Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

An Interview David J. Neff about American Cancer Society's Sharing Hope Project

Skip, David's dog

I'm doing a series of blog about lessons learned from nonprofits in adopting social media projects as the Cute Dog Theory.  (If you want to do an interview and have a dog, feel free to add your dog to the NpTech Dog Group) David J. Neff is the Director of Web, Film and Interactive Strategy for the American Cancer Society.  He has been with the American Cancer Society for seven years since he graduated from college.   He agreed to do an interview with his organization's socal media project, SharingHope.tv.

1.   Tell me about the project - give me your elevator speech re: project. 

SharingHope.TV is the place for people to share their stories around cancer. Whether you
are a survivor, pre-vivors, a caregiver or just someone with a story to tell SharingHope.TV
is the place to share that story in Video, Audio, Artwork or Photos.

2.  What were the objectives?

We wanted to give people a good enviroment to share their stories of hope in anyway they wanted. From video to audio to photos.  YouTube has like 7 hours of video uploaded every 3 minutes. A firehose of information. We want to be the gardenhose of information. YouTube has tons of trolls and comment spam. We want a friendly enviroment where people can share and learn. I believe our community does just that.

3. How did the project unfold?

We said if we are going to do this let's make it happen. In the American Cancer Society we have a group called the Futuring and Innovations Center. Think of them as Venture Capatlists for non-profits. They liked the idea and funded it within two weeks of me submitting the idea. The within 6 monhts we have a fully functional "Beta" Web Site up adn running. We are doing Beta for 6 months then Gamma then BAM we take the labels off and start advertising.

4.  Define how you overcame challenges.

Our biggest challenge was explaining to decision-makers why didn't use an existing platform like YouTube or Flickr or Facebook.  We felt that there was not one single platform that caters to the millions of people who care about cancer and want to share their stories. Now hopefully they have that platform. Our main challenge right now? How do we tell people about it? How do I get people to test it and break it and make suggestions.  I'm reaching out to bloggers.

5.   Let's talk about numbers.  How much did it cost?  What were the results?  How are you measuring them? .

Well the costs are I have to do this all for under $25,000. That's the grant money I have. Right now with hosting and staff time it's costing me about 2,000 a month. The programming was around $4,000. The days of million dollar web sites are dead. Open source and local talent. It's all about that.

We are learning to not give a crap about page view and hits. What I want at the end of the day is number of registered users and number of conversations. What are people commenting on? What discussions are they
having?

6.  What advice would you give to other nonprofits?

Video is the future! Imagine a world where your customer tells you what they want ......and you actually listen. It's what we are doing right now. 

Here's a few inspiring videos on SharingHope.TV that David would like us to see:

http://www.sharinghope.tv/video/1706386
http://www.sharinghope.tv/video/1857977

Meet Priscilla Brice-Weller: NpTech Blogger from Australia

Meet Priscilla Brice-Weller who is the Online Campaign Coordinator for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) which is using social media in many creative ways.  Her personal blog, Solidariti,  covers technology and nonprofit activism.  I've been reading her blog for sometime now and always learn something new.  One of my favorite blog posts that she wrote talks about the ladder of engagement and Myspace.

We had an opportunity to meet face-to-face today and take a nice stroll in the Brisbane city park, a botanical garden.  We talked about nonprofits, social media, the differences and similarities between Australia and US.   

I did an interview on QIK asking her for her advice about nonprofits and adoption of social media tools.

• Be patient - you may not see results for 6 months to a 12 month
• If the environment is not, better to do some small projects under the radar.  It's better to apologize than ask permission.
• Communicating the benefits in clear and simple terms helps decision-makers understand.

Although Priscilla has a cat, she is dog lover.  She has a cat because her landlord doesn't allow pets and a cat was easier to hide!

Twitter Landing Pages

I just finished reading "Does your blog have a Twitter landing page?" by Mack Collier where he describes what a Twitter Landing Page.  He examines the concept of Twitter Landing Pages and how one of Twitter's power users Laura Fitton, who is known on Twitter as Pistachio as designed hers. I was inspired to create one. 

Do you have a Twitter landing page?  What's on your Twitter landing page?

A Comment on Digital Influence Group's post is worth $10 donation to US Campaign for Burma

The Digital Influence Group is donating $10 to the US Campaign for Burma for every comment that is made on their post.  Go comment here.

Departing from LA, Next Stop Brisbane: An Interview with a Digital Native

 

One of the best gadgets I picked up was a travel plug with three outlets.  As you know doubt know, airports are not designed for travelers with laptops.   There were few plugs at the gate, so I asked this young guy named Alex who was using the plug to recharge his Ipod if could share.  Alex is on route to Fiji.

We started to chat about technology and I asked him a few questions about his use of web 2.0 sites and social networking.  He was only vaguely aware of blogs.  In fact, he is on a trip around the world and was jotting notes in a paper moleskin.   He does use Facebook to communicate with his friends and organize his life.  He had know idea about Twitter, although he does use IM and texting, especially to text with him mom.

I have 14 hour flight ahead of me.  Hope to get Internet access and a sim card on the other end (as well as a very strong latte).