Influence

This is part one of the a five part series on Collaboration for Funders. Part two talks about understanding the challenges.

I was invited to present last week at the University of Maryland's Human Computer Interaction Lab's workshop on Government and Social Media. We had a great discussion about how government agencies are using social media, and how the research community can support their efforts. We also saw some very cool examples of how to use NodeXL to map and understand social networks.

In the past few months, world-wide political and economic uncertainty has shaken global confidence, which in turn has resulted in continued market instability and volatility. With economic recovery inching along, all levels of government are feeling the pinch brought on by reduced tax revenue. With ever-shrinking budgets, many government entities have been forced to re-evaluate their resource allocations.

It was refreshing to attend a web communications conference where the moderator of the first panel discussion wasn't someone like me: a member of generation X or Y with an English degree who can passionately argue on behalf of his favorite Twitter client, but can't program a lick. In this case, it was the decorated computer scientist Bill Wulf. 

When President Obama took the stage in Cairo, Egypt last year, millions tuned in to hear his approach for improved U.S.-Muslim relations.

As a relative newbie here at Forum One, I wasn't sure what to expect when as I headed to my very first "unconference." The event, Participation Camp, was organized by volunteers recently and sponsored, in part, by Forum One.

I confess I have become a bit jaded in reviewing management literature, even that from my own alma mater, Columbia Business School. Too often "new" constructs are not really that new and they aren't really usable in business in general, much less in the world of technology-focused strategy..

Michaela and Brian at the World of Coca Cola

As we do every year, Forum One participated in the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC). This year's event was held in Atlanta April 8-10, and over 1,400 nonprofit tech folks attended. Brian, Kurt, and I represented the Forum One contingent.

Ning, the leading free social media platform provider has recently lost not only its CEO, but also about 40 percent of its workforce. For its nearly 20 million monthly visitors, this means a rate increase.