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News for June 2010

21 June 2010

ACORN Totally Vindicated of All Wrongdoing - What Was That 'Scandal' All About?

The ACORN story really breaks my heart. ACORN is an organization truly devoted to the poor, not expressing the noblesse oblige favored by some but instead seeking genuine, bottom-up empowerment. Like all large organizations, it applies its values inconsistently, but in my experience far more consistently than most. And certainly more consistently than its critics. Alas, I should be writing this in the past tense. On June 14, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued its Preliminary Observations on Funding, Oversight, and Investigations and Prosecutions of ACORN or Potentially Related Organizations. John Atlas -- the author of a book about ACORN -- offers a good summary of the report (along with his personal experiences at the organization) at Alternet: ACORN Totally Vindicated of All Wrongdoing -- What Was That 'Scandal' All About? None of us could have escaped the messages about ACORN spread by the right wing smear machine. In the face of accusations, their financial support was destroyed. Shamefully, congress stripped them of federal funding before an independent investigation could confirm the allegations. Even more shamefully, private funders wouldn't touch them either. I'm appalled that we didn't stand by them. The next organization that is the subject of a witch hunt could be yours. Funders can weather such assaults. Most of us can't. Posted: 6/21/10; 6:22:06 PM #

Iran's Twitter Devolution: A Textbook Example of Hype Dynamics

Over the years, there's been a slightly tired joke around our office, that comes up when we hear from a client that someone in a position of authority at their organization wants them to have a "social media" strategy. Does it mean that they're ready to invest in the relationships between their stakeholders and leverage the networks they're a part of? Nope. Does it mean they realize the Internet itself is a social medium and it's time for their organization to grow past using it as a broadcast tool? Probably not that either. No, it means that someone at the top said: "Gotta get us some o' that Twitter!" Sometimes that's as far as it goes. Sometimes they cite irrelevant statistics. Sometimes they cite surveys showing how people think it's important. Sometimes they cite examples. Now, the people who engage us are usually people of vision and we are all of us easily seduced by the self-referential echo-chambers that drive the hype cycle for various easily branded "new" trends. But, whether or not the particular tool or strategy is a good idea for the organization (and it often is), there's no question that these conversations are triggered by hype. Few examples serve better to show what I mean than the frenetic, self-congratulatory conversations that went on during the post-election protests in Iran in 2009. In The Twitter Devolution, Golnaz Esfandiari takes apart the claim that Iranians used Twitter to organize and coordinate their protests following Ahmadinejad's apparent theft of the elections. I tend to think the attention Iran received on Twitter and elsewhere in the West was, overall, a good thing. But it's pretty clear that Twitter was not so much used by Iranians to talk to Iranians about Iran, but for Westerners to talk to Westerners, often about Twitter. We're dealing with smaller versions of this in organizations all the time. Posted: 6/21/10; 5:42:03 PM #

7 June 2010

6 New Terms to Use When Measuring Social Marketing Efforts

I'm normally pretty disgusted when consultants (such as myself) make up fancy new hyped-up terms for well-established concepts in order to draw attention to themselves and create anxiety-based demand in their market. But these 6 New Terms to Use When Measuring Social Marketing Efforts actually seem pretty useful. Plus, they are not named in that annoyingly cutesy way that many firms use to glue the terms to their own brand and marketing. The six terms are Attractions, Participations, Interactions, Actions, Transformations, and Transactions. Not all of these apply to every campaign or program, but I encourage you to familiarize yourself with them. Using them will lead to better designed and managed social media efforts. Posted: 6/7/10; 5:20:31 PM #

New York State Cuts Off Funding to Tens of Thousands of Nonprofits
	The Foundation Center reports on a Wall Street Journal report on how New York State is Cutting Off Funding to Tens of Thousands of Nonprofits. I bet this is on the verge of happening all across the U.S. Posted: 6/7/10; 5:11:06 PM #

XKCD on Hiring Social Media Experts
	I'm on a roll with digging up relevant XKCD comics. It seems like nonprofits are all in the market for "social media" experts, "social media" being defined as anything on the upward scale of the hype curve that involves digital communication. Posted: 6/7/10; 5:07:22 PM #

The War for Control of the Story

The economist Milton Friedman caused a lot of harm in his time and his ideas will no doubt continue to do so for a long time to come. But he was also a man with some powerful practical insights. One of the most powerful being that when there is a major crisis, the ideas that get put into practice are the ones that happen to be "lying around." This insight is one of the secrets to the recent and ongoing wave of "disaster capitalism" that is rapidly realigning power upwards. In The War for Control of the Story Daniel Pinchbeck dives into why it's critical that civil society come together by developing the alternatives to the modern economic systems of value, particularly those built upon pyramids of debt. His examples draw from new economic models for video, but his analysis extends far beyond that. Posted: 6/7/10; 5:00:05 PM #

How I Learned to Become a Failure

A dysfunctional fear of failure is still a prevalent destructive dynamic is most of the organizations that I have had the chance to work with over the years. You don't have to go as far as I did once, in the office of an organization I ran, which was to put up a large sign that read "Fail Faster!" But I bet it wouldn't hurt. In How I Learned to Become a Failure, designer Rob Morris offers a personal perspective (and in the end it's all personal) on why failing early and often is a surefire path to success. Posted: 6/7/10; 4:52:41 PM #

Why Change Is So Hard: Self Control Is Exhaustible

Here's why consultants, organizational leaders, and other change agents need to carefully think out the pacing and landscape of choices when working toward organizational change. Change can be subverted by the built-in dynamics of self-control exercised by the stakeholders on which you're dependent. Dan Heath summarizes some research showing Why Change Is So Hard: Self Control Is Exhaustible. Posted: 6/7/10; 4:33:08 PM #

2 June 2010

Interview with a Teacher: Matt Harmless, Christian Teacher and Pastor

I've been waiting with excited anticipation for the first of Asher Bey's interviews with teachers, over at The Guru's Handbook. It's finally out, in the form of an interview with Matt Harmless, a Christian teacher and pastor. There's a long list of things I like about this interview. My two favorites: No matter their belief systems, truly passionate and thoughtful teachers have a lot in common with each other. And no matter what you teach (Matt teaches math), there are depths of spirit and worldview that permeate everything. If you know a teacher of any kind that you think Asher should interview, please feel free to suggest them. The power of these ideas will be much more obvious the more people he talks to. I am really eager to see who's next and will be making some suggestions of my own. You can make your own suggestions by writing to Asher in the comments section on the interview page, or through the contact form on the site there! Posted: 6/2/10; 5:22:15 PM #