The power of the internet: take a boy, some cardboard and a filmmaker…

How many of us can say our school holiday japes resulted in us becoming a viral internet sensation, raising almost $200,000? Caine can.

During his long summer holiday, Caine spent time at his Dad’s auto parts store. Taking used cardboard boxes and spare stationery, Caine created a series of arcade games. He made passes, tickets, collected prizes and made his own uniform. Noone came to play.

Until one day…

A filmmaker called Nirvan Mullick (who came in for a door handle) found Caine’s Arcade and was so inspired with what he saw, he returned to film Caine and his fledgling business. What happened next shows the power of the internet.

The film was published, made it on Reddit, Facebook and then inspired a flashmob to gather and ‘surprise’ Caine (who’d still only had one customer). Since then, the movie’s been viewed THREE MILLION TIMES and there’s now a scholarship fund set up for Caine (and children like him) at a total of almost $200,000.

If you have ten minutes to watch this video, please do. You will be inspired and uplifted not only by the power of the internet but mostly by the imagination and creativity of Caine.

one boy, one idea and how his only customer made his dreams come true…

Social networking: past, present and future

These three articles are really interesting and useful

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/03/social-networking-past

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/04/social-networking-present

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/05/social-networking-future

Also, if you have time, check out Rory Cellan Jones’s excellent podcasts on the Secret History of Social Networking – it all started in a record store in Berkeley…

PS If you spot any other interesting summaries, please comment below

Social media secrets…

Three years of thinking in one word document: my mini guide to managing social media

You can download it here

Let me know what you think…

Guess what? You’re annoying half your Facebook page whatever you do…

According to this post your Facebook fans are annoyed if you market to them and the other half will be disappointed if you don’t.

According to research:

• 51% of consumers expect the company to send them marketing messages after “liking” the brand on Facebook
• 40% of consumers do not expect the company to send them marketing messages after “liking” the brand on Facebook
• 9% aren’t sure what to expect

Er…

What’s the solution? How about ensuring your Facebook page is about community?

This doesn’t happen overnight, it involves a lot of hard work and a massive amount of listening but it is possible. When you create a space where your supporters talk to each other and ask you questions knowing you will give them a straight answer then you know you’ve done a good job.

I hope that Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research will look at the community I’ve built over the last three years and think this is a good place.

If you’re interested in Community Management, I’d recommend following Blaise Grimes-Viort on twitter because he really knows his stuff.

Next, I’d check out the incredible grassroots community LIVESTRONG has online. Oh, and for something this side of the pond, Macmillan have an excellent community.

There are so many other examples – please comment below and share your top online communities…

Twittiquette: or how to avoid being unfollowed

Today I have to put the record straight. If you want to be unfollowed on twitter just follow these simple rules:

1) Post a long list of identical tweets asking random celebrities and other twitter users to sponsor your fundraising efforts.  Why? Because it’s scattergunning, it’s spamming and it’s annoying.

2) Spend every other tweet swearing. Seriously, wash your mouth out or buy a dictionary.

3) @reply blatant spammy links to all and sundry. Twitter’s about conversation, collaboration and sharing. If it’s relevant to that person then go ahead. If not… Block. Spam.

4) Abandon twitter for months at a time, forgetting to tweet or reply to anyone.

5) Post a stream of almost-identical tweets in CAPITAL LETTERS a la Kanye West. As a rule of thumb, don’t copy Kanye’s behaviour (on or off twitter) – I’ma let you finish…

Sigh. That’s better… Anyone got any other twitter no-nos to add?

They’re not hot for your logo…

Just a reminder to everyone getting excited about the new Facebook (and I definitely include myself in this)

If you’re a charity, your supporters care about the work you do, not necessarily the way your Facebook page looks…

I’m a big fan of the Red Cross and love their work. I’m also really excited about new Facebook pages. Just spotted this and it reminded me to refocus.

New look for Facebook pages

Ta da!

I think it’s an improvement on the way the page used to look.

What’s new

• The page’s profile image can now be much larger
• There’s a carousel of photos at the top
• You can change your account settings to use Facebook as your organisation and not as you which means seeing new fans and new notifications for the brand
• You can also use the profile for the page in order to interact with other pages/groups on Facebook
• You can add profanity filters to your page and also add keywords of other ‘unallowed’ content
• Recommended pages will show you how many of your page’s fans like other things e.g. 2,000 of our supporters love Skittles. Corporate partnerships anyone?

That’s my quick summary. Comments? Like/Dislike? Anyone spotted anything else new?

EDIT: This blog post goes into more detail on how the changes help brands be more social (hattip @RKTweets) and this post lists the 16 main changes for admins

Happy Birthday Facebook – ‘Egyptian riotstarter’

Happy Birthday Facebook – you’re seven today. You’re also being accused of starting political unrest in Egypt.

This article from The Washington Post summarises the difficult position that Facebook is facing with the current situation in Egypt. Take a look at the Google News stream for Facebook + Egypt.

Let’s face it Facebook – you’ve been accused of all sorts over the years – voyeurism, murder, narcissism – why not starting mass rebellions on the streets of Egypt?

Do people geniuinely believe that a website can be held entirely responsible for what the PEOPLE using it are doing? It’s an interesting argument.

Of course websites have a legal responsibilities and should moderate their content. However, it’d be a bit dangerous to blame a social network because it is NOT responsible for the actions of the people that use it. They are.

In fact, social networks are making a positive difference in Egypt. Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites are being used to keep the world informed of the situation in Egypt despite attempts to block them. Then Google gets in on the act by allowing people in Egypt to use phone lines to share information.

UPDATE: This very interesting post includes info on how Al Jazeera is using social media to report on what’s really going on in Egypt in the face of threats, blocked access and a lack of available technology.

But this isn’t about websites at all, it’s about people. Let’s all hope that peace can be restored to Egypt soon. I have no doubt technology will help people do this.

Cash rolling in for charities who ‘get’ social networking

This BBC article suggests effective use of social media is boosting charity coffers

5 key points:

1) It may surprise you but 28% of donations on Justgiving pages come via Facebook and 1% from Twitter.

2) One in every six Facebook users who ‘like’ a Justgiving page seen on Facebook will donate. Each ‘like’ is worth £5.

3) There’s a real danger of misusing social media for fundraising if done hurriedly and in a blanket manner. Wait a couple of weeks for those London Marathon emails…

4) A blog with a personal story that gains attention can be a major traffic driver to a charity’s website. People don’t just type your URL straight in, nor do they spring to it from google. Sometimes they come via another charity, a supporter, your Facebook page…

5)  The ‘celebrity effect’ can drive traffic but not necessarily result in donations. (I recall the time Stephen Fry’s tweet melted our website…)

NB This article is a decent – but limited – summary of online fundraising. For more info, check out the excellent charity blog at Justgiving

27 crazy realities of social media management

Ever read an article and found yourself nodding vigorously along to pretty much every word? Then at the end of the article you smile and think if only I’d thought of putting it that way…

That’s exactly how I felt when reading Liz Strauss’s post on 27 things to know before you work in Social Media

She doesn’t mince her words; the list is comprehensive and a little bit sobering. She also points out it’s “simply a set of observations which are quite similar to the challenges of any communication-based, people-centered endeavor.”

In other words, these are challenges communicators face which are enhanced by the speed, nature and culture of social media.

Under the post you can see several great comments. And I thought I’d pop a few words in too.

I said: “Social media sometimes feels like you’re in a partially lit tunnel going at lightspeed with things coming at you to catch, handle and pass on whilst also battling against a strange crosswind of resistance and misunderstanding. All the while, you’re commentating on yourself for the benefit of others…“

That said, I love every minute of what I do. The benefits far outweigh the challenges and as long as you’re prepared to do the job properly, you can achieve good things.

27 Things to Know Before You Work in Social Media