January 2008

A Note from Forum One: Social Media in 2008

The days of focusing your online strategy on (only) your own web site ended in 2007. Facebook, YouTube, Digg and other social networking and social media sites are huge and no longer just for college kids and techies.  These “social” sites offer a lot of potential for issue-focused groups to reach and engage with the people who care about their issues.  Facebook alone, for example, grew in the past year from about 15 million active users to 60 million today – and in that 60 million there are people who care deeply about issues.

Some groups already using these social services to build connections and personal engagement, for example, The Nature Conservancy on StumbledUpon, the "Support the Monks’ Protest in Burma" effort on FaceBook, the "Innovate or Die" environmental invention contest on YouTube and the Human Society on myspace.

In 2008 organizations need to decide on which of these sites to participate, how to participate and manage the interactions, how to measure success, and more.  Social Media management is going to grow into a big deal for organizations – and it won’t be long before there are top level management like "Director of Social Media!"

Read more about social media in some blog posts below, and for a real crash course on the topic – come to our February 26th Web Executive Seminar on “Social Sites for Social Good” in Washington, DC – details below.

• The Rise of Social Media
• A Few Tactical First Steps for Your 2008 Social Strategy
• Google Declares Open Season on Social Networks
• Crowd Sourcing, The Network Effect, And Friending
• Video: Social Networking in Plain English (Common Craft)
• Social Media: Distributed Influence Quantifying the Impact of Social Media (Beth Kantor)

Keep in touch,

Chris Wolz, President/CEO
wolz@forumone.com

Upcoming Events

Web Executive Seminar
"Social Sites for Social Good"
Feb. 26, National Press Club, Washington, DC
8 a.m. - 11 a.m.

In this Web Executive Seminar, presenters will share strategies to help policy organizations and other nonprofits take advantage of social media and social networking sites in support of their mission. They will cut through the hype and discuss issues related to brand management, resources and budgeting, and related issues. Panelists, including the Nature Conservancy's Jonathan Colman, will discuss which sites are worth organizational investment and how to gauge success.

• Learn more and register, and view our WES schedule for 2008.

Online Community Unconference East 2008
Feb. 21, Baruch College/CUNY, New York City
8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The Online Community Unconference East is a gathering of online community professionals - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. The Unconference is inspired by the emerging "open space" conference format.

• Learn more and register, and view our online community event schedule for 2008.

Forum One News

WES Speaker's "Nothing But Nets" Presentation Featured on Slideshare

In November we hosted several expert speakers at the Web Executive Seminar, Global Health and the Internet: How Can We Save More Lives? Shannon Raybold of the U.N. Foundation described the success of the Nothing But Nets campaign, which has raised over $14 million to deliver 1.4 million bed nets to people at risk of mosquito-transmitted malaria. We posted it on Slideshare and it was selected as a "Slideshow of the Day."

• Read more and watch the presentation.

ProjectSpaces - Major New Enhancements and Nonprofit Discounts

We are rolling out some new enhancements to ProjectSpaces, the world's easiest to use online workspace tool. New features include document versioning and check-in/check-out functionality and an improved file indexing, full text search. We've also improved the announcements tool to make it even easier to use as an alternative to email. Get a 50 percent off discount when you sign up for a 12 months.

• Try it for free at www.ProjectSpaces.com.

Client News

CGD Launches CARMA to Map CO2 Emissions

In November the Center for Global Development launched its interactive Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) web site , a database of carbon emissions for over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide. We're excited about CARMA because:

• It gets the public exploring data on carbon emissions, power generation - timely concerns relating to climate change.
• The geographic interface ala Google maps allows users to "dig" through the data to discover the top CO2 producing (or greenest) plants, companies, and places that house these plants on earth.
• The open API allows programmers to extract the data and use it on their own sites, and CGD hopes that many others will build off of it (give us a call if you'd like help!)
• Also, it was prominently featured on CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, BBC News, and NPR.

• Read more about CARMA.

Client Highlights

• African Wildlife Foundation launched a Rapid Response Network to help raise awareness about African wildlife issues.
  More at www.awf.org.
• The USAID-funded PSP-One project will host an online conference on social marketing in the developing world, March 10-17.
  More at www.psp-one.com.
• The Brookings Institution, in partnership with the Dubai School of Government, launched the first web site for their Middle East Youth Initiative, which includes a collaborative group blog.
  More at www.shababinclusion.org.
• The New York State Health Foundation re-launched their site in support of their mission of improving health in New York State.
  More at www.nyshealthfoundation.org.

New Clients

We're very pleased to be working with a number of new clients, including:

• Ethos International
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• The Nature Conservancy, ConserveOnline
• United States Institute of Peace

• Read more about what's new at www.forumone.com.