Facebook Promotions About to Get Easier for Nonprofits?

A little over a year ago I was breathing fire over Facebook's new rules for promotions. Ask them permission before running a contest? No more "leave a comment to be entered to win..." hi-jinx? The free ride was over.

Looks like Facebook has re-thought the whole promotions thing, because I just read that they will be revoking the need to get permission first part of the deal. Which could be a good thing for small businesses and nonprofits who may have wanted to jump on the Facebook contest bandwagon but didn't have an account rep to work with.

Taking away a) need for prior approval and b) minimum spend investment definitely lower the financial bar for organizations looking to use Facebook to run a promotion. Granted, you still have to use a third-party developer and the easiest, free ways to do Facebook contests: e.g. posting a photo or a comment on a Page's wall--are still forbidden.

But hey, when is Facebook usually taking away barriers to entry rather than throwing them up? Hardly ever! So I say yay to this upcoming change.

Protecting Your Privacy on Facebook with safego

If you read this blog you know that, while I acknowledge Facebook can be a valuable business tool, I have have, at best, a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I love how easy Facebook makes it to see what's going on in friend's lives, but I hate their continual "whoops, we didn't mean to..." attitude. As in "didn't mean to sell your data" or "didn't mean to make your private chats public" or "didn't mean to expose private email addresses"....and so on. Obviously they DO mean to...isn't selling data their billion-dollar business model? 

As you may also know, I am a BitMom blog network member, which means that every month I post info from or about BitDefender. I admit I'm excited about this month's post because it's about a new way to protect your privacy on Facebook. God knows Facebook isn't about protecting your privacy; it's nice to know there are some companies out there who can help.

BitDefender is looking to protect your Facebook account by creating a robust application that will protect users from prying eyes and e-threats while also allowing you to safely access shared pictures, videos, and files. safego is designed to curb threats to personal privacy, spam attacks, and malware distribution campaigns that have been found to occur through this popular social networking platform.

How does it work? 

Installing safego provides:

• Privacy protection- You’ll be warned when you should modify your Facebook privacy settings so that personal information isn’t exposed.
• Automatic scanning- Just press the “scan now” button to get a snapshot of your Facebook security status.
• 24/7 protection- Your account is protected even when you’re not logged into Facebook.
• Protection for your friends- You’ll have the ability to warn your friends about infected links in their Facebook accounts.

Since safego is in BETA version, BitDefender invites you to be a part of this new product by sharing your opinion during this final testing phase. Direct feedback will be used by the company to make final tweaks.

Here’s how you can help:

• Visit BitDefender’s safego Facebook app page to take a look at safego
• Submit any feedback via email to safego@bitdefender.com

For more information about keeping yourself and your family safe online, visit BitMoms.com, a community dedicated to providing free resources and a place for parents to seek advice about keeping children safe on the internet.

I am sharing this information as a BitMom Blog Network Member.  No compensation was received for this post, however, I do receive a stipend to attend a blogging conference of my choice.

Are Mobile Apps a Waste of Time for YOUR Association?

Photo by by Cyril Plapied

Interesting debate going on in the association blogosphere recently--whether or not mobile apps are or are not a waste of time for associations. My take? You can't know unless you ask your members.

And yes I mean ask your members--not use data to guess their mobile usage needs based on behaviors you can see such as how they're accessing your website (or not) from their mobile devices via Google Analytics, or looking at your demographics and deciding that no, they won't be interested in apps because most of them are too old.

I just got back from ASHA's annual convention and it was a total eye-opener with regard to this subject. I got to meet lots of members and spend lots of time in the exhibit hall and what I learned totally flew in the face of what data would suggest. Are they using mobile devices to access our website? Not so much. Are they "digital natives?" Not by a long shot. But does that mean they're not using mobile devices in their work? Absolutely not.

They're using them in therapy. They're using them as assistive devices instead of the ones that cost $8,000, and having the same or better results. They're using them to motivate kids with severe autism--apparently mobile games work exceptionally well as motivators for kids with autism. They're using them to train kids to blow, to retrain adults how to move their mouths to form words. They're using them to take photos or videos of kids to send parents to augment paper progress reports. Using the metronome app to help stutterers pace their speech. Using the stopwatch feature to time appointments--because, as one pointed out, the font is much easier to read/larger than her regular stopwatch! And so on, ad infinitum.

As an association staffer who is not a speech therapist or audiologist there's no way I'd have imagined how big a part iOS devices are playing in our members' lives and practices if I hadn't heard it straight from them. Having learned what I learned this past week there is no way my association can NOT spend time and probably resources on apps in some way or another (in my opinion, at least).

Maybe ASHA is uniquely suited to apps, but I doubt it. I have a feeling that no matter what segment of professionals you ask, apps could well be playing a huge role in their lives and daily work. Does this mean you need to spend $50k creating apps featuring the content on your association's website? No. But does it mean it's worth asking members how mobile devices figure into their professional and personal lives, rather than assuming that because they're mostly older or employed in non-techy fields, you shouldn't be wasting time or resources on apps? Definitely.

Calling BS on Klout and the Concept of Influencers

Can I just say that I will be very, very glad when the word "influencer" is struck from the vocabulary of every marketing, PR and social media person. Why? Because the whole concept of "influencer" based on stuff like Klout or stupid tools like Vitrue's Social Page Evaluator is absolute BS. Anyone can have a Twitter account, or dozens of them, and retweet the crap out of their own stuff, thereby increasing their Klout. Some social media management tools even have a built-in feature that lets you re-tweet your own post from an unlimited number of other accounts, making it look as if it were actually retweeted when in fact it was you who manufactured these retweets. For instance, take Spredfast: "On-site scheduling and voice management allows a single tweet to be sent out and then be retweeted, in slightly altered forms, by any number of other accounts over time, creating the illusion of a discussion."

In a world where anyone can easily create "the illusion of discussion" how can we seriously think that people can be accurately ranked by their online influence as gauged by an easily-duped system of pretend numbers? And what about stuff that happens off-line...like, for instance, most of life? If I tell 20 people how great my Toyota Venza is and they all end up buying one--that's less valuable than me tweeting about it to a bunch of strangers who don't actually know me? Or those people think about my recommendation for a minute, then check my Klout score and see it's only 17 and decide "forget it--her opinion doesn't count." Of course not.

And as I've blogged about before, brands or PR people who give special treatment to influencers and dismiss the less worthy do so at their own peril because among today's nobodies are, most certainly, tomorrow's A-listers. So what happens when you then go to pitch the next batch of influencers and none of them will give you the time of day because you didn't give it to them back when they were mere blips on Klout's scale? People who you didn't send fancy cupcakes to last year, or didn't invite to your super-special "secret" influencer party at the last blogger conference will remember being dissed, and they won't take kindly when you suddenly come sniffing around now that they're popular.

Glad to see I'm in good company with my disregard for Klout; if you don't want to take it from me, a nobody with low Klout, take it from Geoff Livingston, who probably was worthy of free PopChips.

My 20 Truths

It's been a while since I've jumped on the meme bandwagon...so in honor of it being the end of the week and me being officially tired of talking/writing/thinking about social media, I'm following in Amber Naslund's footsteps and throwing down my 20 truths:

1. You only live once. No, really. If you mess something up or do something you regret, just remember at least you had the privilege of experiencing whatever it was and no matter how hard or crappy it may have been, it somehow made you wiser or stronger or more resilient.
2. Today's "influencers" or rock stars or what have you will fade and be replaced by people who are current "nobodies." So next time you are about to dismiss someone because you think they don't matter, think twice. This applies online and in real life.
3. Good health is truly the only thing that matters...just ask someone who doesn't have it. Take care of yourself, mentally and physically.
4. Kids grow up fast. Really fast. And they don't understand the meaning of "quality time"--they just want your regular time and attention, and lots of it.
5. If you're in a situation that seems unbearable and don't think you're strong enough or brave enough to make a change, you are. And you owe it to yourself to do it. You will not regret it.
6. You can't please all people all the time--so align yourself with people who think you're great and ignore the people who don't.
7. People who look perfect aren't. 
8. A job is just a job. If yours saps your energy or takes away from your enjoyment of life, find a new one.
9. Don't pay attention when people say "never do X". X may equal "burn a bridge" or "eat white bread" or billions of other things...if it makes sense for you to do X, then do it.
10. Magical thinking totally works. But only if you absolutely believe that it does.
11. If you take yourself too seriously life isn't fun--and everyone will probably think you're a douchebag.
12. "You get what you pay for" is absolutely not true. There's a lot of expensive shit out there and it's not always better because it costs more.
13. Preparation H does not get rid of under-eye bags. That's a myth. But if your'e going to try it, make sure to use the clear gel and not the cream that smells like fish oil.
14. True love actually does exist.
15. Not to be morbid, but one of the most profound things I read this year was by someone who had attempted suicide a number of times who ultimately realized "your life is not yours to take." 
16. Depression is an illness as real as any physical one and willpower cannot cure it, as nice as that would be. 
17. There are no guarantees in life. 
18. Relying on the attention and admiration of others for self-esteem is not a good idea, or a sustainable way to live. If you're ok with yourself, that's all that matters.
19. If you want something, you have to ask for it. People aren't mind readers.
20. You can't change people. I know, it sucks, but save yourself the effort and don't waste time trying because it won't work.

Ok, your turn...what are your 20 truths? 

Open Community and the new association community manager

I'm taking part in the virtual book tour Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer are doing to explore concepts from Open Community: a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web. In this post, Maddie and Lindy introduce the book and discuss a few of the ideas we hope to discuss more here and over on their blog at SocialFishing.



Before we get into today’s topic of the new association community manager, give me the scoop on what Open Community is all about.

Maddie: Basically, Lindy and I have talked to thousands of association executives - including you, Maggie!--who have voiced their frustrations about the social web--from the overabundance of tools and the disorderly experimentation of staff (and members!), to the lack of organizational support and the unwieldy processes for monitoring and managing social media, and that’s just the beginning. We decided to write Open Community as a way to address those frustrations and redirect the thinking about using social tools to build community online.

So, what is “Open Community?”

Lindy: Here’s the gist. Your Open Community is your people who are bonded by what your organization represents and care enough to talk to each other (hopefully about you!) online. Connecting with and supporting your Open Community is really important, because if you don’t, someone else will.

I’m psyched to see that in the book you hit on one of my hot topics - community management. Is it a good idea for an association to outsource community management?

Maddie: I’ll put it this way - there are certainly people out there who have really good community management skills and can help an organization get started, especially from the social media management and content strategy side...

Lindy: ...But no external consultant or agency can build relationships for you. We hear stories every day of campaigns that went great, built up a nice level of activity for a period of time, then the agency was done with their engagement and the community went dormant. Which is to say that the people stopped paying attention because the organization stopped paying attention. Huge waste, IMHO. Whether you have outside help or not, the point is to build up your internal capacity for this kind of work.

What level position should community manager be? Entry level, mid-level, etc.

Maddie: I’ll give you the classic consultant’s answer: it depends. We trained an intern for one of the groups we worked with, and she turned out to be amazing and has really managed to get their social media engine firing on all cylinders. But she has the support of good supervisors, and a team of execs as back up. Plus, an awesome person like that will eventually move on or get poached if they aren’t appreciated or paid what they’re worth (regardless of age!).

Lindy: On top of that, if you bake “clarity over control” into your whole organization, so that everyone knows the overall strategic goals for using social tools and building community, then the community manager becomes an administrator and facilitator. You can hire someone at a relatively lower level with the right skill set to do the daily work, and enough experience to know when the community needs a more senior executive to weigh in.

That said, most associations aren’t there yet. The first step on the personnel side isn’t “hire a junior or mid-level community manager.” The first step is finding a person who can lead the changes the organization needs to make to support an open community. That takes someone in a senior position.

Does an association really need a designated community manager?

Maddie: What an association needs is what we describe as “skill sets for a social organization” - listening, curation, conversation, social etiquette, facilitating and mediating, and collaboration. (We talk in the book about the specifics of these). For some orgs, a great individual community manager will have all of these abilities. For others, a team might work just as well, and for yet others, every single person in the organization will do the work of community building and management.

Lindy: Yep - it needs to be someone’s job, however you slice it. I think the association industry needs to recognize the value of this role, whether you hire a new position, or reassign tasks and rewrite existing job descriptions. And either way, the role should be fairly compensated and benchmarked like any other. But I don’t have to tell you that, Maggie!

So what’s next?

Maddie: Well, we see the book as a conversation starter--we hope lots and lots of people will get the chance to read it, and think about how the concepts affect their organization.

Lindy: And we hope to gather lots of great stories about Open Community in action, which we’ll continue to share in many ways throughout the year. So here’s a question for all of your readers to consider...

Who does community management for your Open Community (an individual, a team, everyone)? What skills are most important for them to have for achieving your organization’s community building goals?

Vote for Mizz Information in the Mobbies?

So you know how I hate lists and the popularity contest that is social media. But I am admittedly intrigued at the possibility of actually being on a list for once...the Baltimore Sun's Mobbie awards for Maryland's Outstanding Blogs.

Want to help this C-Lister find out what it feels like to be on a list that starts with the word "Best"? Then click this handy badge and vote for Mizz Information! (hint: If you don't see Mizz Information, it's in the Business & Technology blog section.)



Thanks!