Escape from Pune

Even though I am enjoying myself in Pune – cool city, nice people, good food, etc – it is nice to get out of the city now and then to relax. We spent a day with Shashi and his family.

Just to give you a reference of his family’s way of life – over 100 family members have lived in their family farm house over the last five generations. The area is surrounded with uncles, cousins, kids – and everyone helps each other with their farming needs.

It has been interesting to live in India and see the family structure here. Loaning money (interest and contract free) to family members is common practice here. Living with your parents forever is also common practice. The entire giving time and money to family seems like such a basic function here. I have three brothers and I could not imagine asking them for a loan nor have any of us ever really helped each other by giving large amounts of time. I wonder why it is so different.

Pune: Fun City On the Move

I have really been enjoying my time in Pune. Like most countries, being in the right city really makes a big difference. A few years ago, I worked in Gurgaon, outside of Delhi, in a Microsoft call center. I worked with good people but the city was a bunch of malls, construction and more malls. I have traveled around India a little (Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Cochin, Trivandrum, etc) but I have not experienced the a city as comfortable and fun as Pune.

Pune is a big city on the move. As per 2001 census of India, the population of the Pune was a little over 3,000,000 people. Now in 2009, the city is quickly approaching 6,000,000 people (for a little perspecitve on the size London in about 7 million). Marathi is the official and most widely spoken language, while Hindi and English are understood and spoken widely. According to the Pune Municipal Corporation, 38.9% of the population lived in slums in 2001 – not sure where that is now but it is a city of rich and poor with entrepreneurs everywhere – at all levels.

Software and Information Technology (info from Wiki)
The HSBC Global Technology Center is right done the street from my apartment. Also in Pune is a rapidly growing software industry as well, with multinational companies such as NeilSoft, Amdocs,Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services,Oracle Financial Services , KPIT Cummins, BitWise Solutions ,Cognizant Technology Solutions ,MindTree, Steria, Microsoft Corporation, Tata Technologies, Satyam Computer Services , Syntel, BMC Software, Persistent Systems, Tech Mahindra, Patni Computer Systems, Accenture, Wipro, L & T Infotech, Infosys, Zensar, Cybage, Compulink, Geometric, Spider Systems, Sungard, Aztecsoft, Starent Networks, T-Systems Capgemini, Barclays Technology Centre, HSBC Global Technology Center, Cybernet Slash Support, Kanbay and John Deere having large development centers. The growing software industry has led to the construction of IT Parks to encourage new IT companies.

Come visit Pune, you will love it.

How Justmeans Works?

As you can imagine, it is hard to create a “How To” video for a social media platform that is continually upgrading and adding new features. I saw this style of video from a few different companies and really liked it.

We created “Martin(a)” as our main character, laid-out the functions we wanted to cover, wrote the story and then filmed it. I like the fact that the videos will remain timeless as we tweak different features on Justmeans. Check it out. I would be happy to receive some feedback.
(Warning to anyone who is making a video like this: Don’t let the simplicity fool you – these things take a lot of effort to make.)

For Individuals:

For Companies:

Feedback Wanted!
Thoughts?
As an individual – do you better understand how to use Justmeans?
As a company – do you better understand the tools that Justmeans offers?

Carrot Mob UK

The biggest mistake I see start-up charities and nonprofits make is over-kill on the planning stages of their organization.

I just came across this group called Carrot Mob UK. They survey local businesses asking:

“If we agree to promote your store to our ‘Shopping Mob’, what is the highest % of profits that you would put towards energy-efficient upgrades in your place of business?”

The store that agrees to the highest percentage gets the shopping mob for the afternoon. Check it out:

This is a very cool group that is not just sitting around in committee meetings. They are organizing and taking action.

Next London Mob – September 16th -At a bar!
Check it out and come drink for the sake of the environment!

Social Technology Projects Praised by Prime Minister

I spent the morning surrounded by amazing UK based innovators at the 2008 Catalyst Awards. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, congratulated people who are using social technology projects for the benefit of their communities.

Speaking at the event in central London, Gordon Brown said:

“Our thriving third sector continues to find innovative ways to tackle issues. We are creating a new generation of activists, campaigners and social entrepreneurs who are showing us just how the newest of technologies can help solve some of the oldest of challenges, building a more just society and better, stronger communities.”

The winners of the first UK Catalyst Awards are:

The Community Award – Savvychavvy – a social networking site for young gypsy travellers, giving them a voice and the opportunity to change the way their community is perceived

The David and Goliath Award – Liftshare – an online car-sharing system, enabling more efficient use of car journeys and cutting CO2 emissions and congestion

The Chalk & Cheese Award – FreqOUT! – a programme that combines wireless technology and emergent arts/education projects, and works to engage socially excluded young people

The Enterprise Award – Slivers of time – a web-based employment solution, allowing people to find bits of work which they can do in between unpredictable commitments in their life, such as childcare, starting a business or studying

The Revolutionary Award – Wheelies – the world’s first virtual disability nightclub. Based in SecondLife, it is connecting disabled users and providing a platform for them to discuss common issues

The Self-Help Award – School of everything – this innovative site matches up would-be learners and would-be teachers; unleashing unused skills in local neighbourhoods and allowing people, from young whizz kids to retired people, to pass on what they know to others

The Individual Hero Award – Helen Anderson of South Witham broadband – after a series of large internet suppliers refused to provide broadband in South Witham, Lincolnshire, Helen started a not-for-profit company to provide local individuals and businesses with broadband internet and WiFi. The volunteer-led project has been so successful that Helen has even shared her expertise with the Australian Government

The People’s Choice Award went to The Freeconomy Community, a skill, tool, space and land sharing website to build closer, stronger communities through the power of sharing

What’s Next?
The next phase of Catalyst, which uses the inspiration of today’s finalists to call for new ideas, will take place during Enterprise Week this November. JustMeans is planing to be involved in Enterprise Week by supporting unique social change organizations.

For media enquiries about the winners, contact: Amy MacLaren or Henry de Rougemont at amy/henry@colmangetty.co.uk on 020 7631 2666 or email

MediaCampLondon 2008

If you missed MediaCampLondon 2008 then you missed out.

I think it is fair to say that 50% of conferences are a waste of time (come on…just admit it).
*The presentations are usually boring.
*It is hard to meet the right people in a crowd.
*And you have the same conversations – over and over and over again.

Not at MediaCampLondon 2008 – I found every person I met to be interested in pushing the future of social media forward. Good discussions, interesting people, lots of ‘new technology take aways’, and great networking in a small setting.

Two super-stars of the day:
1) James Whatley – promoting SpinVox
He did a demo showing how you to call a phone number, leave a message, and have the message automatically converted into text and uploaded directly into your blog.

2) Nicholas Butler – Social Networker and Opinioneer
This guy was cracking me up with his funny one-liners and impressing me with his solid approach to helping companies with their ‘social media audit’. Nicholas wanted to interview me and learn about the JustMeans expansion to London. After agreeing to the interview, he whipped out a camera and the discussion went right to his blog via a wireless connection – pretty cool. Check it out:
Interview – JustMeans Expands to London

Ignore the Blockers – 3 Examples

Example 1: Me
Kevin Long – Deaf Education in Developing Countries

Problem:
Fifteen years ago, I went to Kenya to volunteer teach at a school for deaf children. At my deaf school, there were 250 deaf kids and 11 hearing teachers. The hearing teachers were trained to teach, but had no idea how to sign or communicate with the deaf kids. With limited tools, the hearing teachers would write on a chalk board and point… Can you imagine how difficult it would have been to learn from this method of teaching when you were a kid?

Action:
I founded Global Deaf Connection in order to support deaf people in developing countries in their pursuit to become teachers. I fundraised money for tutors, Kenyan sign language interpreters, and college scholarships – so deaf Kenyans could have access to higher education and become teachers at the deaf schools in Kenya.

Blockers:
The Kenyan government and some academics in the deaf community were upset. “We have to build more consensus”, “you have not completed all the paper-work”, “you are hearing and don’t understand”, etc, etc.

My reaction to these blockers:
Improve what I could and ignore everything else. I just kept thinking, “these deaf kids need deaf teachers now.”

Results:
There are now over 40 deaf Kenyan teachers mentoring, inspiring, and teaching thousands of deaf children in the deaf schools across Kenya. This is an historical number of deaf teachers for a country like Kenya – a real model for effective deaf education across the world.

Example 2:
Martin Smith – Helping People Create Change Through Their Workplace

Problem:
Millions of people everyday go to a job they hate at a company that is not creating positive change in the world.

Action:
Martin Smith travelled the US and raised $400,000 to build and launch JustMeans – an international social media platform that rallies both companies and individuals around social responsibility. This included flying all over the world (i.e. to London to recruit me, to India to recruit the tech team, etc). His dream was an on-line platform that helped companies move regular customers/stakeholders into becoming real advocates for better business.

Blockers:
“But it is impossible to break into the social media space.”
“But you have to make your site perfect before it can go live.”
“It’s impossible to create an international platform right from the start.”
Etc, etc,etc.

Martin’s reaction to the blockers:
bullshit

Results:
In only two years, Justmeans has developed best in class technology that is helping a wide range of both for-profits and non-profits use our online tools to attract and ignite advocates for better business.

Example 3
Solar Bug Electric Car Building Super Star

Do you think he has a chance or are you a “blocker”?

Google adwords vs Facebook Ads – a little test

At National Deaf Children’s Society, I helped them test Facebook ads vs Google Adwords.
The stats in this post are from Ross Pullar from NDCS who is heading up the NDCS Digital Avengers

The Challenge
To see which advertising medium would produce the most number of inquiries for their half marathon event.

How it was tested
We promoted The Royal Parks Half marathon sign-up through both Facebook ads vs Google Adwords

The adverts for Google and Facebook were as follows:

Google

Facebook

With both adverts the user went to the same landing page.
From there the user was able to inquire about the event and have relevant information sent to them.

Hit Results:
Overall Facebook beat Google for inquiries. We found that the advert with the cartoon face on it had a greater response rate with over 370 people clicking on the cartoon in comparison to 5 with the sensible Google advert

My Advise:
*The crazier the better!
*Boring ads get less hits.
*Use progressive text and a crazy picture.
*Do a test period with different pictures and the same text.
*Do a test period with the same pictures but with different text.

What will you find???
Crazier is better.

Twitter vs Friendfeed

“Hey, raise your hand if you think Twitter has had enough time to solve their load problems?”

The last three times I tried to log in to Twitter, it has been down.

I just signed up for FriendFeed and I love it. I was connected to my friends and grabbed on to a few people that they were following. I also played around with doing a post in Friendfeed through Facebook and Flickr – very easy. There are endless application that you can link to in Friendfeed. If you are up to it, their API is open for new and improved apps.

If you have not signed on yet to Friendfeed – I suggest checking it out.

Pitching a Social Media Proposal

Pitching a one year social media proposal to a management team that is still in the learning stages of Web 2.0 requires you to walk a fine line between teaching and telling. I think the four most important factors in writing and pitching a successful proposal are as follows:

1) If your customer does not understand it, they will not buy it.
Time and time again I see technically skilled super stars scare potential clients away because they are too busy flexing their nerd muscles and pumping up their techEGO’s during a pitch. Start from a place of understanding and build as you go.

2) ROI, ROI, ROI
The classic consultant swoops in, listens to staff tell them what is needed, does it while taking credit, and disappears in to the night leaving behind a big fat report stating – “How Big and Great it Will be Someday!” -Don’t be a classic consultant.
If you are committing to a year, have the courage to give solid 12-month ROI projections and stick by them. You can under-promise and over deliver but set real, tangible objectives.

3) Save your opinions for your blog
When the questions start flying at you from the number crunchers – be ready to answer them with facts and examples. I think Jeremiah Owyang’s post “COO and CFO” does a good job of listing the questions you need to be ready to answer.

4) Split your proposal in two
The executive summary and summarized recommendations should be first. The executive summary needs to be understandable and digestible. The summarized recommendations should have solid ROI goals. The second part of your proposal should contain a world of detail. The second half is where your clients should be able to find detailed information about each topic that was covered in the executive summary. Also, try to answer the hard questions in advance. It shows you are prepared and know what you are doing.

(Example Table of Contents)

Summary
Executive Summary………………………………………..2 pages
Summarized Recommendations and Projected Budget…3 pages

Detailed Examples and Recommendations
Social Media, Groups,Widgets and Calendars……………8 pages
Blogging………………………………………………………5 pages
Measuring Success…………………………………………2 pages
Appendix…………………………………………………….10 pages