If people took the time they spent watching TV and actually did something useful, what sort of good might occur. This is a video of Clay Shirky speaking at a conference recently and addressing this question. His point being that our culture is on the verge of a momentous change - the kind last introduced by mass-audience television programming.
Television and traditional mass media gave hard working Americans (and westerners in general) a more or less useful and entertaining outlet for their curiosity after long days at the office (and coping with a rapidly changing world). Shirky discusses how social media, the Internet and the interaction it brings is replacing television - and the kind of productive time people might have on their hands as a result.
We here in the sprawling ecomm nerve center toss around social media, web campaigns, 2.0, mapping apps and other buzzwords like cheerios flying across the table at breakfast with a 3 year old.
What we’re NOT trying to do is the more of the same… one way email statements that tell someone to pass on a one way message to someone else. We’ve proven we’re good a that. Very good. And it can certainly have an impact (especially when one needs to toss around big impressive numbers).
But I deeply believe that what we better do - as a movement and an organization - is simply use these tools better to have actual conversations. Two-way, three-way, whatever-way. People need a to know we’re hard at work on the stuff they don’t have time to do. But we keep asking people what they want and we keep hearing - we want to do more, really we do.
There’s so much buzz out there about “social networking” that it’s easy to feel out of touch and overwhelmed. For those of us that are new to the world of online communities, getting familiar doesn’t have to be such a daunting task. You might even find that you’re further along than you thought. Ever posted a photo on Flickr, looked at DIGG, or watched a video on YouTube? If so, you’re not so new after all! If not, have no fear. It’s easy to get started. Interested in trying something new? The RAD Campaign has a list of social networking communities here (and this is just the start of possibilities), along with some tips on engaging in these networks. For those of you who like visuals, here’s a fun map.
If you’re interested in how TWS might use some of these networks to advance our programs and issues, this might also be handy.
The only way to truly understand how these applications might engage our audience is to try them out yourself, so get busy. Give it a shot.
A couple weeks back there was all sorts of this and that written about the fate of direct mail and fundraising in light of some recent reporting done about the last quarter of 2007.
General gist is that some thinkers (who happen to blog) in the online fundraising and direct mail world have been writing quite a bit the last week or two about these topics. Seems to be in response to a Chronicle of Philanthropy article titled “Direct Mail Appeals Suffer, New Survey Finds” (though the article does note that environmental organizations did better than most last year). The survey in question being the Target Analysis Group’s regular report, which I believe Bruce mentioned in a recent call.