BlogCWC

We're Moving!

We are moving to Flemings Steak House, located on US 41 and Siesta Drive, for our meeting this Thursday. Not only will CWC members be able to enjoy the fine dining at Flemings, but we'll have valet and other amenities for our professional development meetings.

Don'f forget to bring your wireless laptop to the next meeting for a hands-on session during Dan Miller's presentation on Staying In the Know with Social Media. Miller is the EVP of Neighborhood America, a company that specializes in building community through digital communications.

We are also having a pounding...bring a pound of food for our food drive.

Posted by Suzanne Dameron

Next Prof Dev Meeting: Blueprint for Staying In The Know

Enterprise Social Media – Stay In The Know

Regardless of whether you’ve been using social networking to promote your business or just thinking about it, the July 2 professional development luncheon will take you to new levels.  Dan Miller, Executive Vice President of Neighborhood America discuss a five-step “blueprint” on how to think about and plan for strategies that meet business goals.  Attendees are encouraged to bring their wireless laptop for a hands-on session for creating a Twitter phone campaign.  
 

Dan Miller is the EVP of Neighborhood America, and former President and CEO of MOVO Mobile.  Dan not only brings an extensive background in mobile technology, but also an unparalleled vision of the social networking industry and its application to interactive community management. His leadership continues to enable the nation’s forward-thinking organizations to engage consumers through online and mobile platforms for the purpose of driving value: increased efficiencies, revenues, or decreased costs.

Vanilla vs. Chocolate

I echo Peg's and Susie's sentiments.  Like Peg I was attracted to Bing's pretty pictures that scream "take me away," and tended to get a bit side-tracked when looking at the site, and, like Susie, while the new technologies are a step in the right direction for us all and will certainly help us advance into the future, I don't necessarily have the time to delve into each site and fully grasp the nuances and features of both, however, I did try and here's my take:

Bing vs. Google--I love the pictures of exotic destinations that greets you on Bing's home page. It is chocolate to Google's vanilla. When I compared Bing's map to the Google map to give me directions to Holmes Beach, Bing provided me with the fastest, not necessairly the most scenic route. Interesting I thought. In all fairness, I did have another option which likely could have taken me along the more scenic route. Google,on the other hand, took me on the scenic route. Guess which I chose?

Google vs. Hunch--Hunch was much more fun to play with, but with all of its self-discovery quizzes, I don't feel as comfortable using it at work. I don't think it would be easy to explain to others why I'm answering questions about my favorite thing to do on vacation when I should be simply finding the answer to a question that furthers the cause I am promoting. Again, Google's "vanilla" wins this time.

Hunch vs. Bing--Both are fun to play with and with time I am sure I will come to find that each is best for a particular action I need to take.

In conclusion, I'm a Google gal in part because I know how to use it and in part because of its clean no-nonsense exterior gets the job done--it is functional, fast and affords me less of an opportunity to get side-tracked. Anyhow, there is always room for a little chocolate-vanilla swirl with a cherry on top.

Lynn Hobeck Bates

Bing, Hunch & The Next Big New One

I love Peg Palmer's comment in her recent post starting with "when my brain is on overload from too much information, relevant and irrelevant..."  Guess what? That's what I'm feeling now.

One one hand, it's totally awesome that technology gurus, web strategists, etc. are always coming up with bigger, better, newer tools to make us more efficient, rake in a different angle or break the mold where never broken before. The fact is, it's important...sooo important...to be aware of what's changing our online world. Everyday new things are going on that impact the way we work--or should impact the way we work for the better!

On the other hand, there will always be "the next big new one." 

And honestly, I like my Google. It works for me. In a nonprofit frame of mind, when something works well, I use it.  I like to explore new technologies, mind you, but there's only limited time in a day.

The real question for me is how I can continue to follow the latest and evolving Search Engine Optimization (SEO) trends so others can find my organization no matter what tool they use.  To that end, I want to share a few resources with you that have been helpful for me:

• Introduction to SEO by seo.grassroots.org

• SEO for the NPO, a webinar with slides available on SlideShare

• SEO and Social Media: 5 Essential Steps to Success from Mashable.com
  

• Wild Apricot's blog about a Free SEO helper tool for nonprofits (Warning: I haven't used it, but it's something you want to check out)

Any other great SEO resources for nonprofits? Let us know.

And I'm sorry for rebelling against by Hunch/ Bing commentary. This one is a little off topic. It's just a different angle and the truth of my search engine journey.

-Susie Bowie

To Bing or to hunch?

I started looking at BING, the new search/decision engine a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled onto hunch, another search engine that promises to provide decisions.

I have become intrigued by hunch - here is a search engine that asks me questions. hunch promises the information will be kept private and be used to provide better decisions for me. It asked me basic questions - "Where do I live" - and interesting questions - "Do you like the smell of Play-doh" and "What is your favorite style of furniture?" while showing me images. After each response, you find out how your responses compare to others in the hunch environment. 

I have learned that 7% of us do not eat meat, 30% of us avoid video games and a whopping 70% of us don't have anyone in our households under the age of 18. (Since hunch is fairly new to the cyberscene, I question how broad the demographics are.) 

It took a few tries to get the knack of asking a decision-oriented question. When I ask for information, hunch converts the question to one that asks for a decision: "Is ShamWow a microfiber cloth?" was rephrased to "What is the best car care product for me?"  

The decision was "Zwipes, an inexpensive microfiber cloth sold at auto supply stores." The auto industry has been into the microfiber cloths for some time because they are so absorbent. I don't have the answer to my question about ShamWow, but I have a decision about which ones to get and where I can find them.

Now that I was getting the hang of this, I wondered if hunch could have helped me with a decision I made earlier this year. In January, I purchased an I-Phone and despite the massive amount of research I did, I have had a great deal of trouble with it. The Apple folks have bent over backwards to resolve all the issues but they can't keep up with them. Could hunch have helped me avoid these problems? 

I typed "Should I get an I-Phone" into the decision requesting window. hunch began asking me a series of questions and based on my answers, said I should get the Google Android. I wanted the Google Android! But I didn't want to wait until May for it to come out.

Next, I tried BING. "Should I get an I-Phone" and it responded with a couple of blogs that posed the question to visitors and a couple of news articles examining the question. But BING did not give me a decision the way hunch did.

hunch is riding along next to Microsoft's 80 million dollar advertising campaign for BING and is the brain child of Caterina Fake, the co-founder of Flickr. I like a lot of things about it but hunch is plagued by not enough information. Caterina Fake admits that with only 2500 silos of information, hunch has a long way to go. 

If you try BING out, you can readily see that it is far more developed than hunch but it seems hunch may hold more potential for the future as a decision engine.

Posted by Suzanne Dameron

Director, Emerging Communications

Cyber rabbit hole?

Bing. Hunch. Yahoo. Google.  Ah, the choices.  With vacations and travel on my mind, Bing was a top contender for finding the best deals and presenting the options in a clear easy-to-follow way. On the other hand, Hunch would be the choice for odd but interesting soirees into self-understanding. Yahoo and google are like old friends. I know what to expect  from them and they do a good job at pointing me at the information I need. I appreciate that –because sometimes my mind gets too easily distracted and I lose my direction – how much more intriguing it is to fall through the looking glass and chase the white rabbit through cyber land, in search of…was it the best designer for my style? …the ideal book for my personality type? 

I have a Hunch that it wouldn’t be hard to get hooked.  It’s already pretty easy to get addicted to social media –  the temptation to check into Facebook every few hours is hard to resist.  Even though the nuggets of wisdom I glean may be few and far between, I feel connected, I have a sense of community on some level that is enough for me to endure aching shoulders, bleary eyes, and  hopefully not, but possibly, a  Hunch back from too many hours of on-line socializing and exploring this new media. 

When my brain is on overload from too much information, relevant and irrelevant, it’s conceivable and more than a little intriguing -- why not have a search engine that not only leads you to the answer and helps you decide what you want, and maybe even defines who you are? 

Posted by Peg Palmer

Is it better to Bing?

I had just begun to Bing when I learned about hunch.

Both Bing and hunch claim to be a "new search engine" that will make decisions for us.

(Bing was recently launched by Microsoft and hunch was founded by Caterina Fake, the co-founder of Flickr.)

I am intrigued. Can it work? Can a search engine make decisions for us?

So I tested both as well as Google with the same question or keyword. I used them just as I normally would. 

I learned that I don't often go to the internet wanting a decision - usually I just need straight-forward information. I also learned that if I want a search engine to make a decision, I need to phrase the question somewhat differently. I got a better handle on it after visiting hunch and seeing how simply they phrased the questions.  

So I posed my opening question to Google, Bing and hunch:

Can a search engine make decisions for us?

Bing responded with articles about making decisions for a "rockin" SEO campaign. The fifth article was about Microsoft's launch of BING and the 80,000 K advertising campaign. BING did not answer my question.

Google responded with two articles related to the question - both were trade pieces about the launch of Microsoft's BING. Google did not answer the question.

hunch rephrased the question: How can I decide what is the ethical thing to do? I liked the fact that they were prepared to tackle the ethical issue and so I continued to answer their questions of me. After 3 or 4 questions about how I would handle certain issues, they suggested that I use a utilitarian approach. That is, I consider  the consequences of actions in making a decision.

If I apply this to whether a search engine can make decisions, I would say that I will try it out and let the results speak for themselves. So hunch did not give me an answer but they told me an approach I could take that would make sense to me.

I have to say that hunch is growing on me. I like the layout, the clean, fresh style and even though they rephrase the questions and seem way off base, the decisions come back more useful than I would have thought.

But let's hear what your experiences are. Why don't you test the differences? Try out Google, Bing and hunch, toss Yahoo into the mix if you want, and let us know what happened on the CWC Facebook site  - go to the Central West Coast Chapter of the FPRA - or you can post a comment here. 

We'll be posting more about this on the blog as well.

Posted by Suzanne Dameron

Director of Emerging Communications

Will you give up two lattes this year?

When is a fund-raising campaign not a campaign? 

When it is an experiment in social media.

cPR, Carpenter Public Relations, has launched Project 10, a social media campaign with a novel twist. The campaign encourages everyone to give $10, or the cost of two lattes, to the Sarasota Boys & Girls Club during the year to raise 10 million dollars. But the results will be measured not only by dollars raised but by the success of using digital strategies. 

From the Project 10 Experiment blog:

To test the power of social media, we've created a simple experiment: Will people playing in the digital playground take $10 away from their fast food and latte budgets to give to charity who needs money to help thousands of needy children? Can we generate $10 million? We'll let the results speak for themselves over the next year.

cPR has rolled out the campaign via social media with an educational blog and sites on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. And while it does seek to raise funds and awareness, it publicly announces that it recognizes itself as an experiment.   

Walking On The Wild Side - with Social Media

Seasoned public relations professional Scott Carpenter of Carpenter Public Relations presented several issues surrounding brand protection in the digital arena. Here is the summary of his presentation:

Protecting Your Brand in the Digital Playground… Scott Carpenter

“Branding in the social media is communication on the wild side,” Scott Carpenter told attendees at the CWC-FPRA June meeting. Unlike traditional media, the new digital playground has few rules and filters. It happens anywhere, anytime, any place, and anyone can post anything about anyone at any time without any consequence.

More than one billion people use social media sites like Facebook and YouTube, and others to talk about own stories, what’s happening in their lives, and their experiences. In the process, their perspectives on brands come through to all their friends, who know, for example if they had a great bagel – or not - at Einsteins. Your brand becomes interwoven in their experience.

The challenge is how to manage, insulate and protect one’s brand. Key to that is having a plan for action and understanding how the social media work. Good news and bad news travels fast. It is a world where more personal brands can flourish, individuals can become instant legends, and people can independently make a name for themselves, and do so flawlessly.

A brand has a social media identity that

Need inspiration for your blog? Now there is Plinky.

Since January of this year. Plinky has been offering ideas to bloggers so they can have something to say. Here is how Plinky describes itself:

Plinky makes it easy for you to create inspired content. Every day we provide a prompt (i.e. a question or challenge) and you answer. We make it simple to add rich media and share your answers on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Shouldn't a blogger be inspired, you ask? Ideally, of course. But consider this. A few years ago, it was advised that you post at least 3-4 times a week to build your audience. Now, you are advised to consider posting 5 times a day. Rich content is one of the criteria by which your Google rank is measured and if you are shooting for multiple daily postings with good content, you probably welcome inspiration no matter where it comes from.  

When I first visited Plinky, I was confronted with: Who would win a fight - a wolverine or a Tasmanian Devil?