You may notice a trend, now that I work at EPA I am sharing more of my work here. Why? Because I think it's too cool not to share! So, here is our new video for Earth Day. Enjoy and please share this video with your friends!
Showing posts with label share. Show all posts
Showing posts with label share. Show all posts
April 21, 2012
April 7, 2010
Social Media – Participate and Share
Today social media has become part of the fabric of our culture. We share, like, and comment on all sorts of information and media. This creates a web through which information and ideas flow. For many individuals – like myself – this social web of information has become a major source of news. In addition, I am an active participant in this web, sharing and commenting frequently.
The social web has brought many new aspects to our daily lives. One of these – for better or worse – is viral videos and content. One person reads information or views media online and shares it, then more and more do the same. News spreads and a viral phenomenon is born.
As this social aspect of the web has become more prevalent many websites have made it easier for readers or users to participate by installing widgets, apps, plug-ins, gadgets, or links for social networks. For example, the New York Times has widgets that allow readers to share articles via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Mixx, Yahoo Buzz!, and MySpace or to send the article via email or SMS. They also provide the permalink to the article or piece of content for individuals who want to incorporate the link into a blog or website. In other words, the New York Times enables and encourages their readers participate in the social web. I have come to expect this type of functionality on all websites I visit.
This afternoon I clicked on a link on Facebook to watch a video on Lonely Planet blog. For many years I have been a big fan of the travel books, guides, and information provided by this company. More recently, I have become hooked on their 76 Second Travel Show which is posted on the Lonely Planet blog and on YouTube by Lonely Planet author Robert Reid. It's short and fun – and I think it's a great use of social media. After watching the video I instantly looked for the share widget or link and was surprised to find the page did not have one. It seemed odd since Lonely Planet is an active participate in social media. At the bottom of the each of the company's webpages there are links to follow Lonely Planet on Twitter, subscribe to their newsletter, read their blog, download their iPhone and iPad apps, and subscribe to their print (paper) magazine. There is a space to leave a comment, but no links to enable participation in the social web.
This made me start thinking about the importance of well rounded social media campaigns. Social media is about sharing and participation. Companies, brands, and individuals need to not only participate in social media – but also enable and encourage others to participate and share.
Back to the issue of Lonely Planet. How are they participating in social media? Their main website allows users to register and link their Lonely Planet account with their Facebook account. That is good. As I mentioned previously at the bottom of all their webpages there are widgets encouraging readers to follow them on Twitter, read their blogs, and sign up for their newsletter, mobile content, and magazine. Their website has active forums (Thorn Tree) and groups, as well as functionality to allow users to rate and comment on destinations, save favorite places, and plan trips. The company actively participates in Facebook and Twitter. And I think that their 76 Second Travel Show is a great viral video campaign. The some of the 76 Second Travel Show videos have upwards of 1000 views on YouTube. The company promotes videos and blog posts on Facebook and Twitter. The only thing is missing to complete the circle is to incorporate functionality into their websites and blogs that enables and encourages users to share the content via social networks and participate in the social web.
But, overall I do think Lonely Planet is doing a very good job participating in the social web. What I think they could improve upon is to enable and encourage their users to do the participate and share. Then their social media campaign would be truly dynamic. And it would also increase the likelihood that their information, blog posts, and videos will be shared and discovered virally.
The social web has brought many new aspects to our daily lives. One of these – for better or worse – is viral videos and content. One person reads information or views media online and shares it, then more and more do the same. News spreads and a viral phenomenon is born.
As this social aspect of the web has become more prevalent many websites have made it easier for readers or users to participate by installing widgets, apps, plug-ins, gadgets, or links for social networks. For example, the New York Times has widgets that allow readers to share articles via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Mixx, Yahoo Buzz!, and MySpace or to send the article via email or SMS. They also provide the permalink to the article or piece of content for individuals who want to incorporate the link into a blog or website. In other words, the New York Times enables and encourages their readers participate in the social web. I have come to expect this type of functionality on all websites I visit.
This afternoon I clicked on a link on Facebook to watch a video on Lonely Planet blog. For many years I have been a big fan of the travel books, guides, and information provided by this company. More recently, I have become hooked on their 76 Second Travel Show which is posted on the Lonely Planet blog and on YouTube by Lonely Planet author Robert Reid. It's short and fun – and I think it's a great use of social media. After watching the video I instantly looked for the share widget or link and was surprised to find the page did not have one. It seemed odd since Lonely Planet is an active participate in social media. At the bottom of the each of the company's webpages there are links to follow Lonely Planet on Twitter, subscribe to their newsletter, read their blog, download their iPhone and iPad apps, and subscribe to their print (paper) magazine. There is a space to leave a comment, but no links to enable participation in the social web.
This made me start thinking about the importance of well rounded social media campaigns. Social media is about sharing and participation. Companies, brands, and individuals need to not only participate in social media – but also enable and encourage others to participate and share.
Back to the issue of Lonely Planet. How are they participating in social media? Their main website allows users to register and link their Lonely Planet account with their Facebook account. That is good. As I mentioned previously at the bottom of all their webpages there are widgets encouraging readers to follow them on Twitter, read their blogs, and sign up for their newsletter, mobile content, and magazine. Their website has active forums (Thorn Tree) and groups, as well as functionality to allow users to rate and comment on destinations, save favorite places, and plan trips. The company actively participates in Facebook and Twitter. And I think that their 76 Second Travel Show is a great viral video campaign. The some of the 76 Second Travel Show videos have upwards of 1000 views on YouTube. The company promotes videos and blog posts on Facebook and Twitter. The only thing is missing to complete the circle is to incorporate functionality into their websites and blogs that enables and encourages users to share the content via social networks and participate in the social web.
But, overall I do think Lonely Planet is doing a very good job participating in the social web. What I think they could improve upon is to enable and encourage their users to do the participate and share. Then their social media campaign would be truly dynamic. And it would also increase the likelihood that their information, blog posts, and videos will be shared and discovered virally.
March 25, 2010
The Power of the Communal Voice
Throughout the ages and around the world people have come together to express a united view on an issue. From the signatories of the Declaration of Independence to the many individuals who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States of America has seem individuals join together and rise up as a group to to give power to their voices. Together people can overcome injustice and change the course of history.
Today – with the advancements in technology – the power of combine voice is even more potent. The internet allows people to more efficiently connect, share ideas, and organize. Ideas that begin in one country can travel across borders and to other continents via social media. I can post a tweet here in Washington DC. An individual down the street or in New York or Vienna can read it and or pass my idea on to others.
The internet has helped people communicate when open conversations and transmissions are dangerous or distance is great. Since the June 2009 elections in Iran the opposition has used Twitter and social media to coordinate their resistance. For issues important to individuals all over the globe, the internet and social media are powerful tools for collaboration and to show solidarity. Social media tools can be incorporated directly into websites – such as the Obama campaign did with My.BarackObama.com during the 2008 United States Presidential election. Or groups of individuals can relay on existing social networks to spread their message or share ideas. To show support or raise awareness about issues individuals often change their profile pictures of post information on Twitter or Facebook. One social media company focuses solely on serving this demand – Twibbon. What this company does is creates graphical overlays representing a wide variety of causes that individuals can post on their Twitter and Facebook profile pictures to raise awareness. There are currently almost 40,000 cause Twibbons. I decided to see how it works and posted an Earth Hour Twibbon on my profile picture.
So, this brings me to Earth Hour...
Earth Hour began three years ago as an effort to raise awareness of global warming. Since then, Earth Hour takes place every March and for one hour people all over the world turn off their lights to make a statement that we must find solutions to climate change. Last year, almost a billion people turned participated in 4,100 different cities in 87 countries on seven continents.
This year Earth Hour is on Saturday March 27th from 8:30-9:30pm local time. Promoted and organized through the social web, the movement will begin in New Zealand and travel around the globe. On Saturday evening people all over the globe will act as one by simply turning off their lights. Together this action will send a loud message to world leaders that the citizens of this planet are concerned about global warming and are demanding progress. This is a wonderful example of individuals around globe using the social media to come together and make a powerful statement. Please join us!
For more information please visit EarthHour.org or MyEarthHour.org.
Today – with the advancements in technology – the power of combine voice is even more potent. The internet allows people to more efficiently connect, share ideas, and organize. Ideas that begin in one country can travel across borders and to other continents via social media. I can post a tweet here in Washington DC. An individual down the street or in New York or Vienna can read it and or pass my idea on to others.
The internet has helped people communicate when open conversations and transmissions are dangerous or distance is great. Since the June 2009 elections in Iran the opposition has used Twitter and social media to coordinate their resistance. For issues important to individuals all over the globe, the internet and social media are powerful tools for collaboration and to show solidarity. Social media tools can be incorporated directly into websites – such as the Obama campaign did with My.BarackObama.com during the 2008 United States Presidential election. Or groups of individuals can relay on existing social networks to spread their message or share ideas. To show support or raise awareness about issues individuals often change their profile pictures of post information on Twitter or Facebook. One social media company focuses solely on serving this demand – Twibbon. What this company does is creates graphical overlays representing a wide variety of causes that individuals can post on their Twitter and Facebook profile pictures to raise awareness. There are currently almost 40,000 cause Twibbons. I decided to see how it works and posted an Earth Hour Twibbon on my profile picture.
So, this brings me to Earth Hour...
Earth Hour began three years ago as an effort to raise awareness of global warming. Since then, Earth Hour takes place every March and for one hour people all over the world turn off their lights to make a statement that we must find solutions to climate change. Last year, almost a billion people turned participated in 4,100 different cities in 87 countries on seven continents.
This year Earth Hour is on Saturday March 27th from 8:30-9:30pm local time. Promoted and organized through the social web, the movement will begin in New Zealand and travel around the globe. On Saturday evening people all over the globe will act as one by simply turning off their lights. Together this action will send a loud message to world leaders that the citizens of this planet are concerned about global warming and are demanding progress. This is a wonderful example of individuals around globe using the social media to come together and make a powerful statement. Please join us!
For more information please visit EarthHour.org or MyEarthHour.org.
February 25, 2010
Why Wikipedia?
So, in a post I wrote a few weeks ago I quoted a definition from Wikipedia. I did not quote a traditional encyclopedia, a reference document, text book, academic journal, a highly respected news source, or even Dictionary.com – I chose Wikipedia as my source of information. Why?
But, first, what is Wikipedia? On its own pages it gives the following description:
“Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation...”
When Wikipedia launched, there was a great deal of speculation if it would ever be a reliable source of information. In other words, there was concern that the crowd-sourcing of knowledge and peer editing would never be a substitute for information experts. However, I think Wikipedia has not only prevailed but also flourished. And in doing so, it has shown what is possible when a community works together. In the 8 years since it was launched, Wikipedia has changed the way we look for, share, and consume information.
In today's networked society, often the best answer or solution is found through collaboration. The world is becoming more complex and at times it feels as though history has accelerated. By using new social web technology to communicate and pooling our knowledge and expertise, we can achieve things that were not even conceivable in the recent past. Locality is no longer a restriction. We can share, communicate, and collaborate with individuals across vast stretches of geography.
We have changed the way we obtain news and absorb information. When I was a child I remember my grandparents watching the evening news. It was at a set time, on a set channel every day. It was a passive act. Today my mother, now a grandmother herself, consumes and shares information via Twitter, Facebook, and other web portals. She participates in online discussions, rather than just receiving news passively.
In addition, the quantity of information available has increased since the advent of the internet and continues to grow. “Information growth is a distinctive phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st century, which refers to the increasing amount and variety of information produced and circulated in various institutional domains” (The Information Growth And Internet Research programme, London School of Economics and Political Science). IDC refers to all this information as the Digital Universe and in May 2009 estimated the size of this universe to be 500 exabytes (or 500 billion gigabytes). We add more data to this Digital Universe every day with each picture we upload and share, each tweet we post, and each blog entry we write.
All of this changes the information landscape. There is more information. It is easier to share and collaborate. Knowledge and information are becoming more open. And Wikipedia has benefited from all these changes. It was launched at a time when the amount of information was rapidly increasing, sharing information was on the rise, and people were looking for new ways to sort and consume information. Wikipedia provided a place for people to share and sort information – both old and new. It gave the community tools to question and correct inaccuracies. It allowed people to participate in the storytelling.
Of course, there are erroneous pieces of information on Wikipedia, as there are in other, more traditional information sources. I think the tools Wikipedia has provided to mark and track inaccuracies and annotate citations has helped streamline the process to present the most fact-based information available. But, the critics will always point to the imperfections and flaws as a reason that information compiled by experts is better than that amassed through community collaboration. However, there are flaws in traditional expert information sources as well. One reason for this is obsolete information remaining after new discoveries have changed the generally excepted truth. I wonder how many references are still out there in reference materials, science books, and other information sources referring to Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system rather than a dwarf planet it was redefined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.
Information is constantly evolving and we live in a society where often the story is told or the correct answer is chosen by the victor. Historian Howard Zinn was a master at retelling past events from the viewpoint of the average individual, not the hero. His book A People's History of the United States shed a new – and often surprising – light on generally accepted facts of history. There is always another side to each story. Therefore, we must always allow for flaws and corrections. In a world with so much information we will only hope to learn the full story when everyone is given an opportunity to participate.
What Wikipedia has done is demonstrated that through collaboration, the collective knowledge of a community can create a reliable source of information. By doing so, it has given the community credibility. Now, it is time we listen to the community's story.
But, first, what is Wikipedia? On its own pages it gives the following description:
“Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation...”
When Wikipedia launched, there was a great deal of speculation if it would ever be a reliable source of information. In other words, there was concern that the crowd-sourcing of knowledge and peer editing would never be a substitute for information experts. However, I think Wikipedia has not only prevailed but also flourished. And in doing so, it has shown what is possible when a community works together. In the 8 years since it was launched, Wikipedia has changed the way we look for, share, and consume information.
In today's networked society, often the best answer or solution is found through collaboration. The world is becoming more complex and at times it feels as though history has accelerated. By using new social web technology to communicate and pooling our knowledge and expertise, we can achieve things that were not even conceivable in the recent past. Locality is no longer a restriction. We can share, communicate, and collaborate with individuals across vast stretches of geography.
We have changed the way we obtain news and absorb information. When I was a child I remember my grandparents watching the evening news. It was at a set time, on a set channel every day. It was a passive act. Today my mother, now a grandmother herself, consumes and shares information via Twitter, Facebook, and other web portals. She participates in online discussions, rather than just receiving news passively.
In addition, the quantity of information available has increased since the advent of the internet and continues to grow. “Information growth is a distinctive phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st century, which refers to the increasing amount and variety of information produced and circulated in various institutional domains” (The Information Growth And Internet Research programme, London School of Economics and Political Science). IDC refers to all this information as the Digital Universe and in May 2009 estimated the size of this universe to be 500 exabytes (or 500 billion gigabytes). We add more data to this Digital Universe every day with each picture we upload and share, each tweet we post, and each blog entry we write.
All of this changes the information landscape. There is more information. It is easier to share and collaborate. Knowledge and information are becoming more open. And Wikipedia has benefited from all these changes. It was launched at a time when the amount of information was rapidly increasing, sharing information was on the rise, and people were looking for new ways to sort and consume information. Wikipedia provided a place for people to share and sort information – both old and new. It gave the community tools to question and correct inaccuracies. It allowed people to participate in the storytelling.
Of course, there are erroneous pieces of information on Wikipedia, as there are in other, more traditional information sources. I think the tools Wikipedia has provided to mark and track inaccuracies and annotate citations has helped streamline the process to present the most fact-based information available. But, the critics will always point to the imperfections and flaws as a reason that information compiled by experts is better than that amassed through community collaboration. However, there are flaws in traditional expert information sources as well. One reason for this is obsolete information remaining after new discoveries have changed the generally excepted truth. I wonder how many references are still out there in reference materials, science books, and other information sources referring to Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system rather than a dwarf planet it was redefined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.
Information is constantly evolving and we live in a society where often the story is told or the correct answer is chosen by the victor. Historian Howard Zinn was a master at retelling past events from the viewpoint of the average individual, not the hero. His book A People's History of the United States shed a new – and often surprising – light on generally accepted facts of history. There is always another side to each story. Therefore, we must always allow for flaws and corrections. In a world with so much information we will only hope to learn the full story when everyone is given an opportunity to participate.
What Wikipedia has done is demonstrated that through collaboration, the collective knowledge of a community can create a reliable source of information. By doing so, it has given the community credibility. Now, it is time we listen to the community's story.
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