The world hasn't changed that much.

Last week I was on a phone call with some colleagues about a project we were working on and I said, "the folks at Worldchanging would probably be interested in this."

At which point they both said, "David, Worldchanging closed its doors this morning."  Which, of course, sucks.  On many levels.   From the note nailed to the door:

Why is this happening? Worldchanging readers were generous over the years and an important part of our ongoing operations, but we were never able to secure major foundation support, so Worldchanging relied most heavily on income generated from Alex Steffen’s speaking engagements (Alex gave more than 400 talks over the past five years) and the Worldchanging book. The strenuous travel schedule it takes to deliver that many talks, though, was unsustainable, both personally for Alex and in terms of the impact it had on Worldchanging’s ability to develop new work. It was clear we needed a new model if we were going to stay in operation.

Early this year a new board was brought on to reshape the organization and pursue a more traditional nonprofit development model (based more on grants, gifts and major fundraising drives), with many new board members recruited in just the last few months to help us re-imagine operations and launch these new plans. Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts (and a successful October event), funding ran out before such a transformation could happen. Given the financial realities we faced, the board and staff have agreed that it is time to bring Worldchanging to a close as gracefully as possible.

I loved the content at Worldchanging, though I clearly didn't read it every day. Alex Steffen is obviously a really smart guy who gets asked to speak at a lot of really smart conferences.  The site featured some outstanding stuff from people I admire.  But sadly, as perhaps begrudgingly admitted above, the large-foundation and NPR crowd can only support so much for so long.   In a down economy, there's even less ability to provide support.  I'm guessing the new board considered some opportunities to partner with the private sector, but it's pretty clear they either didn't want to "soil their hands" or didn't have a compelling enough offering.

A couple of things come to mind here:

1) The advances in technology that gave almost all the power to information consumers haven't only hit traditional media companies.   Worldchanging isn't the only really good site (from a content perspective) to fold. Bottom line: very few people have figured out how to crank out good, smart, topical, family-friendly content online at a profit.

2) The rest of the foundation-supported blogosphere better take note of this.  (I'm looking at you, Global Voices Online.)  Some groups have stronger relationships with foundation benefactors than Worldchanging did,  but reliance on foundations is NOT a sustainable business model in the new media age.

3) It's long past time to stop equating working with companies as "selling out."  This is a much larger discussion for another day, but working with people who don't think exactly the way you do is NOT a weakness.  Developing relationships where all parties get something of value is NOT evil.   If you're worried about conflicts of interest, just disclose the nature of your relationships.  People are smart.  They can tell the difference between an entrepreneur and a whore.

Hello, NW CleanTech!

Welcome to the Greenosphere!

Some colleagues of mine in Seattle who work in social media and green PR decided to launch a little side project they're calling NW CleanTech.  I couldn't be happier for them.  I'll let them describe it:

The mission for NW CleanTech is simple: create an online environment to facilitate conversation between the players in cleantech – from emerging inventors to established innovators – and help strengthen industry cohesion in the Northwest.

What I like most about NW CleanTech is that it's not another green PR blog or another social media blog.  Rob Gara and Evan Scandling may know green PR, and they may know social media, but they're building an online home for people in the cleantech sector talk about the things that are most important to them.  It seems that paying huge PR firms a lot of money isn't always top of mind with cleantech execs.  (Shocking, yes, I know.)   They're looking at industry trends, venture capital demands, policy issues.

They've also decided to focus on the American Northwest, a region of the country that has made a concerted effort to be a leader in this sector. They've built a valuable map of the industry's regional footprint.  They're encouraging regional industry leaders to use the site to discuss important policy and business issues, and they've already gotten some impressive participation.

NW CleanTech also has a valuable Twitter feed and a Facebook page if you're looking for updates that fit your social media persuasion.  I've had the chance to watch Rob and Evan build this project basically from the day they thought of it, and I'm very impressed with their patience and persistence.   I hope you'll check it out - whether you live in the Northwest or not.

So I bought a "book."

In case you never heard of the term, I looked it up.

book  Pronunciation: \ˈbu̇k\ Function: noun  Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bōc; akin to Old High German buoh book, Gothic boka letter  Date: before 12th century
1 a : a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory b : a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together into a volume c : a long written or printed literary composition d : a major division of a treatise or literary work

It's great to see someone you like and respect have success.  Susan Getgood not only has the best name in social media marketing, she's also very smart.  She put together a valuable and clear guide for people who want to write, publish online, and maybe make a little coin while they're at it.  Susan sets herself from competitors by being an effective advocate for bloggers - as a co-founder of Blog With Integrity and the author of i-don't-know-how-many posts on how (and how not) brands and bloggers should interact, she really sets the standard for the rest of us.

In addition to the bloggers many people knew she'd highlight in the book - smart, entrepreneurial moms like Liz, Kristen, Julie, Joanne, Devra & Aviva, Mir, and a bunch of others - I was very pleased that she went beyond the mom-o-sphere and looked at some pals of mine like Chris, Preston & Jeff.  The book blends the case studies with the useful advice quite well, and it's worth a read for anyone who wants to do this social media stuff for real.

Congrats Susan!

I sense a disturbance in the force

The force known as the mom-o-sphere, that is.  Silicon Valley Moms Group is closing down.

I'm sure there are a variety of factors contributing to this, and I plan to write more about it, but right now I think it's important to recognize Jill Asher as a successful entrepreneur who really helped build a strong online community.  I know she had a lot of help from people like Beth Blecherman, but it's clear that Asher was the face of this organization and accomplished a great deal. 

I know she has a lot of great things going on in her life right now and I'm sure we'll be seeing her again.

Activists' New Secret Weapon: Databases

A while back I wrote about the "scariest mobile application EVAH," Good Guide.  It's a leader in a new and growing field of mobile applications that use barcode-scanning technology, GPS, and a variety of databases to tell consumers about the product they just scanned. These applications give consumers unprecedented information about products, brands, manufacturers, retailers, and pretty much anything else at the point of purchase.  They include the popular Red Laser, which lets you compare prices among stores in your area and online, and Label Lookup, a production of the Natural Resources Defense Council that helps you "find labels you can trust."

Tech-savvy and issue-conscious consumers will be getting information not only about how a given product is a buck cheaper down the road or online, but also anything a database of that consumer's choosing says about the product, brand, or company.  And remember, this information comes just moments before the point of purchase, giving the company almost no time to share its side of the story.  So when I tried Good Guide I learned that the makers of my breakfast cereal "violated the Clean Water Act."   I never got a link to the company's explanation.

So think about the databases out there. Think about current events and politics. It's not just review sites/apps like Yelp (dealing with a somewhat iffy reputation lately). It's not hard to imagine a mobile app that tells you:

• If the CEO of the company that made a product contributed to Proposition 8 (Human Rights Campaign could probably tell you)
• If the manufacturer is headquartered in Arizona, where you can now be pulled over for looking Hispanic (I'm thinking National Council of La Raza might be interested)
• If a company is a "union buster" (just a matter of time before SEIU launches this bad boy)
• Class action lawsuits filed against a company (ATLA, anyone?)

Building a comprehensive, accurate, and huge database for mobile apps to access takes time, talent, and resources.  Even the Red Laser database isn't all-encompassing. However, it's not nearly as hard as it used to be. Some database developers may sacrifice a bit of accuracy to get more volume or speed.  Some will probably be built by crowdsourcing - my favorite crowdsourced database comes from the brainiacs at Cornell who helped put the Great Backyard Bird Count online.   In the not-too-distant future, government databases will be accessible from your phone - a company's EDGAR filings with the SEC, actions brought by the EPA, and so on. 

So there are a few things companies should be doing YESTERDAY to protect their reputations and their brands:

• Upgrade your social media monitoring efforts to see what's written about you in all these mobile-accessed databases.  Good Guide is a start.  Make sure the info is accurate. Contact them if it's not.
• Build relationships with the folks who make these databases and these apps.  Understand their motivation, work with them to make sure you're presented in the best possible light.
• Partner with credible organizations to build your own databases and applications.  Support some of these groups by underwriting some of the cost, providing technical support, and letting them know they can work with you. 
• Promote responsible efforts to give consumers all the information they want and need to make smart decisions.  Consumers reward the companies that advocate for them.

Or, sit back and wonder why people stopped buying your stuff.

Entrepreneurial Journalism and Rebuilding Trust

My boss has asked me to take a long look at media convergence issues - you know, how the Internet changes the way people consume news and how journalists report it - and I'm incorporating much of it into some social media training materials for the company. More and more I'm realizing this isn't a story about technology, and it really isn't a story about journalism.

"Media convergence" is really just one of countless stories about entrepreneurship. It's nothing new. It's about large companies clinging to the methods and products that made them successful 20 years ago, and remaining steadfast in the belief that any effort spent doing something other than selling that product or using that method is a wasteful distraction. (For example, television news has become formulaic, almost rote in its delivery.) It's about smaller companies and individuals trying something new, most of them failing, and trying again.

The Pew Project's State of the News Media 2010 Report came out last week. I found it via Tom Johnson's post on Media Convergence Matters. Johnson cites one of the report's conclusions:

For online news to become a profitable enterprise, either consumer attitudes need to change or the industry must do more. That more could be developing new better-targeted products that people are willing to pay for; new forms of advertising that work better, including local search; or new forms of revenue other than display advertising, including perhaps online retailing.

The "consumer attitudes need to change" is a reference to consumers not being willing to pay for a lot of content or clicking ads. In truth, consumer attitudes are constantly evolving. The report includes a lot about how news needs to move online, and it has. It includes a lot about aggregating and curating content to better fit the needs of the consumer. This is all good, but to me it doesn't get to the heart of the matter.

Sadly, it doesn't have a lot about improving the quality of journalism generally or helping people understand why the news is relevant to them. In America at least, I think people have developed a significant detachment from what we commonly refer to as "the news." I think there's a strong mistrust of the news industry. People want to know who's paying for it.

At the source of it, I think, is the news industry's oft-repeated "if it bleeds, it leads" mantra has devolved into the basic formula "conflict = news," and if information doesn't have loud, competing sides, it really isn't newsworthy. I see science bloggers express some version of this sentiment on a regular basis.

The most important recent example of this is the coverage of health care reform over the last year. Some conservatives had legitimate disagreements with the Democrats' proposals, and other people decided to equate reform with genocide. The media made its choice early on what to cover - and so we heard wild tales about socialism and death panels. And once that decision was made, conservatives realized that the only way they could get their message out to the general public was to push the rhetoric further and further out, past the fringes of sanity.

As a result, people still don't know what actually passed in the health care reform law, after a year of debate.

Of course there are people in journalism who do a great job and should get more attention. But ask yourself - is that where the media industry is as a whole?

So yes, innovation in how news is developed, curated, and delivered is a must. (I like the idea of a business incubator for journalism.) But so is quality control - and that's the hard part.

Blog With Integrity hosts the FTC

On November 10 the folks who brought us Blog With Integrity will be hosting a free webinar featuring Mary Engle, the Associate Commissioner for Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. They will be discussing the new FTC guidance on disclosure and endorsements - this is critical information for bloggers who talk about products and services, as well as the PR and marketing flacks who hock them. They're accepting questions ahead of time so if you want something to be answered within the time they have, you should ask it early. Just send an email to blogwithintegrity [at] gmail [dot] com.

I've said a bunch of times I really talk more about issues than products, but it's still an enormously valuable discussion. I've let everyone on my social media team know about it, and I hope you'll be able to check in.

Susan Getgood has been the unquestioned leader of this discussion from the marketing side. She's the first person I look to for guidance and perspective on this critical topic. It will have an enormous impact on how marketing and PR professionals work with bloggers and I'm grateful to her and Julie Marsh, Kristen Chase and Liz Gumbinner for their leadership on this.

Bloggers are Entrepreneurs

And that's how you should treat them.

I've been ridiculously swamped lately but I had the opportunity to meet several bloggers last week for work. I'll let the bloggers speak for themselves on what they thought of the visit. But as I had more network-y type discussions with them, I kept coming back to the thought I had years ago - bloggers, particularly many online moms, are amazingly entrepreneurial.

I saw this report in the Washington Post that discussed about the breadth of women-owned private businesses. I suppose entrepreneurship among women is to be expected - it's fairly common among any group that has experienced bias in the workplace. But while I hesitate to define any group beyond the terms the group uses to self-identify, if I could find a common thread among all the bloggers I met last week it was entrepreneurship. All but one either owned her own business or collaborated with other bloggers in a business venture. The remaining blogger, an academic, also showed many of the characteristics of an entrepreneur - leadership, creativity, passion and drive.

I don't know about all bloggers, but I know many started writing online because they needed to strike out on their own. They were independent thinkers. They value their own time and intellect. And they have no tolerance for crap. As next-gen PR flacks like me want to engage bloggers and others who communicate online, I think it makes sense to think of bloggers perhaps a bit less as beat reporters and perhaps a bit more as entrepreneurs who are looking to engage in something worth their time.

for bloggers, by bloggers

I'm really excited about Parent Bloggers Network's new series of free webinars that are designed to help bloggers be better bloggers. They will offer all sorts of tips about things like SEO, writing skills, photography, design, and so on. If you're a blogger who would like to get more traffic, attention, prominence, whatever - or if you're just trying to hone your craft - these are for you.

And they're posting them all to vimeo. Here's the first.


PBN Webinar Series "Building Better Blogs" - The ABCs of SEO - March 4, 2009 from Parent Bloggers Network on Vimeo.

"New Economy States" are Blue States

This caught my eye:

Massachusetts is the state best positioned for growth when the current economic turmoil recedes, according to the 2008 State New Economy Index released Tuesday.

So sayeth the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank that works with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to produce the "State New Economy Index" each year.

They use 29 variables, grouped in five categories: knowledge jobs, globalization, transformation into a digital economy, "technological innovation capacity," and "economic dynamism." To be honest I don't really know the details of what goes into this, but I worked with people at the Kauffman Foundation when I was on the Hill and I know they're smart on issues of entrepreneurship.

I took a look at the rankings of states and noticed something interesting: the highest-ranking "new economy" states are overwhelmingly blue, while the lowest ranking states are overwhelmingly red.

The top 11 states in the index all voted for Barack Obama this year. So did 17 of the top 20. The bottom 8 states - and 15 of the bottom 20 - voted for John McCain.

The state where I was born, raised and educated ranks first. My current home? 45th.

Recommended reading

Just got back from a quick trip. Recommended reading: Today's Mama founder Rachael Herrscher interviews U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

This is just the latest example of mom as a cross-cultural discussion driver. In addition to Today's Mama, Rachael writes a personal blog and writes the Press Pass blog for Entrepreneur.com - she has a toehold in several online communities.

Iit's also another example of how seriously political elites take the blogosphere - even those sites that aren't the hyper-partisan "political" blogs that raise cash and serve as the echo chamber for the campaigns.

Beyond Bizlex, Part II: AAEP's Dr. Jennifer Selvig

Yesterday I posted my Business Lexington column's full Q&A with Sally Baker, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the strategic vision behind AAEP's blog, Out of the Starting Gate.

Today I'm sharing the Q&A from Dr. Jennifer Selvig, a first-year equine veterinarian and the voice of AAEP's blog. In addition to her obvious skill in equine veterinary medicine, she's a strong writer and an excellent strategic fit for the blog.

Why did you agree to participate in the blog?

I was originally asked by one of my vet school mentors, Dr. Julie Wilson, who serves on the AAEP student relations committee. She is a great advocate for students, and thought I would be well-qualified for this. I'd like to think she is right - I have always enjoyed writing. During undergrad and vet school I worked at The Minnesota Daily, the largest completely student-run daily college newspaper in the country. I held lots of different positions, including editorals & opinions editor and copy desk chief. So I suppose it was an opportunity to use a skill I have to reach out to future veterinarians.

Did you know much about blogs or social media before you started this project? What have you learned?

Only in the sense that I knew basically how they work and that they existed. I never thought I'd be a "blogger" - I'm not a good creative writer; I'm a much better technical writer. I don't really follow any other blogs consistently. I have learned it can be hard to keep up with demand - when I get "writer's block," people start to wonder what happened to me! It's actually a pretty big responsibility.

Do you think you’ll continue working with blogs and social media to share your stories and experiences with young people?

I hope so! If I have the opportunity and the support of a great community like the AAEP, it's relatively easy. I'm not sure about the long-term plans for this thing - it's kind of taken on a life of its own, but it seems to be popular, so I'm happy to keep going with it as long as it's entertaining and useful to people.

The AAEP blog is making you a bit of a celebrity and an ambassador for the profession. How does it feel to be AAEP’s answer to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta?

This part is kind of surreal. I have been to a couple of continuing education events since I started this and it's weird to be recognized by people I don't know, even if only by name. America's Horse, the AQHA magazine, published my first blog entry as a feature, complete with a gigantic picture of me with two of my horses, and it was very odd to have clients and friends come up to me and say, "Hey! You're famous! I saw you in this magazine that goes out to thousands of people across the country!" When I finally got a copy of the magazine, it was pretty weird to see that spread. At least all the feedback I've gotten has been positive!

As far as being an ambassador for the profession - I guess mostly it's daunting to be held up that way when I'm really just a first-year veterinarian. I graduated from vet school less than a year ago - by a lot of people's standards, I don't know anything yet! I just try to do right by the profession and the horses, practice good medicine and keep learning. I hope the more seasoned members of our organization see that.

Part of the way this blog has taken off is with non-veterinary students and non-veterinarians. The original intent of the blog was to give veterinary students considering a career in equine practice a little window into what their first year out might be like. But now it seems my audience is so much broader - so I have to try to balance writing for my original intended audience and remembering that, apparently, a lot of other lay-people will be reading it too. I don't know about being on CNN, though!!

What do you have to say to young people considering a career in veterinary medicine?

My ultimate goal is to balance my career with my life. I have a fiance - I'm getting married in June - and three horses to ride. I want to show the profession it's possible to have a good work ethic and put your time in without burning out, and still practice good medicine. I worked really hard to get where I am - every would-be veterinarian has to work hard. But it IS worth it. Even though you're scared to death the first time you have to make an honest-to-goodness critical decision for the life of a patient, it's still worth it.

My biggest piece of advice for students thinking about vet school: Make sure this is what you want to do - if your reasoning is that you want to be a vet because you like animals and not people, you're heading in the wrong direction. Veterinary medicine is a very human-oriented profession. And then get experience. Work at a clinic cleaning and walking dogs or doing barn chores - it's how I started. You never know when they'll need an extra set of hands to help with an interesting procedure. And it's never too early to start networking and building a reputation as a hard worker.

For the equine vet students, my advice is: Go after the job you want. If that's a prestigious internship, go for it. I was fortunate to have made the connections I did early that allowed me to get a job I love. I have a classmate who turned down a prestigious internship for a job on the other side of the country because he didn't feel right about it - and he's having a blast in the job he ended up with. There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to go after graduation - look for something that makes you happy and fits in your life where you're at, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You won't practice good medicine and you won't learn anything if you're not enjoying your job.

Saving the World

Two items today that aren't about social media but I learned about them through social media:

I want my hydrogen car. Yeah, there's a ton of work that has to happen but this is really going to create so many economic opportunities in the long run it's worth it.

(hat tip: Treehugger, which gives some great commentary.)

And a nice list of blogs that cover hydrogen vehicles can be found here.

Also, the Boston Globe has an audio slideshow about Dream Chase Farms, a thoroughbred rescue home founded by the Globe's former movie critic. It's located in Georgetown, Kentucky - just north of here.

Discussions the Campaigns Miss

I realize I've been pushing Virtual Vantage Points a lot in recent days, mostly because I love what it does - examines and compares the discussions taking place in a number of communities, and demonstrates that the most important discussions about particular issues may be occuring in places you haven't looked.

The presidential campaigns are paying a lot of attention to the top-tier political blogs on the left and the right - and while the Instapundits and Eschatons of the world certainly deserve attention, they represent only a small portion of those who read and write online and have sincere and smart policy-based discussions.

When you go beyond the top online fundraisers you learn a lot from those "other" bloggers:

Maggie Mahar penned one of the more comprehensive and well-written pieces that breaks down public opinion toward American healthcare policy options and details the economic realities of implementing some of those options. Great reading for anyone who's interested in health policy - no multiple PhD's required.

Jesse Jenkins lent some space on his blog to Alexander Tinker so he can spread the word about Focus the Nation, a group that is organizing a national "teach-in" about global warming solutions and actively calling on members of Congress to participate.

Dozens and dozens and dozens (and seriously more than I can link to) of moms are writing about an issue that just hasn't gotten the attention I expected from the campaigns - safe toys. This issue resonates so strongly with moms who write online I'm shocked the campaigns haven't built events around this single issue and made it a top-tier concern. If you look at it online, this issue is being discussed by moms more than health policy, more than immigration, more than just about anything. I have to believe that the candidate that owns this issue will earn a ton of votes.

This kind of research is critical not only for the campaigns, but for companies that want to market to any of these constituencies. The research is strictly qualitative at this point, but it's essential to understand the needs of the community. The campaigns and companies that choose to use the same tools and speak the same language of the communities we're reviewing, respecting its cultural (and technological) norms will strengthen its reputation and influence.

Introducing Virtual Vantage Points

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because I was helping my company, APCO Worldwide, launch their first major foray into the blogosphere - Virtual Vantage Points (VVP).

VVP is a unique and unprecedented approach to examining the blogosphere. We identify the leaders in specific online communities and examine their discussions to see what themes and issues keep pushing to the forefront. Then experts in policy and industry from APCO examine those discussions and help explain why they matter to people, both online and offline.

I'm helping to identify online communities and the leaders in them, and reaching out to them. I'm also working with our developers to refine the tools we create and use, like the "community cloud" generator we're using on the blog this week. But the real value isn't simply in a nifty cloud generator - it's the ability to look at the discussion from a group of community leaders and to apply some top-level analysis to those discussions. The people leading that effort are amazing.

They include Craig Fuller, who was Chief of Staff to then Vice President George H.W. Bush and the former head of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. Darren Murphy is a former special assistant to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Trevor Neilsen worked in the Clinton White House, led the communications effort for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a time, and is a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board. And Bill Pierce was a Deputy Assistant Secretary and chief spokesman at the US Department of Health and Human Services. We have more contributors joining us soon, and with the help of readers we'll be identifying and refining more communities.

I thought Bill Pierce's introductory post was a perfect example of how this tool is so valuable. Bill took a look at ALL the communities we're tracking so far - 15 and counting - to see who was driving the political discussion about health care. He saw who WAS talking about health policy issues: health policy analysts (obviously), doctors to some extent, and interestingly, politically-oriented moms. Who WASN'T talking about health care to any great extent? Top-tier political bloggers on the left or the right:

On the minds of policy bloggers are issues surrounding patients and doctors, research, information and data – and money. But no where to be seen is talk of SCHIP or Medicare, both hot topics on Capitol Hill. It’s no surprise that political mom’s are talking about health care, since most health care decisions are made by moms. But look at what else pops up, people, passion, outreach, movement, political and advocate, which combined with issues like health, school and war gives you a strong sense of their frame of mind. I’d pay attention to this group.

Doctors sound a little like health policy bloggers, but in no surprise, very focused on their profession, their craft, care and disease and importantly their patients.

Very little of this is heard on the campaign trail or in the halls of Congress. Perhaps this means some of our politicians are going to have to serve some time in the “hot box.”

This is exactly the kind of analysis I hoped we'd get from this project. It was something my colleagues and I discussed months ago. It shows political people where they can go to participate in the meaningful discussions on the issues people care about most. It gives people some direction - not the definitive word, but direction -on what issues and ideas communities want to explore. It's just a beginning, but it's a great first step.

VVP is a work in progress and hopefully always will be. I hope everyone has a chance to check it out and participate in the discussion about the discussions.

And in this corner, Slatecard

We've all seen stories about how Democrats are leaving Republicans behind in online campaign fundraising. Act Blue, the dominant campaign finance portal for Democrats, has raised over $30 million since 2004.

Republicans are finding an appropriate response - and one-upping Act Blue, I think - with Slatecard. If I were a Republican, I'd want to take notice of this.

It's just starting out, but it looks like Slatecard takes the features that have stood the test of time at Act Blue - a list of "hot races," a wide range of campaigns to choose from, a blog, and so on - and adds some web 2.0 features that allow users to be more creative and communicative. Slatecard contributors can customize their own slate of candidates. They can also affix "badges" to their slates to show WHY they're contributing to the campaigns they choose - a position on a particualr issue, a revulsion to a particular Democrat, and so on. This sends a signal to candidates and helps them "follow the money." It's just one more opportunity to let political activists provide information along with financial support.

Full disclosure: I know one of Slatecard's founders, David All. We worked briefly together and I found him to be a creative, assertive, and entrepreneurial guy.

Republicans have some catching up to do online, but I think Slatecard will help them do it quicker than most people think. Will Act Blue adopt some of Slatecard's 2.0 coolness? Time will tell.

The Three R's of Blogger Relations

Apparently it's that time again when bloggers of all stripes decide to ever so gently remind those of us in the public relations profession that perhaps our outreach tactics are maybe just a tad impersonal.

Yes, I've written about this before - I've apologized on behalf of corporate America and I've even suggested that we just stop pitching bloggers because we look like idiots. And there are a very small handful of folks in this line of work who actually get it - they don't just say they get it, they actually GET IT, but sadly it's a very small group.

Plenty of stuff has been written about blogger outreach. But to be honest, it's actually pretty simple. Just remember the three R's - Respect, Relevance, and Relationships.

RESPECT. Say this out loud: A blogger is not my tool. Say it again, out loud. A blogger is not my tool. One more time, with gusto: A BLOGGER IS NOT, NOT, NOT MY TOOL.

Research from the Pew Internet Project suggests that bloggers are better educated, tend to make more money, and tend to be leaders in their communities more than the general public. They contribute to political campaigns. They join the PTA. They follow the news. They give to charity. In short, they're smart. Probably smarter than you.

So when you start your email with "hey, I stumbled upon your blog - great stuff!" they know it's a crock. They share the generic emails you send them with each other. Blogging is still a very personal medium. If you don't show the basic respect of reading the blog and being honest about why you're contacting them, you will fail. If you expect them to give you product placement on their online property without some kind of compensation - whether it's cash or something else they want - you will fail. And for Pete's sake, if you get the person's name wrong in the salutation, not only will you fail, but you should basically get out of this buisness because you're ruining it for the rest of us.

RELEVANCE. Read the blog, read the blog, read the blog, read the freakin' blog already. In the time it took you to roll your eyes after the previous sentence you could have started reading the blog you want to pitch. Don't give me garbage about how you don't have time to read all those blogs. You're reading this blog. If you have the time for this, you have the time for that.

Read the bio page. Click through the blogroll a bit. See who links to the blogger. Read the comments and see if the blogger is engaging in conversation there. Use your brain - does the product or service you're pitching have ANYTHING to do with what you've just read? Or are you asking a political blogger to attend an advertising conference? Are you asking a Jewish woman to review a book promoting the Baptist faith? Are you sending a person in Colorado news about a product launching in Arizona? (Yes, these have all actually happened.)

Further - and I've seen Susan write about this a lot - can you tell if the blogger has any passion at all for the subject you're selling? Can you answer why the blogger would care at all? If not, don't bother pitching.

RELATIONSHIPS. Most bloggers are not journalists who are trained to look at your emailed press release even if they don't know you well. They're regular folks - ok, well-educated and motivated folks - who are more likely to open the email from someone they recognize. Building relationships depends on (you guessed it) treating people with respect and reaching out with relevant material. It takes time and resources to build relationships. But if you build honest and solid relationships, you can build them with other bloggers more efficiently and effectively.

Relationships are the true currency of the blogosphere. Relationships lead to credibility within communities. And you know what else? Relationships are a big reason working in social media and online outreach is so enjoyable. You have the opportunity to reach out to people you wouldn't otherwise know. You can try to see things from someone else's perspective. You can talk with someone a world away. You can develop some knowledge in an industry sector or an important community, which only makes you more valuable to your company.

If you're an intern - and let's face it, a lot of blogger outreach gets farmed out to interns who have never done this before, which is in itself a big mistake - you should look at blogger outreach as an opportunity to meet new people and have some fun. (It sure beats pulling the daily press clips together for that company you don't care about.)

One final observation about this before I put the topic away for a while. Doing this for the past couple of years I've reached out to bloggers from a variety of disciplines, covering every topic imaginable. The bloggers that respond best to my outreach - and not surprisingly, the bloggers I enjoy working with most - have one thing in common, even with their remarkably broad range of interests.

They're all remarkably entrepreneurial.

They start online businesses with people hundreds or even thousands of miles away - people they've never physically met. They work all hours of the night, but they make sure you understand their time is valuable. They're creative, and they want to protect ownership of their ideas. They're willing to work with you when they see a benefit. They're steadfast and loyal when you show them respect and kindness. And they thrive on what they do.

It's just a hunch, but if you want to know a bit about what makes a really good blogger tick, you might want to read up on entrepreneurship and what the best entrepreneurs have in common.

You may already have won...

One of the best things about BlogHer '07 was the chance to meet social media PR/marketing rockstar Susan Getgood. One of the things I respect most about Susan - and something I try to emulate - is that she's taken the "participation is marketing" idea to the next level. To Susan, ADVOCACY is participation. She advocates for bloggers and tries to be a resource. To look at the future of using social media in marketing, look at Susan Getgood today.

Susan invited me to participate in a discussion about blogger-run contests and sweepstakes. So many bloggers are doing this, but are they aware of the liability implications?

Susan sought out Donna DeClemente, an expert on the subject and author of Donna's Promo Talk, for some answers and guidance. You can see their discussion here. She also asked if I'd be interested in reaching out to someone in the legal profession and talk about this from a policy perspective.

Entrepreneurship, and particuarly women's entrepreneurship, is an issue I examined in great detail while working on Capitol Hill. One of my biggest thrills was drafting legislation with people from the National Association of Business Incubators that was called the "LEADERS Act" - Linking Educators and Developing Entrepreneurs for Reaching Success. The bill never got through the Senate, but it had bipartisan support and got a lot of people talking.

Of course, the bill was drafted before the advent of the "mommyblogger based business," but one of the things I learned was many entrepreneurs (online or off) lack the basic administrative infrastructure and knowledge to ensure the sustainability of their businesses. One of the most important things to keep in mind when building a business is the advice a boxing referee gives the fighters just before they touch gloves: "protect yourself at all times." That's because in America, anyone can be sued for anything at any time. Entire blogs have been built on this premise. The fact that you're online may make things a bit more complicated, but I've never seen something like that stand in the way of an aggressive trial lawyer with a client and an axe to grind.

So at Susan's invitation I sought out someone the mommybloggers will wholeheartedly accept as one of their own, and also has the legal chops to teach us all: Stephanie Himel-Nelson, an attorney at the firm of Vandeventer Black, LLP in Norfolk, Virgina. Stephanie may be known better in the blogosphere as Lawyer Mama. Stephanie also writes for DC Metro Moms.

She writes:

Online Giveaways: Sweepstakes? Or Lottery?

Be mindful of state and federal laws. The FTC and federal authorities will carefully investigate allegations of unfair or deceptive promotions. If you are not careful to run a fair promotion, you can run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission or mail and wire fraud statutes. The attorney generals of every state are also empowered to investigate alleged violations of state consumer protection laws. Trust me, you don't even want an investigation into your online practices started. It's better to play it safe and disclose as much information about your contest as you can.

Make sure that the contest, giveaway or sweepstakes that you're conducting doesn't fit the definition of a "lottery." A sweepstakes or giveaway is usually a giveaway involving chance. Anyone can enter and no purchase or "consideration" is necessary. A lottery, however, is an entirely different animal. An animal prohibited by state and federal law, with the exception of lotteries run by the individual states. A lottery will generally have a prize, some sort of chance, but it also involves consideration, meaning money or something else of value is given by the entrant. Even requiring your readers to give you detailed consumer information can sometimes be considered "consideration," transforming your "giveaway" or "promotion" into an illegal "lottery." After all, in this day and age, consumer information has a great deal
of value.

Things you can do to ensure that your giveaway won't be seen as an illegal lottery:

1. List your rules on your site and make sure the contest is run fairly:

- How many entries are allowed per person?
- When will the contest end?
- When will the prize be awarded?
- Are there any geographical restrictions?
- Are there any age restrictions?
- What information is required for entry?

2. Provide an alternate or offline method of entry. Allow people to enter by fax or mail if they choose, without giving online information or drafting a quid pro quo blog post.

So you've listed your rules on the site; you've provided an alternative method of entry; you're sure that your contest can't possibly be considered a lottery. Are you good to go?

Maybe not.

Several states have enacted strict disclosure requirements for sweepstakes and giveaways, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas. If your online contest is open to everyone, you need to comply with the most stringent of these rules or exclude entrants from those states. Have international readers? Have you thought about international laws regarding giveaways and sweepstakes? If not, you should limit your contest to U.S. entrants. And don't forget to include those all important words in your contest rules: "Void where prohibited."

This information is meant to bring awareness to the topic and is not intended to be used as legal advice. If you have questions about any of the information above or related matters, please contact an attorney licensed in your state.

Congratulations are in order

Kudos to Sharon Tessandori, proprietor of Barefoot Works Yoga - Lexington's only eco-friendly vinyasa yoga studio.

Sharon's been in business for a full year now. Anyone who knows anything about entrepreneurship and starting a small business knows that's no simple feat. Yoga was a much tougher sell in Lexington a year ago than it is now, and I think Sharon had something to do with that. My wife teaches yoga there occasionally, and we've had the chance to get to know her and Andy, and they're great.

So congratulations and best wishes for many more successful years.