reputation, he also is a well-known organizer and participant in various philanthropic events and activities in Philadelphia. Mr. Binns told me about The Hero Thrill Show and I knew I had to help spread the message. This is Philadelphia’s only Hero Thrill Show and not only is the event for a good cause but wait until you hear what they have planned.
Music provided throughout the day by Bob Pantano of WOGL 98.1 FM
Static Displays of State of the Art Crime Fighting Equipment
Static Displays of State of the Art Fire-Fighting Equipment
Mixed Martial Arts demonstration, courtesy of Matrix Fights
Amusements, Facepainting, Games and Rides
Basketball Shootout
An Abundance of Philadelphia Food stands
The Philly Phanatic, Swoops and Hip-Hop
The Sixers Dancers
The Eagles Cheerleaders
It’s going to be fun for the whole family and it’s for a good cause. So come out and support the survivors at the Hero Thrill Show September 18th at the Wachovia Center.
The Hero Thrill Show is NOT affiliated with the Hero Scholarship Fund
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