After being out of town, out for various Jewish holidays and trying vainly to catch up with work, here is the next edition of the Tip Jar…

• My daughter, who’s in first grade, still makes friends by asking other girls, “Do you want to be my friend?” As we grow older, friendship becomes more of a social process that evolves organically and less of an up-front question. That’s changed with social networking sites where we have to expose ourselves to flat-out rejection all over again to build our friend lists. I’m still trying to decide whether Facebook offers enough value to me to keep up with it on a regular basis. I’m finding that the more people I add as friends, the more useful it is, though I have a strange mix of friends, colleagues and family. If you’re on Facebook, do you want to be my friend? Here’s my profile (only accessible once you complete the free registration) [update: link fixed!]. I wish I could take the Facebook class offered at Stanford by BJ Fogg of the Persuasive Technology Lab. They will be exploring how motivation and influence operate on Facebook. There’s still so much to learn.

• Speaking of social networking, should we be surprised at yet another such site popping up around the issue of social change? The Changents site centers around change agents and those who want to support their efforts.

• And if you are feeling overloaded by all the social networking sites you are part of, the NOSO Project may be just what you need. According to the website:
  

  NOSO is a real-world platform for temporary disengagement from social networking environments. The NOSO experience offers a unique opportunity to create NO Connections by scheduling NO Events with other NO Friends.

  These “NO” events, called NOSOs, take place in designated cafes, parks, libraries, bookstores, and other public spaces. Participants — whose identities remain unknown to one another — agree to arrive at an assigned time and remain alone, quiet and un-connected, while at the same time knowing that another “Friend” is present in the space.

  NOSOs are scheduled by users through the NOSO website. They last for a duration of 1 – 30 minutes, after which participants disperse and return to their regular activities.

  Or, you could just grab a cup of coffee by yourself and disengage from the grid for a while. Nah, not ironic enough.

• A few interesting conferences/webinars coming up:
  • Mapping Your Nonprofit: An Intro to GIS – Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) – Webinar – October 2, 2007, 11:00-12:30 PDT
  • MobileCampLA – a free, participatory “unconference” focusing on mobile technology (I’m thinking about going to this one.) – October 28, 2007, Los Angeles, CA
  • Advances in Health Literacy – the American College of Physician’s Foundation’s Sixth Annual National Health Communication Conference – November 28, 2007, Washington, DC
  • Second International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare – January 30, 2008, Tampere, Finland

• Hip-hop music is being used to bring about social change in a region in Kenya, spurred by a musician named Geoffrey Arthur Ogalo (better known to his fans as Tera Mos). He is leading a group of hip-hop artists in Kisumu, who are shying away from using vulgar language, and sings about problems that youth encounter in their daily lives, how to protect the environment, and other issues like poverty and HIV/AIDS. The phrase “Tera Mos” – also the name of his best-known song – means “don’t hurry me up because I need to be sure before I leap” in the Dholuo language.

• For those who watch the Superbowl just for the commercials, a new website called Firebrand is about to launch. Its “commercials as content” programming includes commercial jockeys (CJs) — along the lines of the VJs back when MTV actually showed music videos — to contextualize the commercials and guide viewers through the spots, contests and promotions. It will be viewable via TV, web and mobile devices. Users will be able to create their own playlists and share their favorite spots. Hopefully they will also include social marketing spots in their content, and this should certainly be added to your TV ad/PSA distribution strategy.

• A couple of excellent reports have come out on the use of blogs by government agencies. The first is called The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0, and is downloadable from the IBM Center for the Business of Government (thanks to Mike Kujawski for the tip). The second is an article by Maurice Muise of Environment Canada, called “Government Blogs: What They are and Why You Need One (or Two or Three…),” which includes some great examples. This document came via the Social Marketing Listserv, and as far as I could find is not online, so if you’d like to take a look, send me an email and I’ll forward it to you.

• If you want to reach Generation Y with your story, Sam Davidson at Cool People Care has some tips for how to best get your message out in a way they will listen. He says: get digital, get relevant, get simple, get practical, and get original. Get over to the full post to find out how. And here’s an example of how voter mobilization campaigns are reaching this demographic through text messaging reminders to vote.

• I’ve written about this before, but here is more confirmation that depictions of healthy behaviors on television influence health behaviors among viewers. According to researchers at USC, those who watched episodes of the show ER that addressed the topics of teen obesity, hypertension and healthy eating were more likely to report a positive change in their related behaviors and increased knowledge about nutrition. Similarly, even in Saudi Arabia, the most popular comedy series Tash Ma Tash, watched by nearly the whole country each night during Ramadan, is working toward social change by addressing topics like women’s rights, corruption and other social problems.

• Social media has been playing a role in the reporting and response to the gripping protests by the monks in Burma. With over 263,000 members of the Facebook group supporting the monks’ protest, blogs, YouTube videos, cellphone photojournalism, Flickr, Second Life and other tactics, detailed so well by Angelo Fernando and Beth Kanter, the dynamics of real-time protest and reportage have completely changed. Similarly, those supporting the Jena 6 are also using social media to create a student movement around this issue.

• England’s health secretary, Alan Johnson, is hoping to change the MRSA superbug infection rate in the nation’s hospitals through a simple behavioral and cultural change. NHS doctors will no longer be allowed to wear the long-sleeved white coats that have come over generations to represent authority and tradition, and they must remain bare below the elbow whenever they are in contact with patients. The MRSA superbug may have been spreading from one patient to another on the cuffs of the doctors’ coats, and eliminating the coat will make it easier to wash hands and wrists correctly. Watches, jewelry and ties will also be verboten. It’s a simple change, easily enforced, but could make a big difference in patient survival.

Time is running out to register for Social Marketing University, which will be happening October 15-17 in Los Angeles! There are still spaces left, so come join us for a fun and informative training.

Photo Credit: justbadpot

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