Posts filed under 'Online Communities'
Posted August 13th, 2007 by admin
What do Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have in common? It’s not their stance on Iraq I’ll tell you that much. Actually, they’ve managed to engage millions of voters and raise tons of revenue using the social web. Hillary has her very own Hillary TV, a weekly segment where she answers questions posted on her blog and gives a video collection of her latest achievements. She has also cleverly used other popular websites such as YouTube to post her “Clinton Soprano” parody that advertises her campaign song contest.
Obama even has his own social web network. No, it’s not called Obamaspace.com. It’s actually My.barackobama.com. Members can create profiles, meet other supporters, join groups and events, and help in campaign fundraising. According to TIME magazine, more than $10 million of Obama’s whooping $31 million second-quarter contributions were made online.
However, the prize for “Best Social Web Ideas” goes to John Edwards. Two of Edwards’ top advisors posted a “how-to” video on YouTube for making John’s favorite pecan pie, courtesy of “Mama” Edwards. In return for the dish, the Edwards campaign asked for a minimum donation of $6.10 to share the recipe. The video brought in nearly $300,000 in one week! As you can see, these select presidential candidates have recognized an untapped resource for connecting to voters and raising funds. Having a profile on MySpace just doesn’t cut it these days.
Obama in iMac
Hillary and Obama boxing
Posted July 30th, 2007 by Char Lyn
Tell me your problems and I’ll tell you mine—at least that is what a new social network called PrayAbout.com feels like. The site bills itself as a “prayer service ministry that welcomes people of all faiths,” and gives them an online medium for requesting the prayers of others. The site is carefully constructed to be inviting and reassuring, providing people with a sense of doing good, but the requests for prayers are, as one would expect, stories fraught with medical woes, depression, family troubles, and unemployment. To make it a community, PrayAbout employees lighting candles the way digg.com uses member voting to “illuminate” prayer requests supposedly deserving of more community recognition.
In concept, the site is filling a social need, but to me it feels like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While each member gets one candle for free, other candles are earned through 1) writing a popular prayer request, 2) lighting a candle for prayers that become popular, 3) getting other people to join the network. If you can’t/don’t want to earn your candles, you can purchase them with a real money “donation” (which the Boston Globe indicates are $5 per 20 candles). The money helps support the site, which is owned by Notati, a for-profit company that admits to using PrayAbout to experiment with “predictive market techniques, virtual goods, and community spam filtering.”
As a religious individual, I am frustrated that a company would seek to make a profit from people’s prayers, even if the profit comes later through re-use of the technology developed by donations toward site improvement. As a social marketer I am fascinated by the use of a social cause to improve a networking platform. What do you think?
Posted July 27th, 2007 by Neha
I never thought I could get so engrossed in the series, but I have, as have ten million others who bought J.K. Rowling’s seventh book within the first 24 hours. As hardbound copies of Deathly Hallows adorned the windows of Barnes & Nobles and Borders around the nation and crowds gathered to learn about the perils and dangers that lurk in wizard world for round 7 of the Harry Potter series, a group of people in the real world are taking on the challenge of reminding readers and fans of some more serious issues.
I learned about the Harry Potter Alliance recently – an organization started by two young guys, Andrew Slack and Justin Oberman, on MySpace who had two common interests – social causes and Harry Potter. Through the power of social networking, the group grew in numbers and is now dedicated to familiarizing young readers about the parallels of the Dark Arts to the goings –on outside of Hogwarts. Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Wal-de-Mart videos, posted by the HP Alliance, raged across YouTube so adolescents could understand the controversial ethics policies of the behemoth retailer.
So while I quickly scooted into the nearest corner bookshop to get my own closure with the series this past weekend, the HP Alliance is encouraging avid fans to throw house parties to generate awareness for the crisis in Darfur. Party attendees are invited to indulge in food and treats and also learn a bit more about Darfur through a Pottercast with Joe Wilson, former U.S. Ambassador; John Prendergast, Senior Advisor to the International Crisis Group; Dot Maver, Executive Director of the Peace Alliance; and John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace.
So as I plunge headfirst into the last of the series to see what happens to Harry this time around, HP Alliance will take on the bigger issues and perhaps I’ll have a little dinner party myself to help them out in their strides toward social awareness.
Posted July 17th, 2007 by admin
Check out how social networking is shaping the “Medisphere.”
1) Sermo.com
The American Medical Association teamed up with Sermo to create a Web-based professional networking community for physicians.
2) DoctorsHangout.com
DoctorsHangout is an exclusive friendship and social networking website for doctors and medical students. As a member, you’ll be able to share your videos, photos, mp3s, and thoughts with other DoctorsHangout users.
3) DoctorNetworking.com
This is the premier professional networking site for physicians and other professionals in health care.
4) Relaxdoc.com
RelaxDoc.com is a private, highly selective online community created exclusively for physicians.
5) Tiromed.com
Tiromed is a professional knowledge network exclusively for students of medicine and physicians.
6) SocialMD.com
SocialMD is a great casual networking tool for physicians.
7) ClinicalVillage.com
ClinicalVillage.com was created to give doctors the ability to communicate with other clinicians and build an online community where they can share their clinical and life experience.
MedicSpeak.com
MedicSpeak is a powerful networking site for Physicians, Biomedical Researchers, Medical/Biomedical Students.
If you come across another social networking site that is not in this list, please include it by posting a comment.
Next Posts
Previous Posts