Have you ever watch VH1’s Pop-up Videos? Wouldn’t it be great if similar informative comment boxes popped up on in your Internet browser? Well, I discovered a tool, Browzmi, that uses this ‘pop-up’ concept by integrating instant messaging and web surfing all in the same browser, and in real-time. Even though you and your friends are sharing and discussing the same web site in real-time, users are not actually sharing one single screen (so your friends or other users can never control your browser).

Browzmi is a free app that doesn’t require downloading, and is compatible with Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. Users can communicate with friends while watching movies, discovering new music and playing games. This tool also offers a bookmarklet, which allows users to open any viewed page in Browzmi and share with others. Other features include voting and commenting on sites, grabbing pictures for photo sharing, and a sidebar full of widgets like YouTube and Flickr.

Currently the application can be synced with a user’s Facebook. Browzmi is working on incorporating AOL, MSN, and Yahoo chat features to maximize the friend sharing experience.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: The registering process was so easy and the interface is very inviting. I love the three-pane structure of Browzmi and how organized it is. I can view what every user is commenting/voting on, or if I want to just see my friends or my own, I have that option too. And as simple as it may be, being able to find the on and off button for sound is great! The team at Browzmi is also wonderful. Thank you Travis Parsons for welcoming me and answering my questions.

Negative: As with an open sharing service, the only major concern is privacy. Even though Browzmi offers users the ability to make their streams public or private, the whole network still has the capability to review your online activity.

Conclusion: I really enjoyed sharing and surfing the web with my friends all in real-time. Browzmi saves me from having to minimize my screen in order to fit my instant message box all on my desktop. Browzmi is just plain fun and I can’t wait for all of the chat services additions and emoticons!

Marie Michelson engages social media users on all that’s green. Marie has been the Director of Online Communications for Greenpeace for three years. Prior to Greenpeace, she worked for the National Parks Conservation Association and the Defenders of Wildlife.

We met Marie Michelson at the 2008 Bridge Conference, where she was a panelist for the breakout session, “Web 2.0 & Social Networks: Are We There Yet?” Greenpeace was consistently cited at the conference as a leading social cause using our new two-conversational media tools. Marie shares with the us an in-depth discussion on how social media has helped Greenpeace.

BB: Tell us about your favorite Greenpeace social media initiative.

MM: Wow, that’s a tough question, cause I have a few favs. The Apple campaign certainly stands out, because we targeted a company renowned for its innovation, and channeled not only our own creative potential, but our supporters’ creative potential to really get Steve Jobs’ attention.

From the GreenMyApple web site to spoof Mac and PC ads, to emails, to comments on Apple fan sites, old-school Greenpeace actions, and MySpace bulletins, we really built a comprehensive and innovative campaign that was run entirely online. It’s the perfect example of us investing our creative energy (which was a hell of a lot of fun) and then handing over the reigns to our supporters. We had supporters creating their own GreenMyApple designs, taking action, calling Apple – you name it. The site won a Webby award, but more importantly, we won a major shift in Apple’s policies.

BB: How do you integrate with other countries’ efforts?

MM: Greenpeace is in a unique position, because we have offices in more than 40 countries worldwide, but those boundaries become blurred online. Between social networking sites, promoting stories in places like Digg, and factoring in time zone differences when promoting stories to bloggers, there’s a lot of potential for us to step on each others’ toes or duplicate efforts.

Like many organizations, we’re not perfect yet, but the goal at the end of the day is one Greenpeace. We’re working with our “webbies” around the world to coordinate our efforts better and to put databases and systems in place that will ensure that we complement rather than duplicate each others’ efforts. That means we’ll be amplifying our efforts worldwide, putting our combined muscle behind a single target. When that happens, look out, this organization is really going to be a force to be reckoned with.

BB: How have social networks and other tools benefited your activism?

MM: To me, web 2.0 isn’t just about interactivity and cool new tools: It’s about a culture shift online. Gone are the days that you put up a web page and think, “if we build it, they will come.” In this day and age, you need to engage your supporters where they are. It’s about developing your online presence – across platforms – and engaging your audience. It’s also about empowering your supporters. We’ve seen some amazing examples over the last couple of years of so-called “average” supporters doing things that large, bureaucratic organizations couldn’t have dreamed possible 5 years ago. Old-school organizations need to learn to relinquish some control and be more inclusive.

BB: What about fundraising?

MM: If there’s any lesson I’ve learned in the last few years it’s that integration across channels is key. The question is not really about how successful social networking sites are or aren’t going to be for fundraising – hell, people have only recently stopped asking if internet fundraising in general was worth it. I think it’s making sure that your supporters are seeing the same stories across multiple channels in a consistent voice and with the same ask.

BB: Do you see Facebook as a major tool, or just a waste of time for social cause activity?

MM: Well, I’m not sure that any one group has managed to unlock the full potential of Facebook yet, but I’d sure be happy for Greenpeace to be the first… Ask me this question again in a year or so ;-)

BB: What’s next for Greenpeace online?

MM: Greenpeace is such a creative and innovative organization - we’re never short on fantastic ideas. The online world is Greenpeace’s oyster as far as I’m concerned, and I’m as excited as you to find out which idea is going to pry that oyster open for us.

BB: And Marie Michelson?

MM: I wouldn’t be at Greenpeace if I didn’t think it was the best place in the world for me to be. I think this organization has proven that it can change the world, and it’s not afraid to do or say anything to achieve its goals. From serious issues to having a sense of humor, it’s the perfect combination of risk-taking for a cause. I can’t think of any other organization with more potential to succeed online, and I want to be a part of making that happen.

There is no other way to say it. New search engine Cuil (prounounced “cool”) has made a splash launching across mainstream media and blogs this week.

A test run on search results for my name, returned 864,605 results (Sorry Chris, ha), compared to Google’s 2,400. More results, but less relevant and quite a headache to review.

Aside from questions of user interface, relevance and organization - Cuil is missing a very key factor for an Internet browser. Search results.

Comparison to Google may be unfair, but still warranted. According to ABC News,

After a day of searching on Cuil and comparing those results to Google, Google wins out every time, returning more results and more relevant results.

Need more proof? Consider this additional test run. It’s been very hot in the DC area lately, so I conducted a search for ice cream shops in the area, using a simple search of “ice cream”, “DC”.

Cuil: No results found if you use quotation marks. Without them, 46,290,886 results.

Results offered a plethora of ice cream websites. Only one of which was relevant to DC, Gifford’s. There are tabs on the side that let you choose to explore by ice cream brand name and parlors, but even breaking that down yields no usable results. It’s hard to determine ranking of results or any rhyme or reason to what you’re shown.

Usability factor: 2

(Click to enlarge image)

Google: 6,520,000 results

Results were arranged by store locations for Gifford’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Maggie Moo’s, and more. First search results were restaurant reviews, blogs, and other publications that rated the best ice cream parlors in the DC area. It may take some time to find what you’re looking for, but at least you get a good start to your search.

Usability factor: 9

(Click to enlarge image)

Conclusion: If you are hot and craving ice cream, Cuil is not the way to go.

It must be hard to even attempt to compete with Google. It’s a household name - noun and verb. Cuil may look pretty and have a more social media/Web 2.0 friendly interface, but it’s got a long way to go to become mainstream. Aside from the search problems, the dizzying three column interface will likely confuse less web-savvy users. There is a two column option, but it still appears messy.

Other issues include the fact that search results don’t often match up to the links (the text content and the URL link), and the Preferences tab really don’t offer any customization.

First impressions count a lot, and Cuil has banged the drum loudly, it’s just a matter of time to see whether or not the drumbeat will keep on going.

As if direct mail and email campaigns aren’t complex enough, the temptation of social networks sends cause marketers hurtling into No Fundraisers Land. As you might have read in Geoff’s Friday post, we returned from the 2008 Bridge Conference with minds reeling.

Geoff’s recap and the subsequent comment thread touched on flawed Facebook attributes and a call for nonprofit marketers to return to precision-oriented initiatives. True: Facebook isn’t focused . . . yet. A closer look at two examples show that nonprofits are helping to pave the way for fruitful ‘FaceSpace’ endeavors, even if only by brand awareness.

Our first witness: Geoff Handy, VP of Media & Online Communications for the Humane Society of the United States. HSUS is known for pioneering the electronic email era among nonprofits. They have a fierce e-marketing team and an army of support from all stripes.

But even with more than 52,000 MySpace friends and nearly 13,000 Facebook fans, Handy states that social networks don’t generate high traffic for HSUS. When it comes to list growth, marketing efforts in general aren’t big referrers, either. Top sources for names:

• 21% - Website visitors taking actions
• 18% - Tell-a-friend referrals
• 14% - Donations
• 10% - Purchased from 3rd party sites (e.g., Care2)
• And ranking 5th, 8% from Marketing (search, ads, social networks, etc.)

Then there’s Jonathan Colman at the Nature Conservancy. His efforts as an environmental thought leader on Digg! are widely and deservedly praised. It’s no wonder why.

Through a partnership with Lil Green Patch, the fifth most popular Facebook application, the Nature Conservancy has raised $44,650 in donations (and acquired more than 22,000 cause members) on Facebook.

Even with those numbers, Jonathan admits that their inbound site traffic from Facebook is filed under unqualified leads. As mi amiga Sara Strope would say, “Why chase after the $500 donor in a $50 market?”

Colman encourages others to, “Solicit support and CRM agreements from popular applications.” Partnering is smart, but doesn’t work in every case. Beth Kanter is calling for integration and ingenuity across cause-focused applications and platforms. In her own words:

app developers on FB or elsewhere who don’t know crap about fundraising or activism should collaborate more closely with nonprofits.”

Touche. But in the meantime, can we effectively learn from un-ending social media experimentation? The Nature Conservancy isn’t just growing silly dolls in a green patch - they’re seeding activists for future “harvest.” And Jonathan chalks it up to the same point: “Grow community, get data, then fundraise.”

HSUS is also sporting research-colored glasses. They’re using ChipIn, a free donation widget builder that provides the names of people who grab, share and donate through HSUS’ customized widget.

ChipIn gives a nonprofit the ability to reach out and say “Thank you” to a donor, which is a major step in cultivation and action. (The Nonprofit Times reported that - after donating $25 to each of 10 Facebook charities, none of the nonprofits responded.)

Sheeraz Haji, the list junkie who started GetActive (acquired by Convio), says, “Big lists equals more money and more action.” Put your brand out there - wherever you can get your list and integrate targeted, tested messages across offline and online channels. Say thank you. Ask for more.

Thinking is never as good as doing.

David Wiener of Eyeball Economy considers the roles of an organization’s different promotional silos. In particular, David examines who’s responsible for search advertising and messaging. David says, “Public Relations is there to provide people with information when they are looking for it, whether they know it or not. Advertising and Marketing is there to push brands, images, and slogans, whether they like it or not.” Read the full post, with a great excerpt from Shannon Whitley, and share what you think.

Already have an established website with lots of inbound links, but don’t have the traffic you would like? Tejvan R. Pettinger provides some useful tips on how to increase your site’s popularity. Some of his suggestions include creating new pages, such as “Top 10 Lists” of previous content, and to be clever about the keywords used to name those pages. Also, Stumbleupon, Digg and Delicious can be a great way to generate inbound traffic. Check out all of his suggestions, and offer some of your own at Net Writing.

Dick Hardt faces off Passport, OpenID and Facebook Connect in “a comparison of consumer identity solutions past and present.” Dick’s conclusion: “Facebook Connect provides great value to the user, great value to the site, and deepens the dependency of the user on Facebook, which is great for Facebook. Not so great for Facebook competitors.” Check out Dick’s post on Identity 2.0 to find out why.

On WebCommunityForum, Jason Preston considers some of the caveats of the new relationship between MySpace and OpenID. For example, “MySpace will not allow people who get an OpenID from a provider, such as Yahoo, to use that to login to the social network site.” Also, “MySpace is only compatible with sites that aren’t actually allowing users to register new IDs.”

Twitter is losing users’ friends and Chris Shipley of The Guidwire offers her amusing perspective on the ordeal. “Then yesterday,” says Chris, “Twitter pukes and the relationship database goes haywire. Followers are mowed down by the hundreds. The hue and cry is deafening. ‘Where, oh where,’ the Twitterati wail, ‘are all my followers?’” Read up to find out what’s been happening with Twitter, and what it means to you.

Where do the children go,
Between the bright night and darkest day?
Where do the children go?
And who’s that deadly piper who leads them away?

- Where Do the Children Go, The Hooters

Some of you may have seen CommonSense PR Eric Eggertson’s post this Saturday. He has decided to go on hiatus from CommonSense PR. This continues a trend where many established business bloggers stop for a while (Leo Bottary is back!), for good, or migrate to Twitter or another social network.

Eric states:

I’m tired. I want to not have a public opinion about everything I see. And if you aren’t absolutely driven to blog, you shouldn’t be doing it.

You have to respect Eric’s desire to move on. After years and months of blogging, isn’t burn-out inevitable? There comes a time when new media and paths must be explored in a person’s journey. Which brings up an interesting issue for corporate blogs: Artistic creativity or business? Can content be created on demand, or is great professional blogging a result of creative fire?

Business is business, so in many cases good blogging is a marketing function, an editorial production. We have found that editorial schedules and missions work well to drive content. Multiple authors allay the taxing nature of blogging time and creativity resources. In one case, our client StackSafe’s blog was cited by Forrester Research as part of an integrated marketing mix that offered compelling content to the IT mix.

For me, blogging and content creation lies in what seems to be an unrelenting fount of creativity. As soon as I push the publish button, a sense of relief occurs, but within hours the next post(s) starts brewing in my head. Further, even when I am stymied, I can still write on demand, a result of being the fifth journalist, and third published author in my family. I have always been possessed by the writing bug, and suspect I always will be (below image by desiitaly).

But there have been times where I burned out on the marketing, social media and PR schtick. This caused me to abandon my second social media blog, Now Is Gone (in support of the book) in favor of personal “fun” blogging. It also caused me to explore video, a media form I enjoy because of it’s extremely daunting canvas.

Yet I forged through burn-out on the Buzz Bin. Because it’s business, and there’s always some new idea or take on developments to offer insights to the marketplace. We publish on the Buzz Bin religiously because we see the blog as a core business offering, essential to the firm’s well-being. This will only continue as we integrate with Social Media Group.

It bears to mind an old Frederick Douglass quote (paraphrased): “Good writers write when they want to. Great writers write when they have to.”

When it’s a business — as opposed to an individual’s blog — you write. Artists be damned. And if a writer burns out, then it’s time to replace them with a new cog in the wheel. Well engineered business blogs should survive the comings and goings of personalities. Thus is the nature of business blogging.

Note: Kami Huyse stuck this idea of creative force vs. business in my head a couple weeks ago. She should get some credit for the idea.

Attending the Bridge Conference yesterday I was struck by the marked difference in the day’s three electronic media panels. The first and the third showed examples where fundraising on Facebook was stymied (Save Darfur, The Humane Society, etc.), that the social cause application garnered incredible amounts of followers, but few dollars. Why? Well a bad case of shiny object syndrome (see close).

More importantly, the second effort demonstrated how intelligent social media INTEGRATED with 1.0 and traditional marketing initiatives converted garnered fantastic fundrasing results. Key factor here was the social networks and online media were highly targeted towards Gen X. and Baby Boomers who had the capacity to give significant dollars (Greenpeace). In fact, when contact information was garnered online through capture mechanisms, double digit percentages donated with phone calls.

What’s the secret sauce? Not buying into social media/Facebook hype, instead relying on old fashioned marketing skills. Precision targeting with intelligent integrated outreach across diverse media yields results. For example, if donors tend to be women with buying power, wouldn’t BlogHer or Kirtsy make more sense?

Facebook’s Social Cause application, while great for awareness, by its very design is flawed. First of all, while more horizontal than most social networks, its user base is still relatively young. This makes it unnatural as a precision targeting tool for large donors. Don’t get me wrong, this may still be a valuable media property (see the Nature Conservancy’s effort), but is this where high dollar donors are in concentrated quantities?

In addition, the Social Cause app does not let non-profits a) access the contact information of members b) update members on the cause or c) even send them a receipt for donations, and of course, market again. Instead a third party handles all touches. This is a disaster for cause marketers who simply can’t follow up or integrate with other initiatives.

This problem is not a fundraising or charity problem. Rather, it’s an industry wide problem — shiny object syndrome. It’s so easy to say we need to use the Facebook Social Cause application (as opposed to creating your own), or start a social network, or a blog! But good marketers know it begins with strategy… Tactics are often the fun part, but they represent the cart that comes before the horse.

Step back, look at objectives and resources, target your stakeholders intelligently, then select the tools. Precision demands focus. Success demands precision.

P.S. I do want to applaud these early Facebook marketers for taking a chance and experimenting with the Social Cause application. No one knew how it would work out, and they had the courage to do it… And report negative results.

Social media consultant and author of the blog, The Viral Garden, Mack Collier, offered us his thoughts on social networking, viral marketing and blogging. Driven by the ‘community first’ approach to blogging and social media, Mack helps companies learn how to engage in social media.

A frequent contributor to the website Marketing Profs, as well as the marketing blog Daily Fix, Mack has spoken about social media strategies to small and large companies such as Dell and Microsoft. He has also been referenced in publications and websites such as The Washington Post, CNET and The Boston Globe.

BB: What’s your favorite social network and why?

MC: Honestly, I don’t spend a lot of time with the sites that most people think of as ’social networks.’ If I had to pick one, I’d probably say LinkedIn, because I get some value from the Q&A section. I learn a lot, and I can see the networking value as well. But right now I get more of both from Twitter and Plurk.

BB: What’s more important for viral marketing: Social networks or blogs?

MC: I think it depends on where your network is, and where the people you want to reach are. And really, the spreading of ideas via either could be greatly enhanced by another platform, such as Twitter. Twitter still trumps anything I’ve seen in the social space as far as how quickly ideas can spread.

BB: How will the dust settle on the increasingly competitive microblog marketplace (Twitter, Plurk, etc.)?

MC: Twitter will still remain the dominant player in the microblogging space. This is why I laugh at the ‘Twitter vs. Plurk’ silliness, because Plurk’s emergence actually helps Twitter, IMO. Plurk has taken the 140-char microblogging format backbone that Twitter uses, and they’ve added their own quirky format and functionality. This opens the door for future competitors to do the same thing, bringing their own unique look and appeal to the microblogging space. But I think that because Plurk stuck with the (more or less) 140-char limit, that actually helps solidify that as being the key determinant of what a microblog is. And that helps give credibility to Twitter, since it was the first dominant player in the space.

I think Twitter’s userbase will continue to expand rapidly, and it could have close to mainstream appeal in the next couple of years. Plurk IMO is too quirky to appeal to the masses, but it will enjoy a very devoted niche following. Unless it really does take off with teens, as the founders were hoping for. But I still think that Plurk adding threaded conversations is huge, and will affect the microblogging space from this point forward.

BB: What is the most important aspect of creating a viral campaign?

MC: There HAS to be some sort of value built-in to your ad/video/whatever that the person can quickly and easily see. It can be something funny, something informative, something that makes me happy, whatever. But I have to see the value in it immediately, and I need to have a mechanism in place that makes it easy for me to quickly share that value with others.

BB: Where do you seek inspiration for your blog posts?

MC: Mainly by simply interacting with other people on blogs, Plurk, or Twitter. I also try to regularly scan my feeds, but what I’ve started doing is using Twitter to share interesting posts that I’ll come across. Recently, many of my post ideas have come from conversations I’ve had on Plurk, or via email from someone I’ve met on Plurk. Did I mention that I like Plurk?

BB: Do you anticipate all of this new media going the way of Prodigy and Compuserve?

MC: It’s funny that you ask that, because I was on both Prodigy and Compuserve, and loved both! And what I loved about both sites was how they let me connect with other people. So we’ve just been tweaking and changing how we connect with people online for the last 20 years. I used message boards on Prodigy, then message boards and chat rooms on Compuserve. Now it’s blogs, Twitter and Plurk. As I keep saying, don’t focus on the tools, but rather the connections that the tools make possible. We continue to gravitate toward tools that allow us to have more beneficial and valuable connections. But it all comes back to interacting and connecting with other people. That’s a basic human desire that isn’t going anywhere, and neither are the tools that allow us to connect and communicate.

BB: What’s next for Mack Collier?

MC: I’ve got a couple of logs on the fire that I can’t talk about yet ;) Right now I am just busy as usual with social media consulting work. Starting in September, I’ll be speaking at several Fall events, including Small Business Marketing Unleashed in Ohio in September, and Marketing Profs Digital Marketing Mixer in Oct in Arizona. Really looking forward to these and the others as I love connecting with people that are curious about this space, and it’s always great to catch up with friends. Hope to see you again soon as well!

Widgenie, the “all powerful data visualizer,” from LogiXML, Inc.  takes data from a variety of sources and allows users to create visuals using various types of widgets (mostly in chart form). Widgenie then takes the charts and provides users different ways to share them, from embedding them in blog posts or comments, to publishing them in Facebook, iGoogle, WordPress or a user’s own web site.

Although Widgenie is still in beta, the tool can create six different types of widgets from uploaded data in Microsoft Excel and Comma-Separated Values (CSV) spreadsheets. Widgets include:tabular, animated line chart, animated bar chart, animated area chart, animated pie chart and text cloud widget. Users can even opt to use a URL instead of the six widget options offered.

The free tool also offers tracking for the popularity and usage of the widgets you create. Widgenie shows how many times the widgets are viewed and how many unique visitors are visiting.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: The best feature about Widgenie is the concept of portable, online visuals. Knowing your uploaded data is accessible from any computer connected to the Internet and having it ready for use at any time is very convenient. I also enjoyed playing with the different options for presenting data. Visuals definitely make presentations and blog posts more interesting and enticing.

Negative: Right after I signed up to use the beta, it said that my password was wrong and I had to change it when I finally had access to my account. One feature I did not agree with was the text cloud widget. I created a mini cloud of just the first five letters of the alphabet and instead of having different text sized letters, they were just different colors.

Conclusion: I predict that the makers of Widgenie will be able to bring out the full potential of this tool. I applaud the creators for making it so easy to use. After getting all of the kinks out of the beta, I envision Widgenie to be a common tool for business pros and social media gurus.

It’s not much, but it wasn’t meant to be. BlogPotomac profits totaled $491 and change. And as promised we donated them to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Here’s a little schtick from EFF on their mission:

EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — well before the Internet was on most people’s radar — and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

BlogPotomac was meant to be a not for profit event, and as such charge only the cost of the event. Any ancillary monies have been donated on behalf of the attendees. Again, thank you to everyone who made BlogPotomac a success.  We look forward to June 12, 2009!