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Giving Time, Over the Web, in Small Chunks: A Prediction Mashup for 2010

It looks like it'll be hard to get through mid-January without seeing predictions across the blogosphere for the hottest trends of 2010. (And there're lots of expressions of good riddance to 2009, to boot.)

The most interesting prediction I've seen was published on Mashable and written by Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org. His predictions concern changes in social good behavior for 2010. He's in a position to know.

His predictions:

1. Social activism will explode across the web.
2. Micro-volunteerism will become extensive.
3. Giving work will become as important as giving money.

Mr, Rattray's conclusion:

These three trends – providing new ways of giving voice, giving time and giving work – represent the future of social change on the web.

I don’t mean to imply that giving money will stop being important. On the contrary, the web will continue to be an essential tool for fundraising in 2010, and for good reason – donations are the lifeblood of non-profits and the Internet is a highly efficient means of raising money. There are also an increasing number of effective fundraising platforms that leverage the unique power of the web to enable new types of giving – including well-known innovators such as Kiva and DonorsChoose, and new entrants such as Vittana.

But fundraising isn’t where the innovation will be in 2010. Instead, we’ll see the rise of new forms of participation that move beyond fundraising and make 2010 the most interesting year yet for social change on the web.

Interesting trends to spot. Read his post. Sign up for The Extraordinaires at BeExtra.org

What do these trends need that we can offer? Communications and great content. And training presentation materials. And more...

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Cross-posted to ContentWordshop.com

Game-changer in communications isn't Apple slate or Google phone. It's Skype on TV.

To me, the big news these days isn't the announcement of the new Google phone, or the hubbub over Apple's impending announcement, perhaps, of the iSlate.

Yes, the rise of the mobile screen is news, but also old news. What's interesting is also the rise of the big screen because of the announcement this week that Skype is going to be incorporated into new television sets.

The introduction of streaming video from the Internet onto television sets has already changed my house. I now stream Netflix movies onto my laptop, and even more importantly, via my blu-ray disc player onto an HD monitor.

Yesterday, I read in the New York Times that Skype is working to bring streaming video calls onto televisions from Panasonic and LG, with the minor additions of webcams and microphones suitable for the living room.

Remember the Western Electric Picturephones from the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in Queens, N.Y., or the videophone from 2001? (Refresh your memories here and here.) Skype is finally bringing it home — more specifically, to my home.

That's a communication change.

I'm a Mac, and Here's Why: 'It's All One Product'

Just before Christmas, the Boston Globe ran a story ["Where old-fashioned customer service meets edgy technology," Dec. 20, 2009, by D.C. Denison] that might be considered a puff piece for the bright, white, and translucent Apple Stores. But I found some insight in the article for why Apple technology tools have become a big part of my life.

The story recounts the development of Apple Stores. I've been a fan of the stores since visiting my first, in Indianapolis, about a year before I switched from PCs to Macs in 2006. The stores are an embodiment of the John Naesbitt "high tech/high touch" futurist call for successful businesses, which is also pretty much also the point of the Globe headline. Apple Stores are full of interesting people (and by this, I mean the staff, not the customers) who seemingly just want to help. They are empowered to give answers or get answers. They know their stuff.

When I visit Apple Stores for purchases, for browsing, for training, and especially for in-person technical support from the "geniuses" at the "Genius Bar," I feel like people give me credit for knowing a thing or two. I don't feel as if I'm being put down, and I don't feel as if the staff is so undertrained — as is often the case at other stores — that they are operating several rungs below me.

I also like making reservations for a Genius Bar time slot from my computer at home or inside the Apple Store.

But the true reason why I am an Apple Mac and iPhone fan, including hardware and software, comes at the end of the Globe's piece. It's all one system, one experience.

[A]t the Genius Bar, ... architect Dave Schatzle sat down for a session he was hoping would pay off short-term, as in immediately.

"It's a long story," Schatzle said as he presented his iPhone to Apple "genius" Nick Foh, "but let's just say that a cup of coffee fell off a shelf and splashed all over it."

A faint constellation of tiny, brown speckles gleamed from inside the display. The main controller was no longer responsive, Schatzle said.

Foh took the unit to a backroom workshop.

"It's in pretty bad shape on the inside," he said when he returned a few minutes later.

That was the bad news. The good news was that the information of his coffee-crippled phone could be transferred to a new unit, and since the phone was less than 3 months old, the store would replace it at no charge.

Schatzle looked surprised and relieved.

"The iPhone is cool, but this is really cool," he said, waving an arm in the direction of the Genius Bar.

"If this store wasn't here," Schatzle added, "then this iPhone wouldn't be that good. When you think about it, it's all one product."

I've had a dozen experiences just like this — without a newspaper reporter around. I think architect Dave Schatzle has it right: "It's all one product." And a good one at that.

Tools I Use: TweetDeck for iPhone

I don't Twitter or Facebook enough. But I know from posts like this on a blog I trust -- namely, TUAW.com -- that as I use these services more, TweetDeck for iPhone and for TweetDeck for Mac are the right tools for me to use to best read the traffic.

Below, the developer's video for the newest version of TweetDeck for iPhone:

UPDATE, just after posting: Another useful post is on Mashable.

Making Thoughts Apparent Globally is Obama's Internet Touch

UPDATED 11:30 a.m. 4 June 2009 -- I also liked receiving an email from David Axelrod, senior advisor to the president, with a link to video of the speech. The White House is pushing this content out beautifully.

ORIGINAL POST:

It is thrilling to see how fluid President Obama and his team have become at making his thoughts and policies apparent to as many people as possible globally using the Internet. The latest piece of evidence comes from the White House's buildup to the Cairo speech today.

According to a New York Times report, "In a bid to make sure that Mr. Obama’s message will be heard, particularly among young people, the White House has mounted an unusually aggressive campaign, including a Web site created in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English where people outside the United States can sign up to receive the speech via text message. The State Department is to translate the speech into at least 13 languages."

This is a great commitment. I like the idea of people worldwide debating the speech in its original text, even in a U.S.-disseminated official translation text, on their own phones or laptops today. Great move!

Strategy: Why 50 Characters Max in Blog Headlines?

Suddenly, there's a method to the madness of writing blog headlines. Wired PR Works explains why I carefully counted to make certain there are 50 characters in the headline just above. And why I'll keep counting.

Online PR Featured in New Issue of Canright Communicates

Introducing: Canright Communicates for November-December, 2007.

We feature Barbara Rozgonyi, founder of CoryWest Media and blogger at Wired PR Works, who I introduced earlier. And a how-to piece on putting more interactivity into PDFs. Our milestones include showing off an ad for Blackman Killick atop the new Crain's Chicago Business list of largest accounting firms.

There's also a "web-only" piece -- as the MSM say -- that expands the discussion with Barbara Rozgonyi into blogging itself, as opposed to the wider topic of Online PR.

And no issue would be complete without the ever-popular Canright team's reading/watching/listening/viewing suggestions.

Which Came First - The New Employee or the New Employee's Blog?

It's a joy to see the devotion of cutting-edge companies like Cisco to a cutting-edge panoply of blogs.

But I had to chuckle when I read the Chicago Sun-Times story about Padmasree Warrior, age 47, who on Monday departed Illinois' Motorola, where she was chief technology office, to take up the same post at California's Cisco.

Howard Wolinsky reported on Tuesday in the CS-T that Ms. Warrior made the move on Monday. He added this: "In her personal blog at Cisco, she said: 'It is an exciting time to join Cisco. Cisco is the company whose leadership legacy defines ‘The Network’ in many ways. Today, it is a company driving many new paradigms in communications and information technology. In the future, it will be a company poised to lead the industry to the next phase of Internet.'"

Now, that's speed! She leaves on Monday and has a blog post on Tuesday. Kudos! (Here's the link.)

LinkedIn.com Update - 29,000 New Connections and Counting!

I've got people. Since starting my LinedIn.com profile on Sunday, I have now built a network of 359,924 people who are either:

-- friends (in business, at least)

-- friends of friends, or

-- friends of friends of friends.

That's just an amazing number to me. More than many people, I often isolate myself. This process has demonstrated that, in fact, I can be part of a very large world of people.

By the way, world, I suppose I cannot promote my LinkedIn profile enough!

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn, Social Networks, Marketing, Public Relations

What is 'Strategy Matters?' Why Should You Read It?

Before we can develop programs of public relations, there must be a strategy.

I think these are some fundamentals of strategy:

1. In business and in life, strategy always exists. Whether it is established aforethought with intention or established over time in a series of seemingly unconscious and small decisions, strategy is established and a trajectory for enterprise -- in life, or in business, or any other endeavor -- is created.
2. Strategy established intentionally will, over time, produce the intended results.
3. Strategy is superior to process design and to formulas. Strategy accounts for doubt, for reasonable ranges of possible futures, for reasonable ranges of interim successes and failures, and for reasonably anticipated actions by other people and other forces.

These are some thoughts stirred by reading Penelope Roeder's first substantive post in her new blog, Strategy Matters. I've known Penelope for a long time, but I had forgotten -- until she alerted me to her new blog -- about the elegance and conviction from which she writes.

Strategy is not easy thinking. Penelope reminds us why the easy thinking was never enough.

I look forward to more posts in her blog.