Boston-based Social Media for Social Change (sm4sc) today announced that it hopes to raise as much as $20,000 for Jane Doe Inc. at a fund raising event October 10 at 6:30 PM at the Harvard Club of Boston. Jane Doe, Inc. is a “statewide coalition of over sixty community-based sexual assault and domestic violence organizations across Massachusetts committed to the safety, dignity and liberty of survivors.”

Back in July, blogger Jeremy Pepper challenged the social media community to show that it can “do what it claims” by using its influence to give back to the community. While I agree with Jeremy that every one of us who is fortunate to be employed and comfortable should be giving back to those less fortunate, I believe the best mechanisms are organized, broad based efforts like sm4sc. (That’s not to say individual giving is a bad thing, it’s a good thing, but I think it’s a personal and private matter.)

sm4sc was founded by Gradon Tripp, and was chartered with the understanding that “the social media world has proven that, though still a young and small community within a multitude of industries, we have the power to exact great change.”

I urge Boston area folks to attend and support this event, which is for a very worthy cause and can demonstrate the power of the social media community as a force for good.

Tags: Social media, jane doe inc., sm4sc, boston, Jeremy Pepper, Gradon Tripp

Christine Lu, a Twitter acquaintance, let me know about a couple of interesting events in the Bay Area next weekend.

The first event is AAMA CONNECT 2008, Silicon Valley into the Next Decade: The Center of Global Transformation, Friday, October 3, 2008, Hyatt Regency Santa Clara Hotel, which the organizers describe as “the leading Asia technology gathering of the year in Silicon Valley.”

The second is “China, Beyond the Olympics,” Saturday, October 4, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. This conference “will center the discussion on China’s future after China’s great showcase of its 5,000-year history as well as its technological and economic achievements at the Beijing Summer Olympics.”

If you’re in tech, you’ve probably seen a slide in some executive presentation that says your company is going to take advantage of opportunities in the emerging BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China.) But what does that mean beyond slideware? COMDEX is dead. Might be time to break out of the U.S.-centric bubble and find out what’s really going on in the rest of the world.

Tags: China Beyond the Olympics, AAMA CONNECT 2008, BRIC, Asia, business, entrepreneurism

I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking and writing about guidelines for corporate participation on Twitter. (See this and this.)

Today I was downright thrilled to see that Wachovia followed one of my suggestions: add your social network affiliations to your corporate web site “contacts” or “news” page so consumers can verify that your presence is officially sanctioned.

Here’s what it looks like:

Congratulations also to Wachovia for expressing in fewer than 140 characters, in the space of a banner ad in fact, the value Twitter has. “Get updates via web or cell phone.” (Banner copy writing may be the best career experience for concise tweeting.)

Tags: wachovia, twitter, corporate, business, guidelines

My good friend and awesome SocialCorp intern Bukola sent me a link to a worrisome job description on socialmediajobs.com for a position described as “Participate in Software and Small Business Discussions.”

Following is a portion of the job description:

4) Every time you make a comment, you will use one of 5 comment names and a number of different URls. For example, comment name = Small Business CRM, URL address = http://www.worketc.com/…_Relationship_Management

I cannot believe that they are openly suggesting that the person they are going to hire will use an assortment of comment names!

And later on, there’s this:

4) Your comments need to reflect that you understand our software tools. A bad comment would be “WORKetc is a great tool”. A good comment is “WORKetc really helped us create more accurate invoices”. A better comment would be “At our business we managed to produce more accurate invoices using the WORKetc billing software. This not only bought us in more money, but our customers appreciated the extra details”.

The suggested comment is written as if it came from a WORKetc customer, which would obviously be deceptive. This is a brief case study in how not to get a company into the “conversation” online. To reiterate:

1. Anonymous commenting intended to simulate consumer enthusiasm is called astroturfing and is unethical, and in many cases, is illegal or will soon be illegal, depending on jurisdiction.
2. Authenticity is key. As soon as you “game” the system or try to find a shortcut, you’ve broken the sacred trust with consumers/customers.
3. Check out the WOMMA Ethics Code or get a hold of some other ethical compass before embarking on your first social media initiative.
4. Don’t try to fool people.

I have contacted WORKetc for a comment, and hope they respond. And while I certainly support free expression and no prior restraint, I wonder if social media specific job sites might advise clients like WORKetc on matters like this before they publish a listing with obvious issues.

Update, midnight PST, September 11, 2008: I clicked on the link and the posting has been deleted from socialmediajobs.com.

Tags: Astroturfing, jobsinsocialmedia.com, social media ethics, womma ethics code

It wasn’t that long ago everyone (or so it seemed) was asking everyone else, “do you have a blog?” Or worse, “do you blog?” In the past week, two of my favorite bloggers — or people I choose to call “people who write blogs,” as I try not to use blog as a verb — announced they were going to stop blogging, or writing blogs, or whatever.

On September 4 came the announcement on my little brother David Postman’s blog that he is “leaving The Seattle Times. I’m also leaving journalism, at least for the next phase of my career. I am going to work for Vulcan, Inc., the company founded and led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. I will be doing media relations for the company.” Talk about a sellout! And how did I find out about it? On his blog. He never calls.

David is chief political blogger for the Seattle Times. Journalism and blogging were but two of the many things he set out to in life in which he seriously kicked my butt. He flew in the governor’s helicopter covering the Exxon Valdez spill. He met President Bush. In high school, he had an awesome Austin Healey “Bugeye” Sprite. And a vintage Honda into which I accidentally poured a 5-gallon “jerry can” of rusty water. (Dave, I’m really sorry about that.) In the 60s, growing up, my brother was known on Templeton Ct. as “Little Davey.” It was such a cool nickname, that when the family moved away from Sunnyvale, California, there were two other Davids on the block, and the younger of the two, asked, “Hey, do I get to be ‘Little Davey’ now?” Of course the answer was no. Sorry pal. There is only one Little Davey. Good luck on your new venture, Little Davey!

One day later, Michael Tangeman, who up until recently was not a “Knight Who Said ‘Ni!” but up until recently did write the Media Mindshare blog, announced that he has decided to stop blogging. Michael is a solid writer, with a keen eye for news and a sharp analytical mind. I have always enjoyed his blog. He’s a fellow Humboldt State University alumni. Michael decided to stop blogging because he wondered, as many of us do, whether he still had something worth saying, and whether there was a world beyond his blog. Michael concludes his two year foray into blogging believing there is a “case for the advancement of both traditional media and online media hand-in-hand — rather than the supplanting of the former by the latter.” He wonders if his focus on his blog has interfered with his more active participation in this process.

As the number of people writing blogs continues to grow, there will naturally be in an increase in the number of people who quit blogging to go on to something else, something bigger and better, something perhaps more rewarding. I think it’s very healthy to break out of something quotidian and comfortable and go on to take the next step, whatever it is.

Tags: David Postman, Seattle Times, Michael Tangeman, Political blogger, Postman on Politics, Media Mindshare