Subversive Giving

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Of course activists have long given their time and money to causes, but this sort of activism I have not seen before. This kind–the kind where people contribute to a cause, planned parenthood, in the name of a political personality so that this personality would be blanketed in the usual “a contribution has been made in your name” letters. What an interesting way to take advantage of the system!

First, you must understand how much I truly and deeply appreciate subversion. Then you might benefit from knowing that planned parenthood is very good at overwhelming donors with materials and requests, which is why I stopped giving to them (paper is such a waste of resources). Third, I really prize innovation and creative thinking.

So I am totally celebrating this unusual form of philanthropy. Reminds me a bit of shareholder activism. Bravo. Now, my friends, how can we continue to evolve practices like this to fuel our purpose?

Bravo.

Here is the letter, borrowed from What’s Sarah Thinking blog.

Instead of (in addition to?) us all sending around emails about how horrible she is, let’s all make a donation to Planned Parenthood. In Sarah Palin’s name. And here’s the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here’s the link to the Planned Parenthood website:

https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000_inhonor

You’ll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the “in Sarah Palin’s honor” card. I suggest you use Sarah Palin’s home address, which is:

Sarah Palin
PO Box 21
Wasilla, AK

PS make sure you use that link above or choose the pulldown of Donate–Honorary or Memorial Donations, not the regular “Donate Online”

Convergence Colliding in Chicago

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Chicago New Media Summit concluded tonight. I didn’t attend. At first I was excited by the great idea of rallying around Chicago’s talented new media folks and pushing us toward the leading edge. Worthwhile endeavor. But as the waves of email blasts announcing presenters rolled on and the fees got discounted (but not within range of many nonprofit and grassroots activists), I started to get more and more uncomfortable. I just wasn’t feeling an authentic connection.

Tonight the event concluded. And in my inbox is another email blast celebrating…and announcing some next steps. Here is what I posted in a comment on my profile page:

1. A microsoft event? I predict Chicago will not be the center of innovation, geekiness, and cool media, should this be focused on Microsoft. See bubblgeneration blog last couple years for ideas on what sort of companies and their models which could support this sort of “convergence” here.
2. Moving to a microsoft platform? Please don’t move me over. Why oh why would you move a community?
3. Talent, ideas, and code? Collide? What happened to people. New media is in huge part social media. People. I do not aspire to think of myself as a “talent” to be commodified. I am a social creature yearning for connection and thriving by sharing ideas, sparked by the synchronicities common to a flourishing community.
4. And what does all this have to do with the Chicago bid for the olympics? Do I need to behind that to be here? Seems like a pretty big agenda to not be supper-de-dupper clear about it.
5. I do appreciate the notice about fees and our grassroots friends in our latest email blast. Thanks for coming around to our value (after the fact).

Entering Social Spaces Online

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Seems like each week there are new social media spaces to join and participate in. And lots of people help others learn and adopt online social practices. Each space has its own nuance on social practices. There are general rules of thumb, sure. But each site – even a cluster within a site – is specific in the way it encourages flows of connection and information, and thus which practices are encouraged. So how do you know what to do where?

I see lots of do and don’t lists, and they are great. Very helpful if you want a rulebook to follow. But if you want to learn the skill of adapting as you enter spaces, the work you do needs to go deeper into your practice. What questions should you ask yourself when joining and contributing to online social spaces?

Be strategic. Social media is a huge flow of information and people often very loosely knit together. What do you want to foster? Disregard fads of tools and spaces. What you do with your extremely precious time needs to be purposeful. Do you want: friends, information, a thriving network to use as a resource, marketing your [fill in the blank]? How will you know when you have that? How will you maintain it over time? Social spaces online just like physical social spaces require your attention to stay alive and flourishing.

Listen. Like I shared above, each space has its own social norms. Yes, there are general rules, but if you lurk before blasting posts, you can get a sense of how often to post, ways to appreciate others, ways to find interesting people and ideas, ways to avoid trouble, what puts people off… How do people behave in this space using this tool? What best practices can you collect? Sense into what is working for you in other people’s social practice. What gets you engaged there? How can you offer or connect, mirroring what worked for you?

Applaud. In speech we often give praise or acknowledgment with our faces. We nod or even just keep eye-contact. There are zillions of body clues. And they don’t show online. At all. Not even with emoticons. How can you show you are listening? How can you show that you are giving your attention to someone or something? How can you show you are a contributor? How can you help others shine? Where can you quickly, easily, and usefully connect people, ideas, and resources? If the general principle of social relations is truly get what you give, then what are you giving?

What questions wander through your mind when you are visiting new online social spaces?
What really irritates you as a social practice?
How do you quickly and easily sense a spammer, a connector, a maven, an influencer?

Your answers help you figure how how you want to be online. And they create an opportunity for you to be genuine in your practice.

Here are some resources for you that I saw on twitter today:
Top 10 Reasons Brands should Listen to Social Media
The Creation of Twitter Best Practices: Round 1