Haven’t We Had This Conversation Before?

One of the biggest lessons I re-learn everywhere I go – in the city or in the world – is that for all the talk about differences, we are often very similar. Whether in my workshops in Romania or in Saudi (or in NYC), I’m often asking myself, “haven’t we had this conversation before?” As social entrepreneurs, innovators, and nonprofit leaders, many of the questions about social media that are always first to be asked have nothing to do with location but about strategy and success. Though, what is interesting to me, is that the question “how can I use this tool?” is usually embedded in the assumption that the answer is based on geographic location and even the specifics of the organization. Remember, these tools are just that: tools. A hammer isn’t fundamentally different in Saudi as it is in Wyoming. But the kind of building we’re interested in or the interests of the users may change. Social media platforms (tools!) should be considered for their functionality and options as part of your overall communications, engagement, and fundraising strategies but not as areas of investment all of their own.

Single Acces Point, to Facebook

Whenever I’m presenting to a group in another country, I spend time investigating any social media data I can find that is specific to that country, especially as it relates to mobile phones, access, and usage per capita. Saudi, again similarly to Romania, has a high percentage of citizens using mobile phones (especially as primary Internet access point) and with Facebook accounts. The power to connect to friends and family beyond our physical location is compelling enough for people to create accounts even when Internet access isn’t always readily available. This is probably not news, but after the first point above, it is a reminder to not make assumptions about who in your community uses which platforms and the kind of information or engagement they may want to have there. Looking only at data about Internet access in the home, one might think that people in your community aren’t online at all, or don’t want to receive email or updates on social media, when this very well may not be the case. It might sound silly or too simple, but I always encourage organizations – no matter their size – to actually ask their supporters which tools they use, and listen to the answers.

Limitations Often Encourage Innovation

During my time at KAUST I was able to meet with various student groups as well as university staff to learn more about their projects, initiatives, and ideas. Just as I experienced in Romania, preconceived ideas about the limitations innovators and entrepreneurs must be under in countries with far less infrastructure and the assumed lack of products and ideas that must exist are squashed immediately. When given no boundaries, it is often much harder to create something useful and new. But given limitations of any kind, people are driven to new ideas and solutions. I was also excited to see incredible openness to feedback and collaboration! Something I often see less of in the US than I think those outside this country think exists.

I’d love to hear your stories and experiences from working outside the US, especially in the Middle East!

(Photo: KAUST and The Beacon, taken by me.)

Introducing the Global Scale wiki!

Bonnie Koenig and I have had some great conversations about how we have seen and how we have tackled scale in our work.  In those conversations, we realized that we probably had some good examples to share and case studies to provide; but we also realized that there were many, many more people we wanted to be having the conversation with! That’s what led us to start the Global Scale wiki, and we hope that you’ll join us…

With this wiki, we are aiming to create a resource for NGO practitioners where guidelines, lessons learned, tips, links and other help for ‘scaling up’ effective programs can be found.

Today, we’re hoping that by sharing this invitation via the blogosphere (and the corresponding tweets and emails) that you’ll share your ideas and enthusiasm with us – and join us on the wiki. Check out Bonnie’s announcement, too!

Join & Contribute

This wiki is a community learning space, where we recognize that we are all still learning, testing, and experimenting; and where we are all in a position to share and learn.  We hope you’ll take this as an open invitation to jump right in with your own case studies, lessons or best practices and also comment if there are questions you hope others can address.

Visit the Global Scale wiki to dive in today: http://globalscale.wikispaces.com

Looking forward to sharing with you there!

Christopher Fabian has a great blog post up on the MobileActive blog about the way the #1MillionShirts idea emerged and grew via social media, especially Twitter, this week. The idea to gather 1 million t-shirts for Africa (yes, that general) was put out there, publicly, and the ball really started rolling – but not in support of the idea.

Development professionals, charity-minded folks, those interested in social media all responded.  There were uniformly negative tweets from everyone with any sense of the “African” context.  Mixed comments from those without.  The obligatory blog posts followed (at least 7 that I’ve counted) filled with personal experience on the issue, reasons it wouldn’t work, and sources for what had come before.  You can read the full blog post here.

What is so interesting about the #1MillionShirts case study is that it shows how social media has allowed us to experiment, learn, iterate and evolve in our technologies and our work at a previously unheard of speed. There’s no need to think your initial R&D phase would take a year – not when you have 48 hours of tweets, blog posts, and comments from people working in the development field from around the world weighing in on your idea, in real time and for free.  The power in the network is incredible.

Here’s where you come in:

You can join in a call with Jason Sadler of One Million Shirts, @talesfromthhood, @tmsruge, Christopher Fabian (@unickf) and Erica Kochi (@uniemk) of UNICEF, @penelopeinparis, Laura Seay (@texasinafrica), and anyone else who would like to join in to discuss this project, sustainable and responsible aid work, and the questions that the #1millionshirts project has raised.  The call is expected to be lively but respectful.  Please join!

Suggested agenda for a 1-hour call:

• Introductions of roundtable participants
• Overview of 1 Million Shirts (Jason)/Goals and plan
• Comments from the aid community and response
• Discussion and questions/comments from the audience (submitted through Ready Talk online)
• Closing remarks, Jason and Panelists

The call will be Friday, April 30, at 12 pm EST – get the details.

>> Review the IFRC Social Media Staff Guides here.

Why create social media staff guidelines?

For starters, creating explicit guidelines for social media use will ensure that everyone in the organization is aware of what is and isn’t “okay” and feel more secure in their activities knowing what they are responsible for, etc.  It also creates an opportunity for people to be encouraged to use social media if they aren’t already!  Here’s how Timo explains this:

For the first time the IFRC is encouraging staff who are not professional communicators to actively and publicly talk about the organization and their work. The guidelines create clarity and reduce the risk of arbitrary repercussions – it’s definitely harder to shut someone up now than it was before.  On the other hand the guidelines also make clear what is unacceptable from an organizational point of view and that you might have to answer for what you write online.

Highlights from IFRC Social Media Staff Guides

What I like best about the IFRC Guidelines is that they start with best practices!  Things to remember about using social media, especially on behalf of an organization, to make the experience positive for the users (in and out of the org) as well as for the organizaiton’s image.  Some of the best practices I like best include:

• Be passionate
• Use a disclaimer
• Add value
• Be the first to admit a mistake
• Protect your own privacy
• Spread the word and connect with your colleagues

Lastly, the IFRC Guides also include an appendix of all the organization’s profiles and online spaces!  A great way to be sure everyone can find, promote, and access the organization in various places online.

If you’re looking for an example of social media guidelines for your organization, the IFRC Social Media Staff Guides are a great resource and example.  You can download them here (PDF at bottom of page).

What do you think?

Has your organization created social media guidelines or terms of use? What was the hardest part of creating them?  What was easiest?  How have they been put to use?