For most people, networking on the Web means keeping up with friends or building business contacts. Now a number of charities — and thousands of ordinary people — are starting to use online networks to reshape the world of philanthropy.
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Posts Tagged ‘charity’
Charity Cases: Social-networking phenomenon makes it easy for donors to promote their favorite causes online
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Google turns whole web into social network
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008It was just a matter of time before Google started to leverage the massive base of Google accounts to connect everyone together. As usual, this new Google project is ambitious - instead of creating a new social network as a destination site, the new Friend Connect service takes the network to where the people already are - on blogs and websites.
Friendster Expands Its Portfolio With Fourth Social Networking Patent
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec 09, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Friendster, Inc., a top 20 global website based on traffic and the #1 social network in Asia, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the social networking pioneer a new U.S. Patent, titled “Compatibility Scoring of Users in a Social Network” (U.S. Patent No. 7,451,161). Friendster has been granted four patents since July 2006, validating the company’s early and continuous innovation in online social networking.
Friendster’s latest patent, granted on November 11, 2008, describes a unique methodology used to calculate compatibility based on expressed interests between users of a social network. This includes scoring the compatibility between two members of a social network based on their interests and scoring the correlation between two interests for a given member of a social network.
“In just six years, social networking has become both an industry — since 8 of the top 20 largest websites in the world are social networks — and a critical platform for over half a billion Internet users globally to share, communicate, connect and be entertained with existing and new friends, family and colleagues,” said Richard Kimber, chief executive officer of Friendster. “A core component of the evolution of social networks is the ability of the online ’social graph’ to represent our real social life. Understanding the common interests between people establishes common ground to build and enhance relationships.”
Prior to this most recent fourth patent, Friendster was granted three social networking patents in 2006 and 2007:
- In July 2006, Friendster was awarded its first U.S. patent describing how people are connected in the context of an online social network, titled “A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks” (U.S. Patent No. 7,069,308).
- Friendster was granted a second U.S. patent in October 2006, which discloses the process of enriching other users’ profiles with text, video, pictures and additional content, titled “Method of Inducing Content Uploads in a Social Network” (U.S. Patent No. 7,117,254).
- In March 2007, Friendster added another patent to its portfolio, titled “System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network” (U.S. Patent No. 7,188,153 B2), which describes a technology that allows members of a social network to manage their connections by, for example, adding friends; personalizing their network through arranging, ordering and classifying connections made in an online community; and managing these connections at will.
“Since launching the first social network in 2002, Friendster has continued to build and own a significant patent portfolio. Friendster’s four patents address many fundamentals of social networking: establishing connections, distributing and sharing content, managing connections over time and assessing compatibility between users. Friendster’s patent portfolio is one of several assets of the company. Friendster anticipates receiving more patents, and we will continue to focus on growing our large global business into an even larger one,” said Kimber.
Friendster Leads in Asia and is a Top 20 Global Website
Friendster is the #1 social network in Asia, with over 65 million registered users and over 50 million monthly unique visitors from Asia.* In Asia, Friendster has more monthly unique visitors than any other social network. Plus, Asia is the largest market of Internet users (Asia has 41% of the world’s Internet users while the U.S. has only 19%), and Asia is the fastest growing region in the world.** Friendster has a loyal and growing user base throughout Asia in the following top 10 countries for Friendster: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.
Friendster is a top 20 global website in the world in terms of traffic, serving over 18 billion page views a month.** Friendster is 1st in “user engagement” among the top five global social networks, with users spending an average of 187 minutes per visitor per month on http://www.friendster.com.**
About Friendster
With more than 90 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them. Online adults, 18 and up, choose Friendster to connect with friends, family, school, social groups, activities and interests. Friendster prides itself in delivering an easy-to-use, friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world via http://www.friendster.com or m.friendster.com from any Internet-ready mobile device. Friendster has a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several months. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures and individual investors. For more information, visit: http://www.friendster.com.
*Google Analytics and Friendster Internal Data, September 2008
**comScore Media Metrix, Asia Pacific and Worldwide Data, September 2008
SOURCE Friendster, Inc. http://www.friendster.com
A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy
Monday, November 24th, 2008Young donors and volunteers, snubbing traditional appeals such as direct mail and phone calls, are satisfying their philanthropic urges on the Internet. They’re increasingly turning to blogs and social-networking Web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, to spread the word about — and raise funds for — their favorite nonprofits and causes. They’re sending Web-based fund-raising pitches to their friends and families, encouraging them, in turn, to forward the appeals to their own contacts.
Memelabs, the user-generated video contest platform company,
Thursday, November 20th, 2008Memelabs, the user-generated video contest platform company, today announces the release of a custom version of memelabs to help non-profit organizations and charities easily create and manage User Generated Video (UGV) campaigns online. The company is rolling out a pilot version of the new platform for Apathy is Boring, a Canadian non-partisan project that uses art, media, and technology to encourage active citizenry.
Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) — Memelabs, the user-generated video contest platform company, today announces the release of a custom version of memelabs to help non-profit organizations and charities easily create and manage User Generated Video (UGV) campaigns online. The company is rolling out a pilot version of the new platform for Apathy is Boring, a Canadian non-partisan project that uses art, media, and technology to encourage active citizenry.
Memelabs helps organizations promote viral video marketing that gain targeted exposure for marketing campaigns online, such as the successful viral video contests the company launched for Wells Fargo, Intrawest, Texas Instruments and Garden State Life.
In three easy steps marketers have a fully customized video contest ready for launch.
- Design: the customer can supply its own design or the Memelabs team works with the client to create a design; a fully customizable CSS with 100% share of brand.
- Integration: the Memelabs team applies the design to its contest platform, and can advise on and implement additional social media outreach strategies.
- Promotion: the Memelabs team helps to get the word out through social media tools, such as blogs, newsletters, bookmarks to its user base of over 100,000 people and partnerships with 40 film schools. These are film makers and enthusiasts who have previously signed up and participated in memelabs contests.
Once the contest is up and running, videos are submitted by consumers for voting and ranking by the user base. Memelabs constantly monitors video submissions, rankings and commentary to ensure no fraudulent or offensive activity takes place. In addition, this version gives customers access to the back-end platform from which clients can manage campaign details.
“We chose to integrate memelabs into our National Video Contest as it was the perfect medium to reach our target demographic, Canadian youth, in an engaging and user friendly online environment. We’ve also received an incredible amount of support from memelabs, whether in site development, marketing strategy, and content management, making our campaign a cinch to update and maintain,” comments Apathy is Boring’s Development Coordinator Adrienne Smith. “Memelabs’ commitment to the Apathy is Boring cause has made them a perfect partner for us and we look forward to our continued collaboration.”
Apathy is Boring wants young Canadians to grab their video cameras and cell phones and tell their vision for the next 250 years of Canada and enter this in an online contest at the Apathy is Boring contest site. Running July-September, 2008, one national contest winner will receive a grand prize: a trip to Halifax for the winner to attend and showcase their video during a Youth Dialogue hosted by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, on September 20th. More information on the Governor General’s Youth Dialogues is available at www.citizenvoices.gg.ca. The winner will also receive backstage passes to the Apathy is Boring Concert featuring artists ill Scarlett.
“New conversations are emerging online between organizations and consumers and as social media has now become part of the mainstream, organizations are looking for new ways to engage with its customers,” comments Dario Meli, co-founder and partner, memelabs. “Memelabs creates this bridge - engaging, encouraging and supporting positive interaction and inspiring community development. All we ask of organizations is to bring their marketing idea and we’ll put it into action.”
About memelabs
Memelabs is the first platform for companies to effectively roll out consumer-generated online video contests to gain brand loyalty in the Web 2.0 world. Easily and efficiently marketers can take advantage of the growing social marketing trends of consumer online video production, viral video marketing and consumer participation in online contests.
New MTV series 4Real (.com) debuts
Thursday, November 20th, 2008Sol Guy stands next to a needle drop-box in a Downtown Eastside alley, and nods to two men dumpster-diving a few metres away.
He’s retracing a scene from an episode in his new MTV series, 4Real, in which he and Hollywood starlet Eva Mendes examine the troubled neighbourhood’s issues, from drug addiction to homelessness.
“We were picking up needles and putting them in here,” said Guy, 33, raising his eyebrows and smiling at the graffiti-covered box.
The series, which Guy hosts, kicks off tonight at 7:30 p.m. on CTV with the first of four “sneak peak” episodes. The entire series, including the Vancouver-based episode, will air in March on MTV in Canada.
In each show, a celebrity — including Mendes, Joaquin Phoenix and Cameron Diaz — travels to meet with local leaders and activists in developing countries, war zones, remote villages and slums.
Phoenix visits an indigenous tribe in the Amazon. Diaz meets a medicine man in Peru. U.K. rapper M.I.A. heads to Liberia to meet a children’s rights advocate. Hip-hop star, K’naan, visits the largest slum in East Africa with a local aid worker.
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside seemed a good fit, said Guy.
“It’s the poorest postal code in Canada and it’s like, yo, we can do better than that as a city,” said Guy. “We have to examine collectively why that place exists, where have we failed?”
The Vancouver episode focuses on health advocate Liz Evans and her work with the Portland Hotel, which has a number of outreach programs for people in the area. While filming in October, Mendes worked in the hotel’s kitchen and joined volunteers at night, collecting used needles in alleys.
“I’ve completely been educated,” Mendes said of her experience. “We can’t look the other way, nor should we look the other way.”
Guy said the experience made him examine his own stereotypes, something he hopes the audience will also do. “I just hope that people in Vancouver recognize the beauty of the people [in the Downtown Eastside] and they’re not to be ignored.”
Josh Thome, 35, an environmental and social activist, created the series with Guy. The childhood friends, who went to elementary school together in Grand Forks, began brainstorming about the series five years ago. They spent two years travelling together before deciding on the format, then creating a pilot. Thome said he hopes the series inspires people to action. “We’ve come so far, but I feel we’re at the starting line,” Thome said in an interview Sunday.
He said the website for the show, www.4Real.com, is important to connecting the audience to issues. It includes background on the people and areas the series features and it is linked to Vancouver-based online giving group, www.givemeaning.com, so people can donate funds.
Thome said he’s particularly proud of the Downtown Eastside episode, to air in March. “It shows you don’t need to travel around the world to find inspiring leaders or issues that need addressing,” said Thome. “You can literally look outside your door.”
Fifty per cent of any profits the show makes will be given to the community leaders and groups including the Portland Hotel, said Guy. “I don’t want to find myself taking advantage of anyone,” he said. “They’re part of it too.”
Go t
o www.4Real.com to learn more.
4Real is an excellent original content create to generate awareness for charitable efforts.
Future of Giving-Donations-Technology and Charity
Friday, November 14th, 2008Social Media can truly impact our worlds’ charitable initiatives. It is nice to see tools like sixdegrees.org widgets. These tools are interesting in that they allow a viral way of sharing your passion for charity and raising money. These tools however are no more than a donation tool. Donating alone in the US to charities (27% of all gdonations) is a mere $39 Billion. 50% of all charitable giving is immediately spent to raise more money for the charities. Leaving our country with $19.5 billion in charitable giving to be spent on “the cause” and all other operational expenses. Charitable giving to churches represents 32% of all ($300 Billion) charitable giving in the US. Giving is only a part of the solution. We have seen an increase in Giving year over year but there is only so much to give.
The next generation of “giving” is something that will allow consumers to be empowered to make change through their consumer actions, and drive money from COMMERCE (multiple Trillions available) to charities.
Jeff Palumbo; United Media Partners Inc.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7T9go4wVMc&hl=en&fs=1]
Kevin Bacon, Charity
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