Maybe you’ve noticed.  There’s something special going on at Mashable: The Summer of Social Good initiative. The uber technology and social media blog has created a charitable fund to benefit The Humane Society, LIVESTRONG, Oxfam America and WWF from June 1st until August 28th, 2009.  And while raising monies directly for these organizations, the media site has done more, already highlighting more than hundred voices and organizations in the social good movement.

Mashable Second in Command and COO Adam Hirsch took some time out of his busy schedule to interview with the Buzz Bin. Hirsch shed some light on this unusual and very special initiative.

GL: Why did Mashable host the Summer of Social Good initiative?

AH:  Mashable has always supported charitable movements in social media. Personally, I was very inspired by our CEO and Founder, Pete Cashmore’s birthday wish to donate money to Charity:Water. I felt there had to be a way to use Mashable’s social media influence directly to raise charitable contributions and awareness.

In February of 2009, after witnessing the Twestival growth, the idea for the Summer of Social Good was finalized and I began working on the many components and partners that you see today. We are also working on an educational event on August 28^th, 2009 that will take place in New York City. Our sponsors, Zappos and Mailchimp are covering the costs of the campaign and the event, so all donations and ticket sales go to the charitable fund.

GL: How does this differentiate you from other top tier social media/tech blogs?

AH: The Mashable team is a positive and enthusiastic group that feels strongly about using our social media influence to make a difference. I believe this attitude carries over in our editorial voice, operations and initiatives. Combined with strong editorial and resource content, forward and positive thinking, we have been able to emerge and separate ourselves from other blogs.

GL: What has your reader response been?

AH: The response has been fantastic overall. We are constantly receiving positive comments, notes and emails. The Summer of Social Good is not just a straight charitable campaign, it’s also an educational platform.

Every week, we are launching a new week-long engagement to interact and share some great stories, fun projects, and rewarding opportunities. Our audience is diverse and we aim to try and include everyone this summer in one way or another. Throughout the campaign our readers have been extremely helpful.

This is officially the first charitable campaign created and run by Mashable. We are certainly not experts in this field and we are trying to put our best foot forward, but sometimes we make mistakes. Many readers have come to me personally to offer advice and help to improve the campaign and create a better experience for our readers and the charities involved.

GL: Tell us about the wrap-up event in New York on August 28.  What do you hope it will do?

AH: Our wrap-up event at the 92nd Street Y in New York on August 28th will be both educational and celebratory. We plan to bring together industry leaders, representatives from a number of charities and organizations involved in the social media space, and members of our diverse audience for a day of learning and networking that we hope will lead to future collaborations and partnerships in the social media for good space.

Additionally, since 100% of ticket sales will be donated to our fund equally benefiting LIVESTRONG, The Humane Society, WWF, and Oxfam America, we hope to be able to add a large contribution to our ongoing online efforts.

GL: Midway through your effort, you’ve launched the #findthegood hashtag with the series.  What’s your goal there?

AH: #FindingTheGood was the theme for one of our week-long series that just concluded. The idea and goal behind it was to share, by using our influence, the other charitable projects out there that fit the theme of “Social Media for Social Good”.

Each day we shared a story about our charities involved (The Humane Society, LiveSTRONG, Oxfam America and WWF), and in addition we shared stories about other organizations’ and individuals’ initiatives and programs as well. However, this wasn’t just about Mashable’s coverage, it was about getting our communities involved and having them to share their “finds” as well. Although the “official” #FindingTheGood week has ended, we hope that this theme/concept and hashtag will live on.

GL: What will Mashable do in this space after the summer ends?

AH: We’ve always been great proponents of charitable organizations and projects using social media. This will not change. Through emails, comments and contacts, The Summer of Social Good has made us more aware of a huge spectrum of projects and organizations out there that previously were not on our radar. With the new audience and relationships in this space, we plan to become more involved.

GL: What has been the big takeaway from this initiative from your perspective?

AH: Thus far we’ve had two major takeaways: The first is that our community rocks! The second is that there is still a lot to learn and improve upon and I’m excited to do that.

About Adam Hirsch

Adam Hirsch, Chief Operations Officer, joined Mashable in Fall of 2007 as Community and Marketing Manager. Adam oversees Mashable’s business development, including marketing, partnerships, advertising and sponsorships, and events. His initiatives include the Open Web Awards and Summer of Social Good, as well as event series such as the Summer Mash Tour of 2008 and the 92YTribeca NextUp NYC educational series.

As Pete Cashmore’s “2nd in Command," Adam is always on the hunt for partnerships and opportunities to improve Mashable and connect with its dedicated readership. Adam is a New York City native and a graduate of Cornell University.

If social is but a channel, then the real issue for companies lies in embracing feedback from their most important stakeholders: Their customers.
That was the focus of the Forrester Customer Experience Forum last week in New York City (photos here).

Organizations struggle with corporate barriers to moving towards their customers. Controlling the experience has long been the domain of various departments from product marketing to customer service. Giving stakeholders a voice in that process — via phones, email, mail, participation and yes, social media — has been the antithesis of many corporate cultures for decades. Yet according to Forrester, by failing to embrace their customers and bulwarking their experience, companies are denying themselves serious benefits:

• 14.4% of customers would purchase more
• 15.8% of customers would be less likely to switch brands
• 16.6% of customers would refer the brand more often

Yet in spite of these beneficial numbers, progress seems daunting. During the Chief Customer Officer panel (yes, this is apparently a title), two panelists indicated they were making progress, meeting with company executives as often as once a month or more… Once a month? That’s it?

But for every ten companies haltingly talking to and listening to their customers, there is a Virgin America. The entire company seems to be built around creating the ultimate, enjoyable (gulp) airline experience. As CEO David Cush went through his session, you couldn’t help but smile and admire the audacious brilliance of Richard Branson as he turns the American airline industry on its ear. This is how companies should be built.

Barriers to Adoption

We’ve discussed this before here on the Buzz Bin. There are serious cultural barriers to adopting social media, and in general, customer feedback (find a link to a white paper here). Siloed corporate structures prevent companies from listening to and embracing their customers.

Forrester outlined a five stage process that organizations need to go through to foster the evolutionary change towards a customer-centric organization:

1) Interest - Discuss that there may be a problem with customer interaction and that the company may need to research its stakeholders

2) Invest - Upon realizing that there is a lack of understanding about customer needs, get the company to invest in a “voice of the customer” program

3) Commit - This is where getting C-Suite buy-in is absolutely necessary for success. The company must commit to responding to customer feedback.

4) Engage - Take the feedback from customers, and apply it across the line. Change the experience.

5) Embed - Make the customer experience feedback loop and product innovation part of the actual cultural lifeblood of the organization.

According to Forrester, most American companies are either in stage one or two of the five stages. I think part of the failure to adapt has to do with the tendency to use old ways to affect change. Consider the siloesque idea of a customer department or initiative, rather than realizing customer centric behavior affects a company across the line.

Consider how David Armano and the team at Dachis are starting to address the challenges of cultural barriers to customer interaction (pictured above). They see multiple nodes touching hubs throughout an organization. Similarly, Charlene Li’s latest research is focusing on how companies embrace their customers to become socialprises.

The challenge to becoming a customer-centric organization is not as easy as simply listening. It involves reinventing many an organization’s actual structure and workflow. Cultural barriers to success cannot be underestimated.

The Social Backlash

Throughout the conference there was a very clear and present resistance to social media hype. Every single discussion around our new media certainly recognized its value as a great way to converse with customers. Every successful company featured at the Forum had some kind of social component, even if it was just listening to feedback.

But more and more, you heard executives rejecting social media as a panacea for customer ills and feedback. In fact, there were discussions about the viability of Twitter in the long term as a scaleable tool, and whether it really could supplant news organizations for information.

While companies recognize social media for its value as a toolset, they don’t see it as the cure all for an actual experience, and don’t see it as the alpha and omega for customer contact points. Instead it is one of several ways customers discuss their experiences from calls, web site chats, email, etc. There was a huge emphasis on multichannel integration of customer voices throughout the conference.

This backlash seems to me be a result of overhype. A smart communicator can see this. Customers don’t touch a company in one, singular channel. They have many touches from ads, news, web sites (standard and mobile) and packaging all the way through to the actual product experience. To think that social media is it for a company is a horrific error. And the implication of the current hype cycle would only have companies communicating in 140 character sound bytes. Thus the very natural backlash.

Related Buzz Bin Posts

• Cultural Challenge to Integration
• Moving from Siloes to Hives
• Examining Siloed Processes
• There Is No Social Media Department
• The Socialprise: A White Paper

The mobile Internet revolution continues to accelerate, fueled by the latest smartphone releases from Palm, Apple and Blackberry. It’s not so important whether people prefer Blackberry, Apple or Other. What does matter is the functionality these phones bring to the market. With computing capability, broadband Internet, and GPS location ID, smartphones are capturing market interest to the tune of 25%.

Some — including the New York Times — feel Internet-savvy mobile phones have become a necessity. Most importantly, they are finally realizing the much ballyhooed promise of the mobile Internet. Between stellar applications developed for the iPhone and other platforms to mobile social networking, people are engaging online using their phones more than ever before.

Communicators should be paying attention to the increasingly mobile Internet. In last year’s Pew Future of the Internet study, 67% of the 1000+ visionaries through the Internet would be accessed primarily through handheld devices. And according to Pew:

Some 39% of Americans have positive and improving attitudes about their mobile communication devices, which in turn draws them further into engagement with digital resources – on both wireless and wireline platforms.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking the handheld form is the same as the wireline computer based Internet. Yes, reviewing your site and making it mobile friendly is just smart. But the mobile ecosystem is quite different, creating usage patterns that communicators will need to adapt to. This mobile ecosystem report authored by Joe Horrigan for Pew Internet shows five early types of mobile user, only one of which prefers social networking.

Mobile Uses

One of the most exciting and obvious uses has been the development of mobile applications. While the iPhone has dominated this story to date, the Palm Pre and hopefully the open Android API will make this a much more competitive marketplace. And in an effort to compete with Apple, mobile powerhouse Nokia recently launched their Avi store for its mobile assets.

Regardless of platform, the usefulness of applications from a brand experience extension standpoint has been proven. But applications do not necessarily require social functionality, and in some cases — like banks, stores or travel organizations — simply allow the brand loyalist to do their business from their phone.

Other exciting applications include the now increasingly prevalent use of mobile video (gawd, is this Cloverfield redux?). And of course, mobile social networking via traditional plays like Facebook, Skype and Twitter has been well discussed.

However, a new type of social networking tied to GPS-based location is starting to emerge. GPS-based social networking seems to have a variety of players vying for market leadership, including Brightkite, FourSquare, gypsii, and Loopt.

I’ve been playing with each of these mobile location networks, and everyone seems to have some unique functionality, while none of them feel like a homerun yet. For example, Loopt has a dynamic Mix app and allows you to ping friends, but you can’t comment on status. Brightkite, the veteran of the group, allows you to comment on status, but direct contact is less accessible.

These GPS networks are exciting and different, pushing the boundaries of conventional social networking. What’s right to communicate, what’s not? I have not geo-located from home yet, as I prefer to keep that information private. Another example is when is it appropriate to ping someone and say, “Hi, I’m in your neck of the woods. Coffee?” Early, new and developing, one thing is certain, one or two of these networks will take a leadership position, and own mobile and social.

Prior Buzz Bin Posts:

• #sxsw - The Future of the Internet
• Local, Mobile and Social: What Needs to Happen
• Democratizing Location
• Marketing Profs Wireless Internet Article

Last week, Mashable highlighted 75 Twitterers talking green online, but they’re not the only ones. Now with the increasingly widespread proliferation of social media in the corporate world, nonprofits and companies are getting into the mix, too. So I teamed with Mashable to write up five organizations – the United Nations, Dell, Greenpeace, the Environmental Defense Fund and GM – that are using social media to affect ecological change. Check out the post (Image courtesy of Axel_D on Flickr).

Since publishing on Mashable, another initiative has come to my attention that you can participate in today. charity: water is developing a gelaskin to raise money.  They’re asking Internet citizens to vote on which skin they like better via TwitPic comments. Vote today!

What’s happened to the marketing blogosphere?  Our conversations in posts and on Twitter used to be so dynamic.   Our corner of the blogosphere used to be a nice place to be, a collegial debate on the future media and communications. When we had spats, we made up.

Now it’s just downright snitty. The confluence of many new, inexperienced voices and folks pretending to be social media aficionados has created a much different kind of place.  Now it’s about looking savvy at others expense, garnering the biggest follower count, and throwing back handed comments. Increasingly, I find myself walking away from the Twitter marketing conversation early in the work week, and completely avoiding it during the weekends.

Joseph Jaffe and I discussed this change at the Forrester Customer Experience Forum this morning:

What do you think?

Well, I’ve been called arrogant three times privately, anonymously and now publicly because of Thursday’s post on “Why a Final BlogPotomac: Social Media Really is Dead.” There have been public posts, some debating or decrying the discussion, others turning it into a parody.  My feelings about social media innovation still remain the same, but based on the response and general anger the post inspired, it appears a clarification is necessary.

To frame this discussion, in that post I said for me, social media is dead, that the innovation period of its dynamic growth had passed.  I also said that social media would go on and continue to grow.

I’ve always seen the innovation portion of social as the movement from one-way to two-way communications.  Yes, technologies will continue to develop providing new ways for us to do that.  Innovation in that sense will continue.

At the same time, I have to tell you the basic principles behind two-way communication haven’t changed much.  I wrote about these principles two years ago in Now Is Gone, and still find it necessary to continue educating people on them: Control, listening, serving your stakeholders, participation is marketing, etc., etc.  These dynamic principles apply across the social web regardless of the technology or medium. People still act like people.

To continue educating communicators on social media via tools like BlogPotomac seems like beating a dead horse into the ground.  It has become boring for me. I feel like I’ve been sent back in time into the 4th week of Olivia Newton John’s reign on top of the charts.  Do I really have to listen to “Physical” for another six weeks?

I’ve lost my passion for talking social media. It’s simply a media form, one of many and not a panacea. For me, it’s an old hat.  Consider that I’ve written one book, authored 800 blog posts, spoken numerous times, and hosted two conferences on the topic.

As a blogger and writer that’s a dangerous place. If I don’t find something that interests me — that captivates my soul — I’ll go dark. So for me, it’s time to use the remainder of this year and end a commitment to educate on social media, and start focusing on aspects of communication that are personally newer and more interesting. What inspires me, what excites me are the following:

• How do we use communications to hasten the adoption of green technologies?
• How will mobile applications and the smaller, portable computing device affect the way we communicate?
• What are the best ways to use online media to affect social change?
• How will pinpoint location technologies affect the way we communicate?
• Will virtual and tactile technologies force another revolution and change in the way we communicate?
• What are the cultural barriers in organizations that prevent them from listening to and talking with their customers?
• How will search evolve with new engines like Bing?

The final BlogPotomac will focus on some of the old and some of the new. The Buzz Bin will show this migration, too. I commit to creating high quality content for both of these vehicles. You deserve that. I also promise to keep educating my clients and venues that ask me to talk on social.

As to future social media marcom unconferences in DC? The final BlogPotomac can be seen as an opportunity for someone else to rise to the fore. What about writing on Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, blogging, Facebook, etc.?  If it’s truly innovative from a communications principles standpoint, it’s likely to grab me. But in the interim, please pardon the interruption. Three years after its launch, Twitter really isn’t doing it for me.

If you still have passion for new and challenging social media conversations, my hat’s off to you. Keep talking, keep working it, keep innovating within the medium.  Your path is an honorable one. New voices and perspectives are needed to build on and add to the social media conversation.

One of the most bizarre aspects of the Iran protests has been the claim of Netizens that it’s a Twitter revolution.  Certainly, our conversational medium has made great strides in the rapid spread of information. In fact, the use of social media has been a critical tool in the spread of ideas, not only amongst Iranians but in their ability to inform the world.  So let’s not get over our heads. People make revolutions happen, not tools.

The Washington Post had a great opinion piece on this topic this morning.  Here was the key section that I found compelling:

…there are sharp limits on what Twitter and other Web tools such as Facebook and blogs can do for citizens in authoritarian societies. The 140 characters allowed in a tweet are not the end of politics as we know it — and at times can even play into the hands of hard-line regimes.

Indeed, Twitter and all conversational media tools really are just that: Tools.  They can be used for good or bad purposes, and in the particular case of short forms, they do not equate to in depth information or understanding.  It’s really about people, and how they use these Internet tools to spread information, and what that data causes them to do. 

I had the great honor of appearing on Voice of America’s international broadcast last week to discuss this very topic. Conversational tools spread information in an uncontrolled fashion. Actions create revolutions, not the tools, but the tools have evolved over time to allow for instantaneous, independent movement outside of governments.  Consider the following historical development of communication:

1) The Gutenberg press was invented in 1440: The resulting books triggered the Renaissance and the spread of ideas throughout Europe in roughly 50 years. Information can be spread in weeks on a continent, and months or years depending on location of foreign countries.

2) By the 17th century, we had newspapers thanks to moveable type. Newspapers really took off in the 18th century.  As information spread quicker, we saw Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin create newspapers and documents. The rise of the fourth estate allows American and French revolutionaries to create Democracy. The trend accelerates in the 19th century.

3) The 20th century brought broadcast and mass communications. Propaganda wars take place amongst many political theologies, from Goebels and the Nazis to FDR and Fireside chats to the Stalin and Mao-brands of communism. Democracy spreads further, but autocratic regimes use broadcast to control their citizens.  Information is now spread in hours instead of in days.

4) The Internet also rose in the 20th century, but it is only in this decade that we’ve realized the dream of a Gutenberg press in everyone’s hand. Now because of conversational media anyone can be a citizen journalist.  Information is spread instantaneously, beating out broadcast, and autocratic control is no longer effective for societies enabled with mobile or regular Internet communications.

But in spite of the spread and the break of control we still have a very desperate situation in Iran.  Violent protests have broken out as the now information enabled the Moussavi opposition and supporters refuse to accept the broadcasted message of their government.

Now the real revolution must occur… Or falter.  Autocratic control has lots its grip on information in Iran, but not the military.  The human-powered Internet only serves as a toolset to organize and galvanize the Moussavi opposition in spite of Iran’s best attempts to control its people using conventional media. It’s a time of action, of stones in the street, of bloodshed. May it pass swiftly, successfully, and with minimal loss.

With more than 3600 Tweets (3300 day of) and most blog posts written about last Friday’s BlogPotomac singing its praises (here’s one negative review and an unhappy happy hour attendee), many have been asking me why hold a final modified unconference? I cited two reasons, one of which was a desire to recapture some of my personal life, and not become shackled by what is supposed to be a gift back to the community. The second is the subject matter — social media — is really dead (or dying), at least from this innovators perspective.

Let me explain. The technology adoption cycle has been maturing for social media (and social media, web 2.0 whatever you want to call it is definitely inspired by technology) for some time. Widespread corporate adoption is happening as we speak, albeit with many stumbles. Based on conversations I’m having, even the most conservative organizations are adapting now.

The time when social media as a special or unique or “shiny and new” type of communication is rapidly ending. Does that mean it’s going away? Hardly.

But from an innovators standpoint, as someone who lives on the edge, who wants to be where new frontiers are being created, we’re at the end. For me, social media is dead… That means it’s future forward.

And thus this fall’s BlogPotomac (October 23) will be the last one. It’s my final effort to transmit knowledge to the DC marketing community, and the event will predominantly focus on the future of Internet media as well as some traditional social media discussion.

October’s BlogPotomac Line Up

This final BlogPotomac is still being planned, but here’s the line-up so far:

Renowned social media chronicler Shel Israel will keynote and discuss his book Twitterville (out September 3), including the future of the red hot social network. Everyone will get a copy of his book.

Beth Kanter, the top-ranked changeblogger, will discuss how nonprofits are using online media to innovate and affect change.

crayonista and ace strategist Jane Quigley will discuss future Internet media forms, such as the semantic web and other new forms she’s watching.

The seventh and final session will be given by me and the focus will be on Liquid Strategies: Methods for keeping communications relevant in the face of evolving media.

There will also be sessions on mobile social networks and applications (iPhone and traditional), and location based web applications. Amber Naslund will return and join me as co-hostess.

Previous attendees will have the first opportunity to buy tickets this week. Public tickets will go on sale July 1 and are priced at $95 again. As with the prior events seating will be strictly limited to 150 tickets. Both prior BlogPotomacs sold out, and the current one was sold out four weeks in advance of the event so if your someone who likes to wait, do so at your own risk.

Pam Slim’s book, aptly named Escape from Cubicle Nation, is a must read for anyone considering an entrepreneur’s life.  Named after her blog, the book provides a great read from beginning to end.  The thorough examination of the start-up process is spot on, and can really help newcomers to business avoid pitfalls.

Quite frankly, I wish this book had been available when I started my now-acquired company three plus years ago. It goes well beyond the usual business plan process, and provides a much more in-depth personal look at whether or not you are right for this kind of life, how to go about it, and what to expect. In fact, I was a reader of Pam’s blog at that time for these very types of insights.

Escape is intensely spiritual, focusing on balance issues, happiness, and even things like having fun and, gulp, sex. Who would have thought that a business owner would have time for that? But in all seriousness, the book is about sparking your inner fire and essence, allowing your true creativity come out.

My personal professional experience is that business is too often about being billable, achieving profitability, following the rules, political hierarchies, and creating the right process.  While these things are important to a business, they can eventually become so cumbersome that they absolutely beat the life essence out of a person’s daily existence. That’s why I originally escaped from my cubicle (well, office) nation.

So if you feel like that, it’s definitely time to read Pam’s book. You probably have an itch that can’t be scratched in your current day job.

If you live in DC, you can see Pam live at one of her workshops here on Thursday, July 30 from 8:30 until 4. You can also read a full Escape from Cubicle Nation chapter here free of charge.

Corporate messaging has been under fire for a long time from many a PR 2.0/social media/web 2.0 pundit, including me. I’ve been a loud defender of the Cluetrain principle that there’s no market for messages. But while I still feel that one dimensional messaging from a traditional corporate communications standpoint fails utterly on the social web, there is a role for more evolved messaging: The role of the conversation starter (conversation starter image by shadow traveller).

A good message for the social web serves a different role than drilling home a sales proposition, or highlighting a brand attribute, or controlling public perception. Instead it inspires a great conversation amongst a community. It’s a conversational lead, something that provokes raw dialogue about a relevant issue to not only the organization providing the starter, but also the community participating in the discussion.

In that sense the modern message isn’t controlled. It’s actually architected with the hope of sparking a wildfire of uncontrolled word of mouth. That means giving people something worthwhile to talk about.

So a message actually becomes Socratic in nature. It poses a question and/or causes other parties to actually think about a topic, as opposed to trying to force ideas into their head. Rather than deliver finite ideas, social web messages start the conversation, but may not end them.

In fact the community conversation may take the message and turn it upside down (AT&T iPhone pricing, Dominoes, Motrin Moms, etc., etc.). In such cases, an organization needs to be responsive to and flexible with its community. In that sense that’s where letting loose of the reigns and actively participating in dialogue really comes into play. If the message serves the community with informative conversation, than the organization who started the chat should understand that it may need to shift its position.

I need to give a hat tip to Jeremy Pepper on this post, as the outspoken PR blogger was adamant in a phone conversation with me, maybe two years ago, that in fact messaging still had its place. It took me a long time to come around to that point of view, but I agree.