Hi there Barbara,

I thought I recognized the name and company – you contacted me earlier this year through email (and then phone call) suggesting that donations raised go to your company instead of the charities. You would then use this money to “consult” these charities.

I mentioned at the time that I wanted all funds to go to the charities themselves, and not to a company that may or may not help.

If you think the 12for12k project is merely a “profile raiser” for myself, you discredit the great work of everyone involved, as well as those we’re trying to help. I also take great offense at your claim and can’t help but feel this is sour grapes because I never handed the 12for12k coffers over to you. Except there was nothing to hand over, because all the money goes directly to the charity for that month.

Also, your figures are wrong. WarChild didn’t come to us with a Paypal option until the end of the campaign – the actual total for them is closer to $6,000. Stop the Silence benefited by over $5.5k – the ChipIn widget did not take into account a corporate sponsor donating $1,000.

You’re also missing charities from your information. We helped Yehu.org raise more than $15,000 through a combined effort with Mom It Forward and multiple channels. And this month, Doctors Without Borders has benefited by $5k (so far).

But here’s the thing, Barbara – it’s never been about the money. Our goal is to raise a certain amount, and while we’ve fallen short of that, we’ve still raised almost $50,000.

Our real goal is to raise awareness and long-term change and effect. Donations are great, but it’s the real changes that we can put in place via awareness that will help those that need our help.

Here’s a question – why rant on something that’s meant for good? Why not say what you would have done differently, had I caved in to your badgering on the phone to hand over donations to your company? Criticizing is easy; constructive criticism is better.

Regards,

Danny.

PS – WarChild Canada, our first charity, has a fantastic social media presence, which can be found on their website.

• Update September 27 – It looks like Barbara has removed the original post about 12for12k, follow-up and apology from her blog. You can see the original post as a PDF – open or download it here.
• Update September 28 – Barbara sent me an email today on top of her apology. I responded, accepting her apology and thanking her for her approach in this way, and that hopefully we can move forward from here.
  

Response to Barbara Talisman’s Misinformed 12for12k Post originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

If you’re a business owner, do you have a social media presence yet? Set up your Twitter account, added a shiny new company blog and joined Facebook? How about a Squidoo page or a Ning community? Networking on LinkedIn? Got them all on your checklist? No?

GOOD.

Despite what you might hear, you don’t need a presence on every single social media network or community.

Contrary to popular belief, social media is not the be all and end all to your business worries. It’s not the one-fit-catches-all solution that will bring you endless streams of revenue and profit.

It is a powerful medium to spread your message and engage with your customers – but your customers need to be there first, old and new.

It is a hugely cost-effective medium when compared to traditional promotional and marketing spend, but you need to invest a lot of time to make it work. Time can be just as expensive a commodity as a media campaign.

Ask yourself who your core audience is. Are they the early adopters that would use social media much like boxers would use mouth pieces? Do they fall within the key users of the mediums you’re looking at? If not, why waste time in that arena? Why try and spread a message to people with closed ears? Even the most silver-tongued persuader will have a hard time if he can’t speak sign language.

By all means, open your business up to the strengths and opportunities that social media can offer. But open up the right doors – make sure your business is the key that fits.

Your business survives because your customers say yes. But sometimes it’s good to say no too. No?

It’s Good to Say No originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Which is why I get frustrated when simple things turn out to be anything but.

Take milk cartons, for example. Almost 100 years old now, they still have the same basic design flaw that the very first ones did – the cardboard spout that the milk comes out of when you pull the flaps apart. Not only can they be a pain to open without spillage, once you’ve managed to open the carton then the fun’s just beginning.

If you’re like me, sometimes you just like to drink from the carton when you’re really thirsty. (And no, it’s not gross to drink from the carton!). Trying to do that, however, without getting milk all down your top is second only to sneezing with your eyes open for levels of impossibility. Strike one against consumer friendliness.

Then you have the plastic ninjas. You know when you buy a new pair of scissors, or a carving knife, and they come enveloped in that tough plastic to stop you accidentally cutting yourself when opening? What they don’t tell you is that you don’t get a chance to cut yourself because they’re impossible to get into in the first place! You need another knife or pair of scissors to open the new ones – doesn’t that seem just a little counter-productive?

So why do we make ourselves like milk cartons and plastic ninjas when it comes to social media?

I read a great blog post today by Lisa Hoffmann. In it she suggested that the reason so many companies aren’t getting into social media is because we’re scaring them away. Yes, the people that evangelize most about social media could be the ones responsible for stunting its growth.

We’re doing this by pretending to be experts when there’s still so much to learn. We do this by telling businesses their approach to social media is rubbish and they should follow our lead. After all, we’re the social media experts and we know best.

Except we’re not and we don’t.

We may know what’s best for our needs, but until we get to know about a business we don’t know about theirs. So why do we jump straight in and say to business owners, “Get a Twitter account now. Join Friendfeed. Start Digging. You’re nothing if you’re not on Facebook.”

Instead of telling businesses what they will do with us, shouldn’t we be saying what they can do? Show them what’s available and what each benefit is, as opposed to join this or sign up for that or else you’re missing out?

Yes, businesses need to get into social media and begin building their community. But unless they’re able to do it the way that is right for them and not simply just right for us, then they’ll continue to be disappointed with the results. And frustrated.

Much like trying to deal with milk cartons and plastic ninjas.

Milk Cartons and Plastic Ninjas originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

(Just in case anyone doesn’t know what toast soldiers are, it’s when you make normal toast and then cut it into about 4-5 strips. You then butter these strips and use them to dip into eggs or beans).

The reason I liked having breakfast at my grandma’s was because she always gave me a choice of how I liked my eggs boiled. Unlike my mum who always hard-boiled her eggs, which was okay when I was in the mood for them. But every now and again, you just want to get a runny egg and dip some toast in it.

This is where my grandma stood tall.

If I wanted runny eggs, she’d boil for three minutes and then I’d have my runny yolk. If I wanted hard-boiled, she’d keep them on the heat for six minutes and you sure got one solid egg!

It may not sound like much, getting the choice between soft or hard-boiled eggs, but trust me – for a 6-year old kid, it was everything. I felt that I had a voice, and my grandma really wanted to know my choice, as opposed to me having to like something just because everyone else did.

Social media’s kind of like the boiled egg. Initially, it can be a tough shell to crack if you’ve never tried it before. You wonder what’s the best approach – should you slice the top open and dig in slowly from there, or try and break it open evenly and absorb it whole?

Deciding how you want to use social media can be a lot like choosing your yolk. Do you want to just dabble and maybe use a mix of Twitter and Facebook? Then you’ll just want the three minute boil. If you really want to get something to dig your teeth into, though, and you want to try all the different tools and sites that social media has to offer, you better give your egg an extra three minutes.

But you know what? It doesn’t matter how you like your social media egg. Just like my grandma always gave me the choice, so you have the choice too. Because both ways are right. There is no wrong. Social media is your egg to boil as you choose – the main thing is that you enjoy it when it’s done.

How Do You Boil Your Social Media Egg? originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Yet like anything new, social media is just another “stumbling block” to overcome if you haven’t used it before. If you take time to think of all the things you’ve successfully overcome in your life already, you’ll see that social media should be looked at as just another stone to step across. Perhaps the best analogy is to compare social media to your time at kindergarten.

First Day at School

Remember the fear you felt when you first arrived at kindergarten? Unless you were a mini-Rambo, of course, and feared no-one. Yet if you were like me, the fear of feeling alone and not knowing anyone was a difficult one to overcome. All I wanted to do was stay in the car and go home.

The first time dipping my toe in the social media world elicited similar feelings in me. I knew I was meant to be there, but I was thinking it’d be just as easy to not be there. Yet just like that first day at kindergarten, it’s all about taking that first step.

Just like you ended up stepping through the doors to the kindergarten building, so you can step though the barriers to the social media world. All you need to acknowledge is that it is new to you so it will take a little time to feel comfortable – but it will (and does) come.

Stay Out of the Sandpit

Once you got used to the new world that was kindergarten and you started making some friends, life became easier. Yet I recall this one kid that wouldn’t mix with anyone – he stayed in the sandpit at breaks and refused all attempts to make friends. Rightly or wrongly, every other kid thought he was strange because of this.

Don’t be the sandpit kid when it comes to social media. The best way to feel comfortable is to make friends and introduce yourself. Whether it’s via a blog to share your voice or a short exchange of messages on something like Twitter, communicating is key to enjoying the full social media experience.

The result of communicating? Apart from making new friends and opening up your network, people that have been using social media longer than you can help you make informed decisions of which ones will work best for you.

Listen to Teacher

While at kindergarten, one of the strangest things I had to get used to was listening to the teacher. I say strange, because although I had been told that I should listen to my teacher by my parents, it was easier said than done. My line of thought was: “You’re not my mom – why should I listen to you?”

Of course, I soon overcame this way of thinking – especially when my mom banned me from any toys after kindergarten until I started listening to what my teacher was trying to tell me.

In the social media world, there are some excellent teachers that you can learn a lot from. People like Chris Brogan and Jeff Pulver are just two names that spring to mind – yet the knowledge that they and other social media visionaries like them can impart to you is invaluable.

If you need to know anything about social media and the wonderful world it can open up to you, signing up to Chris or Jeff’s blogs isn’t a bad way to start. After all, if you can’t learn from these guys, then maybe social media isn’t for you. And perhaps you may even glean some knowledge from me now and again…

There’s a whole new world waiting out there for you. While it may appear daunting and confusing, just remember – you navigated through kindergarten and beyond. You can navigate through social media as well – just keep an open mind and open ears, and don’t be afraid to speak. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the conversations you hear.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

The Kindergarten Approach to Social Media originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

However, perhaps even more disappointing than snobbery is the elitism that seems to be creeping into social media as well. While they may share certain characteristics, they are two different beasts.

Instead of the “do as I do” approach I discussed in my snobbery post, there’s a growing trend of “I want to feel more important than you” elitism that’s becoming more apparent.

A good example is the Twitter phenomenon. At its heart, it’s an excellent tool to not only make new friends and potential business contacts – it’s also a great way to see a microscopic snapshot of someone’s life in nibble-sized chunks. The fact that Twitter only allows you 140 characters to say your piece means you have to use that space wisely. This can lead to some very inventive and humorous comments.

Yet lately Twitter has become nothing more than a virtual brothel for people to either whore themselves out or to come across as a “look at me, I’m great” type of person. As a fan of social media and all it can offer, I find that sad and a little disappointing.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ll notify my fellow Twitter users/followers of a new blog post – but then, that’s fairly standard for pretty much everyone on Twitter.

Where the application is losing its appeal (for me) is the amount of people that shout out about how many followers they have, or how many more they need to reach 500, or 1,000, or something similar. When did Twitter become a popularity contest? Isn’t that what MySpace is for (and one of the reasons Facebook is starting to take over from the Fox-backed networking site as the most popular)?

Maybe it’s just me, but I can see from your Twitter profile how many followers you have, or how many people you are following. That doesn’t interest me – and judging by the reaction of some of my friends who have stopped following certain Twitter accounts, it doesn’t impress them either.

Instead, tell people about excellent sites or blogs they should be checking out. Tell them about tools they can use to make them more effective in either their online brand building or improving their social media awareness.

Constantly mentioning you have so many followers often emits an air of superiority that no-one really enjoys and can lead to them unsubscribing from your updates. Which kind of goes against all that social media stands for, no?

The Growing Elitism of Social Media originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

The most obvious answer would be media that is social – whether that’s participating in an online group, sharing your views on a topic or leaving a comment on a blog, offering your opinion and insight. So why do so many proponents of social media come across as anything but social?

I’m mainly talking about blogs that either have closed comments, or require you to register with the site to leave a comment. Maybe it’s just me, but personally I feel that takes away the whole social aspect of social media.

My take on social media is that it’s a combination of different tools and communities, all coming together to offer an invaluable and co-operative journey with online friends. Even business social media is more about how businesses can reach their customers effectively and pro-actively, therefore building a loyal online database that ensures the company’s growth and sustainability.

So why potentially ruin this new world by sticking with the old cliquish approach of invite-only commenting?

I know that it’s down to personal choice as to whether you allow comments on your blog or not – after all, one of the negative sides of the blogosphere (at least in the early days) has been the puerile comments that are often left.

(Although thanks to the likes of BackType, the quality of blog comments should hopefully improve to a consistent level of maturity along the lines of those found on the leading social media blogs).

But isn’t this what comment filters are for? Having the option to approve all comment posts before publication eliminates (or at the very least, greatly reduces) playground-level comments.

Perhaps the blogs that have closed comments or require membership to post a response do so in the belief that it helps build their own specific community. This seems plausible, since the majority of blogs that I’ve come across with closed or member comments only do seem to be of the business variety.

I can’t help but feel that they’re missing out, though. Sure, a members-only comment option may encourage a number of people to sign up so that they can join in the discussion. Yet at the same time, you can pretty much guarantee this is a far smaller number than the amount of commentators you’d get with an open comment policy.

And if you don’t know what your readers are really thinking, aren’t you missing the whole point of building your brand and voice through the social media medium? Doesn’t seem like good business to me…

What do you think? Does it matter if comments are closed? Do you feel the need to share your opinion on something you’ve just read, or are you more interested in what’s being said as opposed to what you want to say? I’d be interested on your views.

Social Media is Social – So Why Closed Comments? originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

To be honest, social media is exactly what you want it to be. You want it to be a way of finding cool and interesting websites that you would never have found before? Sign up to Stumbleupon. You want to know what blogs are popular? Get yourself a Technorati account. History of all the comments you’ve ever left? Backtype. And the list goes on.

For me, however, the true meaning of social media can be found in the way that people who would normally be business competitors offer support, knowledge and different expertise to those who need it.

I’ll give you an example. On my Twitter account, I’m probably connected to around 40 or so people from the PR and copywriting industry, whether it’s through me following them or them following me (or both, even). Now, in the “normal” business world, they would be competitors so you’d think the last thing we would want to do is help the other out.

Yet instead, Twitter sees any request for help or advice answered almost immediately, and often with information that would offer a distinct advantage if kept private. Now to me, that’s social media at its finest.

Yes, we’re all in business and we all want to succeed, but gone is the “at all costs” attitude of the last decade and beyond. With the Internet opening up a whole new world of commerce and potential customers, there really is enough to go round for everyone. And people are realizing that.

Not only that, but people are also encouraging others to succeed and offering up the tools with which to push for that success. You can’t get much more of a truer meaning of social than that, media or otherwise. Perhaps we should get the leaders of the world into social media? After all, they could use all the help they can get.

The True Meaning of Social Media originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.