Network Solutions is producing the Solutions Stars Video Conference on October 29 at 1 p.m. This free video conference aims to provide insights and online marketing tips to small businesses. It will be of great service to small businesses, particularly now that the economy has gotten tough, and it’s not as easy to attend a conference in person.

As author of Now Is Gone, it was an honor to work with Network Solutions Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda and the 32 top bloggers who participated and shot videos with us at BlogWorld Expo.  The conference features nine different documentary style video sessions:

• Building Web Presence
• The Social Opportunity
• Start with Listening
• Strategy Drives Outreach
• You Need Social Networks
• To Blog or Not to Blog
• Visibility Through Search
• Rising Above the Noise
• Time Demands

In addition to Now Is Gone Co-Author Brian Solis, Solutions Stars include:

I hope you can participate in this  conference and conversation. It will be well worth your while, with lots of great insights.

In addition to the main site, please visit the Solutions Stars Video Conference event pages on Facebook and Upcoming:

• www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33854706886
• upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1200021

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to see posts titled "The Role of Ethical Brands in a Down Economy," "The Four Social Media Questions You Must Answer During an Economic Downturn," "In A Down Economy, Tomorrow’s Leaders Are Born Today," "Will Social Media Help PR Weather the Storm," and "25 Ways Social Media Prepares You for a Social Media Downturn." All of these respected marketers have the recession in mind (image by collective nouns).

There were some great insights in these articles, most of which I liked Todd Defren’s statistical based analysis showing online marketing will be the bright spot in communications. I disagreed w/ some of Chris Brogan’s 25 ways (though I love Chris), but mostly because no one knows how social media functions and works in a recession. I think reliance on brass tacks, on hard core value building and ROI is what matters now.

What is clear: This new media world will see an even stronger focus from corporate as big ad spends get cut and marketers seek guerilla oriented tactics. But things will change, and online communicators are going to be forced to act differently.  

I’ve been through one of these before, in the telecom industry which suffered an industry specific depression from 2000-2. During that time I actually excelled and grew a book of business, keeping more than a dozen of my fellows employed. So while I will be deploying social media for the first time in a  recession, I’ve got a few experiences that are guiding my thoughts during this particular time:

Here are five ways I anticipate this recession will affect us:

1) ROI must become the song. If you can’t measure or you think page impressions represents an accurate measurement for marketing communications initiatives, mail it in. No company will engage in that anymore. Integration with calls to action must be used to produce tangible results.

2) Similarly, social media consultants will be forced to produce or they will bomb. Now more than ever it’s about ROI, not Facebook friends.  

3) Independent, positive thinkers will do better. They will not be susceptible to media driven BS and fear mongering. Consider this ridiculous CCN story that liberally uses poll terms to claim 60% of Americans say depression is likely. Talk about tabloid journalism. Yet, these stories can inspire panic and that is the great challenge.

Rich Becker makes a good point, "When economic times seem tough, you tend to want to work with those who seem largely unaffected." In his post, he was speaking about the newspaper industry, but it may as well be your company. Executives and individuals will need to wield a sober, pragmatic approach to the market, and provide actionable ways to grow their business. More than anything people and cultures that win will be the positive ones with real value to offer their employers, their clients and the world in general.

4) It’s time for millenials to grow up in the workplace. This is Gen Y’s first recession, and to date they have shown heavy demands for senior executive access and mentorship, lifestyle choices, collaboration, high salaries, plush bennies, transitory career paths, and steady, significant pay increases. More than anything it has been incumbent on employers to attract and retain them with these many cultural aspects. Well, the coin has flipped.  In tough times, it’s incumbent on the employee to prove value, not the employer. I sense that many over-privileged divas are heading for a rude awakening.

5) More noise.  As companies abandon traditional, costly tactics and crowd the marketplace with their new social media initiatives we will likely see a new nightmare of corporate crud. Social media initiatives must offer immediate, clear strong value to communities, or they will click and flee. Substance is paramount! Tolerance for BS gimmicks will evaporate. Last recession, a similar noise level occurred with email marketing, that time’s cheap marketing elixir.

A Time of Pain

Regardless of how social media fares as a sub sector, I believe from a societal perspective that this will be a widespread recession that will take a good long time to get better.  Poor fiduciary lending has affected our entire financial industry and in ways that we’ve not seen in modern times before under the Federal Reserve. This will impact all businesses and all sectors, from credit to actual sales. My prayers and thoughts are with those who will be affected.

Further, more than any economic downturn in my life, this will hurt the lower middle income and low income classes.  Consider the impact high heating costs, transportation costs, lost jobs from construction, cut state spending, etc., will make on blue collar America.

There will be great challenges ahead that supersede "making money," and I encourage readers to think about what we can do to help as individuals. It is a time for charity, a time for helping brothers and sisters regardless of race, creed, class, religion. Economic pain affects all, and no American should go hungry.

Related posts:

• Recession 2.0
• Using Social Media to Communicate in Tough Times (HR Perspective)
• Accelerating through the Recession

Dave Barger, President and CEO of LunaWeb, Inc. (a website company), is an avid believer in social media for companies. Known as a local internet pioneer, Dave helped start Launch Memphis (an event Geoff spoke for), a local social media networking group and works on local events like BarCamp. He is also working with local Memphis companies to embrace the new social web, and is personally active on social networks like Twitter and Utterli.

BB: Memphis is enjoying the new rise of social media. How would you characterize your city’s use?

DB: Memphis business has a reputation of being more relationship oriented than most cities. In this, some of the foundation is already poured and Social Media may potentially find an accelerated adoption. We are also increasing our national presence in Social Media through high-profile, progressive events and programs like the upcoming Barcamp Memphis, LaunchMemphis’ TechFuel events, as well as fostering Social Media through the Small Business Chamber.

We’ve been accelerating adoption in the Memphis community through the Social Media Breakfast and Tweet-Ups, where we focus on helping newcomers get started in the social space. Of course, we also work closely with traditional media outlets to make sure these events get publicized to parts of the public who do not yet have a social media presence.

BB: You are one of the pioneers leading Memphis. What’s compelling you to give so much?

DB: I’m extremely enthusiastic about Social Media and believe in its ability to empower the “voice of the customer” and everyday citizens. I regard Social Media as the fulfillment of a promise the Web made everyday citizenry back in the mid 90’s.

That’s when I dove into this industry after experiencing first-hand a corporation’s compromise on ethics for the sake of profitability, and the poor job of stewardship to consumers by our government. Basically, my employer had a product catching fire in people’s homes and the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall procedure was pitifully weak. The corporation, compelled to be profitable to its owners, went no further than the CPSC’s mandates to correct the problem. So it’s been very easy for me to see the need for The People to take care of The People and to have a platform from which to share joys, commune, and voice injustice by any entity.

BB: Your company has transitioned from 1.0 to 2.0. How difficult was the transition?

DB: Because the services that we offer have traditionally been 1.0 based web services, the challenge has been realizing that there has been some erosion of the 1.0 technologies due to the market’s embrace of 2.0 services over their 1.0 counterparts. However many facets of 1.0 remain a viable service set today. So we really haven’t shifted so much as we’ve expanded. Today, we still service many 1.0 sites that continue to serve the clients well and as such are slow to evolve.

BB: Which companies in the Memphis area are using Social Media?

DB: We’re seeing an increasing number of Memphis businesses adopt Social Media as a component of their strategy and their company culture. Germantown Performing Arts Center and many Memphis arts organizations are putting themselves into the social space. Other local entities participating include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, FedEx, Small Business Chamber, and several traditional media players (local television and newspapers). Through LaunchMemphis, we’ve also seen a lot entrepreneurial businesses use Social Media to their benefit.

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

DB: I don’t have one specific social network that I could consider a favorite. Consistently, when I’m working I have a FireFox tab open simultaneously to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and as of about two weeks ago, Yammer. In a more casual setting, shut down LI and replace it with browsing expression outlets like Flickr, YouTube, blogs, and Social Median. The last one of these I’d give up though would be Twitter because of it’s realtime connectedness with my network, breaking news, and links to information that I find interesting.

BB: Blog or Social Network, which is more important?

DB: I try not to be a purist on multiuse platforms. Some will say that a blog is not a blog if commenting is not enabled, etc… Given the choice of having one over the other and considering the rich media, conversations, and a platform for any individual, I’d go with blogs. Besides, multitudes of blogs create their own freely connected Social Network anyway.

BB: What’s next for Dave Barger?

DB: Ultimately, I want to help these tools a step further in acceptance and utility beyond mere consumerism and more into society to affect the greater good. If in the process I find an angle where we can fill the digital divide, I’ll step loudly down that path as it’s a huge concern that we all need to be mindful of, and continually look to fill.

Holly Ross, executive director of NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network), encourages and helps members to use technology as a catalyst for a better world. She uses her technology leadership and social media insight to plan and execute webinars, conferences, and research for the NTEN community and the nonprofit sector.

Prior to her work at NTEN, Holly worked for social change and then came to nonprofit technology at CALPIRG, an advocate for public interest, while receiving her education at UC Berkeley.

Holly is the keynote speaker for the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW) New Media Day (an event Geoff and Qui are co-chairing).

BB: Tell us about NTEN. Is it an organization, web tool or movement (or all three)?

HR: We ARE an organization, but it’s our members that make the organization matter.  So really, we’re a movement.  Through NTEN, our community is connecting with peers, learning from their heroes, and changing the world!   Individually, our members are working within their organizations to use technology to create change.  Collectively, the NTEN community is shaping how this generation of nonprofits will think about delivering services, raising money, and meeting the operational challenges we all face. 

BB: Where do you see NTEN having the greatest impact in the next two years?

HR: I think that technology leadership is the greatest challenge facing nonprofits today.  Effective use of technology can help us address so many of the problems that plague our sector, including declining donor trust, building efficiencies, and really measuring our outcomes, not our outputs.  I’ve blogged a lot about how communications technology like blogs and your web site can be used to make your organization more transparent, building and sustaining trust between you and your stakeholders.  As we enter this uncertain economic period, all of us will be called upon to deliver more services to more people.  Good back office technology systems can help us create the efficiencies we’ll need to serve more people.  Increasingly, technology can help us measure not just how many people we served, but how well we served them, giving us the quantitative and qualitative data we need to really understand and articulate our impact.

Also - and I think this is the most important thing - nonprofits are about reaching out to and empowering their communities. Individuals are increasingly using technology to connect with one another, share information, and act on the issues we care about.  We have to understand the shift that’s happening and shake up our models of communications and service delivery to fit these new paradigms.  These new technologies - blogs, social networking sites, mobile phones, etc. - require that we move beyond translating our direct mail approach.  We’ll have to think up whole new ways of getting our work done.

Put all these things together, and it’s not hard to see that leaders in nonprofits have to start rethinking their technology strategies.  And the technology-abled folks within organizations need to gain the leadership skills that will allow them to bring the case for technology to their leadership more effectively.  NTEN needs to help both those audiences get there.

BB: Are there any challenges to getting there? (We know you’ll meet them head on – how?)

HR: There are a lot of challenges to addressing the leadership question.  But, the biggest hurdle we face when talking to nonprofits about technology is resistance.  It’s not the money, and it’s not the time.  It’s the unwillingness to embrace change.  The reason it’s such a big barrier is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

The key is recognizing that resistance to technology is not about technology at all.  It’s about everything but the technology.  People may be afraid of the new technology because they don’t understand it.  They may fear that the new technology will make their job change drastically, or eliminate the need for their job.  If you’ve ever had a discussion about databases with a communications AND a development staffer at the same time, you also know that technology can bring about rivalries and mistrust as well.

So it’s going to be a tough job.  It was tough enough when we wanted nonprofits to start using email communications more.  And then it was pretty straightforward.  The transition from direct mail to email is easy to understand.  Email is a lot like direct mail in many ways.  But now, we’re talking about communication methods that have no offline analogs.  Try explaining Twitter to a newbie.  It works unlike anything else.  To understand Twitter is to experience it.  But first you have to convince someone to try it.

I get discouraged from time to time and think that we’ll just have to wait for the kids who are in high school now to become leaders themselves. But, I’m assured that if we just keep preaching, the choir will eventually start singing.  NTEN intends to keep preaching the message.  We have a book coming out next Spring (Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Leaders), and we are also developing a fellowship program for IT Staff who want to build their leadership skills.

BB: "Technology" is a broad term. What kind of tech crowd is most drawn to NTEN’s community? (e.g., marketing, IT, web development, social media)

HR: We definitely have a little of everyone in our mix - it’s a very diverse crowd!  The nice thing is, we have places for folks of all stripes to hang out and learn from one another.  Out fastest growing segment of membership right now is definitely the marketing and fundraising crowd though.  Those folks have become accidental technology experts at their organizations and are looking for the leadership, ideas, tips and tricks that our community provides.  However, if you want to talk thin client virtualization or the latest in MySQL, we can do that for you too!

BB: You’re the keynote speaker for Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s upcoming New Media Day. What do you plan to tell the diverse audience of direct marketers from nonprofit, government and corporate agencies?

HR: The theme of my talk is "Lose Control."  No matter what your background in communications, that’s the strategy that you need to be thinking about these days.  We’re moving to a world where, increasingly, "Direct Marketing" is actually going to mean "Direct Listening." You won’t be in charge of telling people what to pay attention to anymore.  Your job will be to create opportunities for your stakeholders to experience your brand through conversations they create.  This means you’ll have to let go of your brand, give it to your stakeholders, and make the best of what happens.

BB: Is that a preview of the 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference?

HR: First things first, let me just say how excited I am that Clay Shirky (Here Comes Everybody) is keynoting!  Secondly, there will be some amazing communications sessions on the agenda, covering topics from e-newsletter basics to advanced social networking.  But we’re also giving our attendees a chance to experience the content, not just hear it.  We’ll be hosting a bootcamp based on our We Are Media project that will teach attendees how to use social media like blogs, photo sharing, video casting, podcasting etc.  Then, we’ll set you up with the equipment you need to practice those skills at the conference.  Most importantly though, we’ve got lots of amazing opportunities lined up for folks to meet their peers and build the network they’ll need to sustain the energy and implement all the ideas they get at the conference!

We caught up with Steve Spalding, the Digital Marketing Manager at Grooveshark (a music sharing community), at Gnomedex last week. Steve is an electrical engineer and editor of the critically acclaimed technology/business blog, “How To Split An Atom.” He is also a digital marketing and social web guru whose expertise is increasing the overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns through the Internet.

Steve is also the managing partner of Crossing Gaps LLC.  He has built startups and counseled numerous CEOs and founders. Steve’s work has been cited in various sources such as the LA Times and Geoff’s book, Now is Gone.

BB: Grooveshark is the latest iteration of peer to peer. Why is Grooveshark different?

SS: 1. More than anything else we want to make it affordable and convenient for people to get the music they want, when and where they want it. The only way to do this sustainability is to make certain that the all of the rights holders get their fair share. That’s great, but what about the users on the network? We wanted to push the boundaries of the model and reward the people who are kind enough to share their music over our network. We do this through a 60/20/20 split for downloads. 60% of whatever we charge, which is anywhere between $.49 and .99 per track goes to the rights holders and the other 40% is split between us and the file sharer (in the form of a credit).

2. We see peer to peer as a tool instead of the all end all. We have built a bunch of cool peripheral products that are fed by our peer to peer backbone — Tinysong (a URL shortening site), Grooveshark Lite (our streaming product), and a bunch of other little odds and ends. People seem to rely too heavily on the kitsch factor of peer to peer, we try to avoid that.

3. 11 million songs. Our library is extraordinarily complete and the songs in it are very high quality. Our staff is made up of audiophiles and one of the first things they did was make sure that we had really robust tools to remove songs that don’t meet our quality standards. Add that to one of the strongest, most diverse music libraries in the space and you start seeing the real power of the network. I don’t know how many people have told me that after they got into using Grooveshark Lite they didn’t need to open up iTunes again.

BB: Grooveshark will become inherently more social in its next version. Can you give us a sneak peak?

SS: I wouldn’t want to give away too many secrets, but what I will say is that we took all the feedback we received from Grooveshark BETA, stirred it around a little and spit back out a community. We wanted to give users robust tools to discover and share music, while not making it so complex it is inaccessible. You can definitely expect stronger Artist / Album profiles, better ways to search for and share playlists with your friends, and *lots and lots* of ways for users to share their knowledge of music.

BB: What is your specific role at Grooveshark?

SS: I wear a lot of hats but most often I handle Grooveshark’s online marketing campaigns. I talk to bloggers, help with designing advertising campaigns, handle the public relations between us and the tech community and manage our blog and the surrounding rich media content. Most recently I have spent a lot of time with our blog. I always loved the 37 Signals model of corporate blogging, where instead of focusing strictly on the nuts and bolts of the company you create content that will interest your user base.

One of our staff members is always out at festivals and we have brought back tons of interviews with big name acts (Vampire Weekend, the Fleet Foxes, Girl Talk) and in-house we have a really talented set of interns who churn out some really compelling posts on general music topics.

BB: On a personal level, you are one of the successful bloggers at How to Split an Atom. How is the project coming?

SS: It is going well. It has been my baby for just over 2 years now and I am really excited about how much it has grown in the last 6 months. That being said, we’re scrapping the entire thing and changing gears. Maybe that’s a little extreme, but it’s not too far off from the truth. One of the biggest problems in popular blogging these days is that we spend a lot of time circling around the same, common ideas. I hated the time I spent on that treadmill, and I wanted to refocus myself so that I never have to even look at it again.

In the next few months we will be doing some really exciting things that will turn the blog into a place for people who are interested in web applications, social media, tech and business surrounding them can go for inspiration, education and most importantly act as a springboard to actually start *building* things again. The tagline I just made up on the spot is, "transforming ideas into actions."

BB: Do you prefer personal or professional social media?

SS: I like both. What I like about Social Media is how broad it is, because of what I do for a living I am always feeling like my personal social media life bleeds into my professional one.

I think we will start seeing personal social media become more mainstream when it’s easier to decouple the two.

BB: What’s the biggest challenge facing the industry today?

SS: We underestimate our power, our power to change the world and change our lives using "social" technology. When an average guy like me can reach an audience of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in less time than it would take me to order a cup of coffee at Starbucks, I think that maybe, just maybe, we need to start looking at what we *do* with these platforms. What’s your cause? Do you want to tell everyone you know how much you love the MLB, maybe you can fire up some collaborative research tools tonight and help to cure Leukemia, it doesn’t matter — you can do it, you have the power.

That’s amazing stuff.

The reason I don’t buy the weblebrity shtick that infects our little corner of the blogosphere is because it denies the fact that we all can build whatever size platform we want from scratch. Influence is a hard nut to crack, but there are entire worlds of untapped potential still available. If you want to become the leading voice in Social Technologies in South-East Asia, you probably can still do it. Just because you can’t be "another Silicon Valley Social Media guy" doesn’t mean that all is lost.

What’s our challenge then? Easy, relevance. We have a lot of interesting toys, why not turn them into something that history might actually care about?

BB: What’s next for Steve Spalding?

SS: Everything. I am working hard to make sure that people know about Grooveshark, in my free time I am building the blog like I mentioned earlier and in the next month or two I am finishing up a book.

It’d be a full interview summing up everything so I’ll just say my Facebook status for a while will be busy.

You can reach Steve at:

• Email - steve.spalding [at] crossinggaps [dot] com
• Blog - How To Split An Atom
• LinkedIn - Steven Spalding
• Twitter - @sbspalding
• FriendFeed - Steven Spalding
• Blog - History of Blogging

Beth Kanter, a professional blogger and consultant to nonprofits, uses social media tools in the nonprofit sector for social change. Currently, Beth collaborates with the Summit Collaborative, where she helps build the capacity of nonprofit organizations through her works on technology evaluation projects, curriculum development, research and planning. She will alsobe a featured speaker at this weekend’s Gnomedex conference.

Beth’s professional blog, Beth’s Blog, ranks as a top fifty most influential female blog. Currently, Beth is the Contributing Editor for Nonprofits and Social Change at blogher and writes for Netsquared blog. In addition, Beth has also written articles that appeared in nonprofit publications like TechSoup and Nonprofit Times.

BB: What got you into this space, and what keeps you in it?

BK: I’ve been working with nonprofits for 30 years! I was a classical flute major in music school, hoping to play flute in a symphony orchestra after I graduated. That didn’t happen.

I figured if I couldn’t play a role on the stage, maybe there was an opportunity for a role behind stage. As part of my research, I interviewed orchestra managers about what skills I needed to learn or have in order to be an orchestra manager. This was circa 1979. The advice I got was: learn how to type. So, I took my metronome and practiced typing exercises at adagio (very slow) and worked up to allegro (very fast). I was a fast and accurate typist and that helped me get a job at the Boston Symphony in the development office. Not too longer after I was there, the first PCs arrived so I spent time teaching myself how to use it and then helped others in the office. My whole nonprofit career has been about following my curiosity - and self-learning and teaching others.

I stay in this sector because of the passion, and the sense that you work has an impact. Also, most nonprofits have limited resources - so you have to be creative and I love that. When you work with or for nonprofits, small interventions can make a huge difference. All of these reasons keeps me in the nonprofit sector.

BB: How has your personal mission evolved over the years?

BK: If you look at my biography, you will see that I have followed my passions and varied interests in the nonprofit sector. When I first started off, I worked as a staff person for arts organizations for a couple of years before realizing that I was a project junkie. I was better suited to freelance work. So, for the first 15 years of my career, I focused on working with arts organizations as a consultant - in the area of marketing, fundraising, organizational strategic planning, and research.

In 1992, I got obsessed with online communications, technology, and the Internet. I started working with the New York Foundation for the Arts as the community networker for an online network of artists. I was responsible for learning how to use the Internet (very early days) and then teaching others. That pattern again! During the 12 years at I worked with NYFA, I designed and lead many different technology training projects for artists, arts organizations, and arts educators. I loved it!

Also during this time, I started to get curious about other types of nonprofits organizations and effective technology use - and broadened my consulting and training projects to work with many different types of nonprofits. In 2000, I started a personal blog about Cambodia to learn more about the culture and one for my professional training work - actually coding my entries in HTML from scratch. Someone introduced me to blogging software, and I was hooked. I’ve been exploring social media and Web 2.0 for nonprofits since about 2003 — all with the underlying theme of learning and teaching others.

BB: What are you going to try to relay to our fellow geeks at Gnomedex?

BK: That with a little creativity, fun, geekiness, and passion - you can use web 2.0 tools — like blogs — and go out and create change in the world.

BB: How do you envision social media - the people and the tools - taking a more active role in society?

BK: There are more and more nonprofits that have mastered the art of social media strategy related to their missions and programs and integrated with their marketing strategies. There are so many inspiring examples. I think of organizations like the Nature Conservancy, Human Society, American Cancer Society, National Wildlife Federation, Red Cross, and many others are using social media to create awareness, reaching out to the next generation, and inspiring action for their important work. The best examples are those organizations, like the ones I’ve mentioned above, who avoid shiny object syndrome and really connect their missions to why they’re using a social media tool. They’ve also done a great job of having the discussion internally and educating people within their organization about the possibilities. Another hallmark with the nonprofits that have used social media in an amazing way - is that they’re not afraid to learn and experiment.

BB: If you could get all social media voices to unite around one issue, what would it be?

BK: That question is hard for me - I don’t think I could pick just one issue!!!! I’ll start with my big passion. That’s actually the secret sauce of activism and person-to-person fundraising. Anyone who knows me, knows that I care for the children of Cambodia … particularly programs like the Sharing Foundation offers that helps life young people out of poverty. My family and I have sponsored a young woman, Leng Sopharath, for her college education - and it isn’t that much money in Cambodia (may 5% of what it would cost here in the US), but know that little amount will make all the difference in her world and what she can do. I’m also very interested in animal rights (shelter dogs are my weakness), creative commons, environmental causes, and poverty reduction programs that help young women.

BB: Do you have any words of wisdom to share to the Gen Y change bloggers you recently featured on your blog?

BK: Follow your passion and curiosity. Don’t be afraid to keep learning and sharing what you learn on your blog. I think Gen Y perspectives about nonprofit leadership and technology are fresh, inspiring, and very important for people who have been in the field for many years to pay attention to. These are our future nonprofit leaders. That’s one reason why I wanted to compile a list and do interviews. I also encourage them to continue to be smart and be professional, but don’t be afraid to challenge and keep us all thinking!

BB: What about the Gen X’ers and boomers?

BK: I’m a proud member of the babyboom generation and for some reason I probably have the technology habits of a Gen Y (or so I’ve been told) I know there are other folks of my age or generation, who are also big users of the social media and technology, but there are others who are not. For that last group, I would encourage them to learn from the Gen Y’s in their midst and honor their knowledge.

BB: What’s next for Beth?

BK: That’s a great question! Most people who know me call me "prolific" in my writing and sometimes I feel that my insatiable curiosity keeps me going in too many directions. I am hoping to have an opportunity to become more scholarly in my approach to the understanding of social media and nonprofits and take it to a deeper level. At the same time, some new areas of inquiry are attracting my attention. I hope to carve out some time for deeper synthesis, reflection, and creative thinking over the next 6-12 months and take my writing/blogging/training work to a deeper level. Stay tuned…

Mark Drapeau researches social media for national security purposes and more generally in the government. He has been the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the Department of Defense for two years. Currently, Mark works at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at Fort McNair in Washington DC.  Prior to working in the government, he was a neuroscientist and animal behavior expert at New York University in New York.

We met Mark Drapeau at Tech Cocktail Conference in Chicago where he was on a nationwide tour of social networking events in order to learn about new technology of possible relevance to the military, understand the current trends, and meet thought leaders in the area.  Now a contributing writer to Mashable.com, Mark is becoming a focal point for information about the coming "Government 2.0."

BB: What do you think of government PR?

MD: It’s fair to say that that the government has a PR problem.  Many people distrust the government, yet have little understanding of its day-to-day workings.  One thing that PR 2.0 can do is help to put a face on the anonymous offices of the federal government.  Who at the FDA decides that your drugs are safe?  Who’s holding up that bill in the Senate?  Which office at USDA chooses "Prime" beef?  What’s a typical day like on a Naval ship? 

BB: How can social media change government communications?

MD: The government needs to communicate in a number of different ways.  There are internal communications and workings of the government, within offices, within agencies, and between agencies.  There are also communications with constituents and other government stakeholders, for example, government contractors.  Finally, there are communications with our partners around the world, whether those are huge foreign governments or tiny non-profit organizations.

Social media applies to all of these.  Collaborative software like wikis can help offices and agencies work better together, and leverage the intellectual assets they have much better.  There are already examples in the intelligence community and elsewhere of groups using wikis to plan events and write reports.  In communicating with stakeholders and citizens, PR tools like Qik and Twitter can be great; Congressman John Culberson from Texas is perhaps the most prominent single person doing this right now.  Regarding outside partnerships, there are mashups like Contacts Nearby from InSTEDD, which can connect (say) militaries, NGOs, and refugees for post-disaster or post-war relief efforts.

BB: What are your favorite government 2.0 initiatives?

MD: I really like what Congressman John Culberson is doing with new media.  He is such a good advocate for using social tools and new technology for simply doing his job - working on behalf of the people of Houston.  He has been successful in recruiting some of his peers to start using these services, as well.

In the national security arena, the Intelligence Community (IC) has built INTELINK, which includes Intellipedia and other tools that would remind you of sites like de.lic.ious, Flickr and so on.  They have also developed a government-wide enterprise email system called UGOV; currently every agency and even major subdivisions within agencies use their own email domains (for example, I have an ndu.edu email address), making it difficult to find people.

There are also some excellent blogs, as I pointed out in my recent Mashable articles.  Government agencies, which are highly criticized, are likely to benefit the most from this.  Probably the coolest one is Deliver Magazine, which is published by the U.S. Postal Service.  I believe it’s done in WordPress, and although it is an overt effort, you can barely tell that it’s a government-sponsored website.

BB: Tell us about your efforts to unify government 2.0 types.

MD: My mission is to conduct a research project about the applications of social tools in the government, with the ultimate goal being to influence policy.  I can’t do it alone, though, and "fixing the government" is like working with ExxonMobil + GE + Starbucks + Microsoft + Halliburton + Tata + Sony + … in its depth, scope, and global reach.

One way I am reaching out to people is through blogging.  By posting on Mashable and other sites, people working on 2.0 efforts throughout government are writing to me about what they are doing, or asking for advice about how they can 2.0 their office.  Through blogging, I can not only organize some of my thoughts for a policy document later on, but also highlight some of the great things going on in the government.

There are also an increasing number of government-focused conferences on 2.0 strategy and technology in the Washington DC area.  I am starting to play a role in that space as well, whether it is recommending speakers and invitees, or playing a more active role myself.  More informally, organizations like Tech Cocktail have local events that are terrific for informal networking among like-minded Washingtonians.

BB: How will the presidential transition affect these efforts?

MD: Flip the question, too: How might 2.0 affect the presidential transition?

The presidential transition period - the time between the election and the new president taking office - is a very important time in the government.  It is one of the relatively few periods when fresh minds work hard, important people can be influenced, and big ideas can take hold.  One thing we are looking at is using this as an opportunity for 2.0 to be more of a priority in the national security community, and more generally across the government. 

I work for the Department of Defense, and so that is my priority, but many things we might be studying (soldiers communicating with locals around the world) are applicable to diverse departments; for example, the Department of Education (policymakers communicating with teachers) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (decision makers talking with low-income housing recipients).

Web 2.0 might also influence how the presidential transition occurs.  I will expand on this in an article I am working on for September, but a good deal of what happens in this period is information sharing between the current government agencies and representatives of the incoming president.  The "transition team" analyzes the information and works together to make recommendations about personnel, organization, and priorities.  Social tools can possibly help with some of these tasks.

BB: How much of the government 2.0 efforts are occurring internally?

MD: Security is a big deal in the government, and many people are concerned about the risks associated with social networking tools.  Hence, one strategy is to put everything behind a huge wall.  INTELINK is a good example of this - it is very good and hardly gets any publicity.  There are other examples, for instance within the State Department, of "private" 2.0 tools.  I think that the degree of secrecy depends on the mission; Public Affairs tends to be open, Intelligence not so much. I think that one debate that will eventually happen in government (and is already happening in the private sector) is, who owns the social tools?  Right now it seems like the CIO’s have the edge, but I tend to think that Public Affairs is the true home of this new technology.

BB: What’s next for Mark Drapeau?

MD: After my AAAS Fellowship ends this month, I will stay on at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy as an Associate Research Fellow.  I have gotten a lot of support for my efforts in the area of 2.0 and my work is feeding into other ongoing efforts in life sciences and global health, stability and reconstruction, information technology, and strategic communication.  I will also continue to contribute to Mashable on "Government 2.0".

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.

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!

MediaPhyter and ZDNet Blogger Jennifer Leggio (on Twitter, too) did a podcast interview for the Buzz Bin, and provided a veritable communications cocktail.  On the podcast we discussed:

• How social media shock jock Loren Feldman got publicly bounced by Verizon Wireless for being a less than stellar citizen with his prior "Technigga" series
• The microblogging fragmentation phenomena (Twitter, FriendFeed, Plurk, etc.)
• Blogs versus social networks in corporate social media
• How focusing on a few social networks is better than following the herd on all of them

Download the podcast today!