As you read this, I'm on my way to Palm Springs to do a presentation at the PBS Showcase Conference. I'm doing a presentation on a panel called "Let's Get Social." It is a version of the Cute Dog Theory - what organizations need to think about to be successful. I put it on SlideShare a few days ago and it already has 1400 views - so I thought I'd share it here. I put together a wiki for this presentation which includes a set of conversations questions. These are conversations that you want to have behind the firewall.
What the heck is the Cute Dog Theory? It is a remix of the "Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism" which was the title of a talk given by Ethan Zuckerman at O'Reilly's E-Tech Conference in March, 2008 (notes from Ryan Singel of Wired Blog). In this talk, Ethan points out that the Web was invented so physicists could share research papers, but Web2.0 was invented because people want to share cute pictures of their cats. These same tools become very powerful in the hands of activists. Ethan's presentation takes a look at creative uses of well-known Web 2.0 tools from outside the United States that help digital activists evade Internet censorship and promote human rights issues to a wider audience.
These social media tools - like blogs, photo and video sharing, Twitter, and of course, social networking sites like Facebook - have made it easier for people share photos of their cute cats because of two twin revolutions going on - the ease of creating content and the ease of sharing it with local and global audiences.
This got me thinking about the adoption challenges faced by nonprofits in embracing these new tools. Many nonprofits are just beginning to use them as part of the Internet advocacy and organizing strategies. They are learning what works and what doesn't for nonprofit organizations here in the US. And, no there isn't yet a predictable template or formula. It takes trial and error to figure that for each organization as issues, causes, and audiences differ. However, based on observing nonprofits that have been effective - there are definitely some patterns of success for social media adoption.
The funny thing is that as I started to look closer, I discovered that many of these nonprofit Internet strategists are Dog lovers! Take for example Jonathon Colman who is the Internet Strategist for the Nature Conservancy or Wendy Harmon from the Red Cross both are dog lovers! The photo sharing group on flickr called, "NpTech Dogs" now has 57 photos of some the cutest NpTech dogs ever (and a few cat photos too!)
That cute puppy belongs to Nigel Allen, a nonprofit techie in Sydney. It's the latest addition to NpTech Dogs.
I'm looking for the best of the best blog posts or articles about social media adoption challenges and successes. What have you read recently that was particularly useful? Please leave a pointer in the comments. And, of course, if you have a cute dog that you'd like to send to the NpTech Dog Group - please do
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